Abertillery (; ) is a town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area. The surrounding landscape borders the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Blaenavon World heritage Site. Formerly a major coal mining centre the Abertillery area was transformed in the 1990s using EU and other funding to return to a greener environment. Situated on the A467 the town is north of the M4 and south of the A465 "Heads of the Valleys" trunk road. It is about by road from Cardiff and from Bristol. According to the 2011 Census, 4.8% of the ward's 4,416 (212 residents) resident-population can speak, read, and write Welsh. This is below the county's figure of 5.5% of 67,348 (3,705 residents) who can speak, read, and write Welsh. Etymology The name of the community means "the mouth of the River Tyleri", which flows into the town. The name is probably derived from a personal name. Town centre Abertillery's traditional-style town centre mainly developed in the late 19th century and as such has some interesting Victorian architecture. Spread over 4 main streets the town in its heyday had two department stores and a covered Victorian arcade linking two of the main shopping areas. These were all included in a Blaenau Gwent Borough Council remodelling and modernisation project using European Union funding in a £13 million programme spread over a 5-year period ending in 2015. The project included a new multi-storey car park, a revamp of public areas and the town's Metropole Theatre. This building provides production, exhibition, conference and meeting facilities as well as housing Abertillery museum. In March 2014 Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, officiated at the launch of Jubilee Square, a public facility in the town centre next to St Michael's Church. Coal mining Major industry came to the area in 1843 when the locality's first deep coal mine was sunk at Tir Nicholas Farm, Cwmtillery. The town developed rapidly thereafter and played a major part in the South Wales coalfield. Its population rose steeply, being 10,846 in the 1891 census and 21,945 ten years later. The population peaked just short of 40,000 around the beginning of the 1930s. Eventually there were six deep coal mines, numerous small coal levels, a tin works, brick works, iron foundry and light engineering