The Aberfan Disaster

21 October 1966

On the 21 October 1966, 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village of Aberfan in South Wales.

These pages were initially set up as part of a project to catalogue and conserve an archive of material relating to the disaster held at Merthyr Tydfil and Dowlais libraries. Their objective is to act as a starting place for those interested in finding out about the disaster. They provide an overview of the circumstances surrounding the disaster and, more importantly, a guide and link to the more detailed sources of information available elsewhere.

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Contents:

• The last day before half-term: an account of the disaster in the words of first-hand witnesses

• Brief description of the disaster
• The Tribunal of Inquiry
• The Aberfan Disaster Fund
• Laurie Lee's visit to Aberfan, 1967

• Aberfan - Our Hiraeth - New Book written by the Aberfan & Merthyr Vale Writers and History Group
• Books about Aberfan
• Academic articles about Aberfan

• The Aberfan Disaster Archive held at Merthyr Tydfil & Dowlais
• Archival material held elsewhere

• Research Project: Corporatism and Regulatory Failure: Government Response to the Aberfan Disaster:
• Initial proposal, 1998
• Final Report, 2000.

The project was graded 'outstanding' by the ESRC.

• Aberfan and the Titanic: Twin tragedies

• Remembering Aberfan
• The Reverend Kenneth Hayes, 1930-97
• Aberfan today

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The final results of this research project were published as a book on 21 October 2000. Iain McLean & Martin Johnes, Aberfan:Disasters and Government (Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press, 2000) Buy this book

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These pages are dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives in the Aberfan Disaster.

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These pages were written and designed by Martin Johnes and Iain McLean, 1997-2001. Project Director, Iain McLean. The work was funded by the British Academy, under research grant no. APN6714, and subsequently by the Economic & Social Research Council under research grant no. R000222677. Grateful thanks are also due to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council for providing facilities for research.

(c) Martin Johnes & Iain McLean, 1997-2001

Last updated: March 2001