Aberfan Cemetery
municipal cemetery in Merthyr Tydfil county borough, Wales
Aberfan Cemetery (Welsh: Mynwent Aberfan) is a cemetery near the village of Aberfan, Merthyr Tydfil. It is one of five cemeteries in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough and is particularly well known for the graves of 144 victims of the Aberfan disaster in 1966, when a colliery coal tip collapsed and killed many people in the village of Aberfan.
The cemetery was opened in 1876 and includes Bryntaf Cemetery, an extension opened in 1913. It covers approximately 8 acres (3 hectares). The cemetery is Green Flag accredited. In 2022, the cemetery, together with the memorial garden and the area of the tip and its slide path, was listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The record of the Grade II* listed site describes it as being "of great national importance and meaning".
As well as a monument to the Aberfan disaster victims, there is also a military monument to seven soldiers who drowned in the Bristol Channel in 1888. There are also Commonwealth war graves from both World Wars: 12 within Aberfan Cemetery proper and 18 within Bryntaf Cemetery.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Aberfan Cemetery” as municipal cemetery in Merthyr Tydfil county borough, Wales. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as municipal cemetery in Merthyr Tydfil county borough, Wales. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q76398171. Authority coordinates are 51.692, -3.348. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1966, 1876, 1913 and 2022.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Aberfan Cemetery”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Aberfan Cemetery primary sources, Aberfan Cemetery archive and Aberfan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Aberfan Cemetery”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Aberfan Cemetery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.