Historians claim that times of great social change are often accompanied by outbreaks of pestilence, plague and disease. The Sirhowy Valley can provide ample evidence to support this theory.
Towns and villages had grown rapidly as a result of the new industrial developments in the early 19th century.

Many dwellings had been quickly constructed to provide accommodation for the swelling population.
Cottages were strung together, row upon row, with no regard to basic sanitation or drainage requirements.
Conditions were cramped and with the absence of running water and no adequate facilities for waste disposal, the area was ripe for the advent of disease.

Human waste was sometimes collected to be sold as fertiliser but was mainly emptied into 'night-soils', pits which were often dug near local water sources with the obvious risk of contamination.
Household water was normally obtained from water spouts or communal pumps and a trip there once or twice per day was an essential part of the normal household chores.

Cartoon from 'Fun' magazine, August 1866
Caption: DEATH'S DISPENSARY
Open to the poor, gratis, by permission of the parish

The first outbreak of Asiatic cholera began in 1831 in North East England, spreading rapidly throughout the country and claiming in excess of 50,000 lives before abating in 1833.
Popular opinion of the time attributed the spread of such diseases to 'miasma', an invisible gas or vapour which was airborne and entered the body via mouth or nostrils.
Thus, the pollution and consumption of contaminated water supplies continued unchecked.

In 1848, cholera struck again and by the following year some 70,000 people had succumbed throughout Britain.
The speed at which the disease struck its victims was horrific - a person who appeared normally healthy in the morning could be dead by nightfall.

It was in 1854, when Dr. John Snow, a London anaesthiologist, finally established the connection between cholera and contaminated water supplies, basing his observations on a particular public pump situated at Broad Street, Soho.
Using statistical analysis, he was able to establish the pump as the source of the outbreak and by removing the pump handle, the epidemic was contained.

The 1849 outbreak, in particular, had disastrous effects in the Sirhowy Valley - few families were to escape unscathed. In many cases, the family bread-winner would be removed condemning his survivors to the horrors of the 'Poor House'.

At Cefn Golau, Tredegar, a special cemetery was established to accommodate victims of the outbreaks.
The cemetery has survived, albeit in a dilapidated condition although plans have been discussed to improve the area as a place of special historic interest.