artefacts dating as far back as the Bronze Age. St Illtyd's Church overlooking the town dates to the 13th century – probably with 6th century origins. St Illtyd's Motte lies just to the south west of the church. A Norman castle mound, it was probably destroyed in 1233. The ruins of two more recent, probably 14th century, castles lie on private land to the northeast of St Illtyd's Church. There are several ruined mediaeval farmhouses in the Abertillery area. The Local Blaenau Gwent Baptist church can trace its roots back to Tŷ Nest Llewellyn, a ruined 17th-century dwelling place often used by non-conformists to escape from the religious persecution of the times. Before the coming of major industry, Abertillery was little more than an area of scattered farms in the ancient parish of Aberystruth. In 1779 the parish minister Edmund Jones described the area thus: "The valley of Tyleri ... is the most delightful. The trees ... especially the beech trees, abounding about rivers great and small, the hedges and lanes make these places exceeding pleasant and the passing by them delightful and affecting ... in these warm valleys, with the prospect of the grand high mountains about them would make very delightful habitations." In 1799 clergyman and historian Archdeacon William Coxe toured the area and in writing a diary of his travels described it as "... richly wooded, and highly cultivated...we looked down with delight upon numerous valleys ... with romantic scenery". The entire population of Aberystruth parish at the turn of the 19th century was just a little over 800. It is not known what the population of Abertillery was at the time but it was probably in the very low hundreds, all of whom would have spoken Welsh only. From the mid-nineteenth century Industrialisation The area's first deep coal mine was sunk in 1843. Collieries in Abertillery Six Bells Colliery Abertillery Institute The first reading rooms were set up in Abertillery in 1856. However, when Thomas Powell took over the Tillery Colliery in 1882 he made a commitment to establish educational facilities for his workers. Local government Formed in 1877, Abertillery Urban District Council incorporated the adjoining smaller communities of Six Bells, Cwmtillery, Brynithel, Aberbeeg and Llanhilleth. The population of this conurbation climbed to almost 40,000 in 1931 making it the second largest town in Monmouthshire. The council was abolished in 1974 as part of major UK