Ancestral Trail

If your ancestors lived in Blaenavon there are many places in the town that can help with your research. 

• Visit the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre to get an overview of Blaenavon’s history. The timeline around the walls will help you to find out what was happening in the town when your ancestors lived here. 
• Call in at the Blaenavon Community Heritage Museum , where the dedicated volunteers will guide you through their extensive family history archive. Use census returns, trade directories and parish records to delve deeper into your family’s story. 
• Take a walk into Broad Street and visit the shops, where your family may have once spent their money. View the many chapels and churches, where your relatives may have worshipped. 
• If you know your ancestor’s address, why not explore the town and see if the house still stands? The volunteers at the Community Museum will be able to help you identify the location. (Please respect the privacy of the current occupants!) 
• Go to Big Pit or the Ironworks and find out about working and living conditions in bygone eras. 
• If you know where your ancestor was buried, why not try and find the grave. At either St. Peter’s Churchyard or Blaenavon’s cemetery, located on Varteg Road (B4246). Pre-1936 burial records for St. Peter’s Church can be searched at the World Heritage Centre or the Community Heritage Museum. Records for Blaenavon Cemetery can be viewed at the latter.