II*Church · listed 1987Church of St LukePhoto: Lewis Hulbert · CC BY-SA 3.0
Church of St Luke · Photo: Lewis Hulbert · CC BY-SA 3.0BHistory Grade
History of Abercarn · Cadw
Abercarn: 54% of homes built before 1919
Against 15% in the typical town, Abercarn has 4 times the share. Cadw lists 8 buildings inside Abercarn’s built-up area, 16 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 1 scheduled monument. We have photos of 3 of its listed buildings. Abercarn grades B for history: #11 of 38 in Gwent.
Listed buildings
8
16 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
1
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
54%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Abercarn
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.
The map
Where Abercarn’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade II*Scheduled monument
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
8 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I1 Grade II*7 Grade II
Cadw lists buildings of special architectural or historic interest in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest, Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest, and Grade II for buildings of special interest. Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.
Every entry on Cadw’s register of listed buildings whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.
Grade II*
The Grade II* listed building in Abercarn
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II
7 Grade II listed buildings
Most listed buildings are in this grade, which covers buildings of special interest. Open any building to read its official list entry.
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 1.1% of Abercarn
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Cwmcarn Memorial Park 19992 ha
2 hain conservation areas, of 171 ha inside the built-up area.
1 of the 8 listed buildings stand in one.
Cadw’s conservation areas via DataMapWales. Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.
Monuments & landscapes
Monuments, parks and gardens
Designations that overlap the town by a tenth of their area or half a hectare.
1 scheduled monument
Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Welsh Government (Cadw).
Charcoal Blast Furnace at AbercarnPost Medieval/Modern; Blast Furnace
History Grade
Abercarn grades B for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (11 points, 21 per 10,000 residents)More than 35% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (54%)More than 98% of UK towns
Two measures, each ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, with protected heritage counting twice as much as the age of homes. Protected heritage counts each listed building by its grade (Grade I three points, II* two, II one), each scheduled monument and battlefield two, and each registered park or garden by its grade; it is ranked both per 10,000 residents and as a total, so a village with one fine church doesn’t outrank a historic city. The second measure is the share of homes built before 1919, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records. History is a character grade: it describes the town and isn’t part of the overall grade.
Homes by age
54% of Abercarn’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
45%
Before 1900
9.3%
1900–18
8%
1919–29
2.4%
1930s
9.4%
1945–54
4.1%
1955–64
0%
1965–72
0.3%
1973–82
2%
1983–92
1.3%
1993–99
6.6%
2000–08
12%
2009–15
0%
2016–25
AbercarnEngland & Wales
45% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 2009–15, which added 12% of today’s homes.
Valuation Office Agency, council tax stock of properties by build period, 31 March 2025, for the neighbourhoods (LSOAs) that make up the town, split by where their residents live. Homes with no recorded build period (0 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Abercarn
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abercarn | 5,123 | 8 | 0 | B |
| Newbridge | 7,582 | 23 | 0 | A− |
| Swffryd | 1,721 | 0 | 0 | C |
| Pontllanfraith | 9,363 | 11 | 0 | C |
| Oakdale | 6,126 | 8 | 0 | C− |
| Risca | 15,194 | 82 | 0 | A |
| Cwmfelinfach | 1,353 | 4 | 0 | B− |
| Blackwood | 12,621 | 6 | 0 | C |
In brief
Abercarn in brief
More of Abercarn’s homes are old than in most places: 54% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 8 listed buildings, including Church of St Luke. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1999. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and Clement Price Thomas (1893) was born here before 1900.
Questions about Abercarn’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Abercarn?
Cadw lists 8 buildings inside Abercarn’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 7 Grade II.
Are there scheduled monuments in Abercarn?
Yes, 1 scheduled monument, including Charcoal Blast Furnace at Abercarn.
How many conservation areas are there in Abercarn?
1, covering about 2 hectares of the town. The largest is Cwmcarn Memorial Park.
How old are the homes in Abercarn?
54% of homes were built before 1919 and 65% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
Listed buildings, scheduled monuments and historic parks and gardens: Cadw, © Crown copyright, via DataMapWales.
Sources: Cadw listed buildings, scheduled monuments and registered historic parks and gardens via DataMapWales, October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · Cadw conservation areas via DataMapWales (October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.