Cyfarthfa is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the west of the town of

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Merthyr Tydfil County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is a county borough (since 1908) in the south-east of Wales. In mid 2018, it had an estimated population of 60,183. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and ta ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Community

Cyfarthfa mainly consists of the settlements of Gellideg and

Heolgerrig Heolgerrig ( Welsh for "stony road"; formerly "Pen-yr-Heolgerrig") is a small village in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales. It is part of the community of Cyfarthfa. It lies just west of Merthyr Tydfil, and is separated from it by the main ...

and Rhyd-y-car area just west of Merthyr Tydfil town. It is mostly bordered to the east by the A470 trunk road and to the north by the 'Heads of the Valleys'

A465 The A465 is a trunk road that runs from Bromyard in Herefordshire, England to Llandarcy near Swansea in South Wales. The western half is known officially as the Neath to Abergavenny Trunk Road, but the section from Abergavenny to the Vale of N ...

Cyfarthfa Castle Cyfarthfa Castle ( cy, Castell Cyfarthfa; ) is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which � ...

is located just to the east in the neighbouring community of

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

. Cyfarthfa has strong historical ties to the industrial past of Merthyr Tydfil, the site of

Cyfarthfa Ironworks The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales. The beginning The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in Lo ...

was just to the east, by the

River Taff The River Taff ( cy, Afon Taf) is a river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons; the Taf Fechan (''little Taff'') and the Taf Fawr (''great Taff'') before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. Its confluence with the R ...

. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 6141, increasing to 6,869 at the 2011 Census.

Electoral ward

Prior to 1995 Cyfarthfa was an

Mid Glamorgan County Council Mid Glamorgan County Council () was the upper-tier authority for the Welsh county of Mid Glamorgan between its creation in 1974 and its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and Wales was reorganised in 1974 under the Local Govern ...

(electing one councillor) and Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council. Subsequent to 1995 Cyfarthfa became an electoral ward to

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Merthyr Tudful) is the governing body for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was governed by a local boar ...

, electing three councillors. Since 1995 the ward has largely elected

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

councillors standing under a variety of tickets, with the occasional Labour Party councillor.Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Election Results 1995-2012
The Election Centre. Retrieved 31 October 2018. At the May 2017 elections the vote in Cyfarthfa was delayed until 8 June, because of the death of one of the candidates, Ieuan Harris. The result was seats being won by Geraint Thomas (Independent), Paul Brown (Merthyr Independents) and David Chaplin (Labour). The turnout was the highest in the borough, at 64%. Following the May 2012 elections Cyfarthfa was represented by two Merthyr Independents. Councillor Les Elliott resigned only two months later on health grounds, triggering a by-election which took place on 15 November 2012. The by-election was won by Labour's Margaret Davies, who beat the replacement Merthyr Independents candidate by 21 votes. Sitting Independent councillor, Paul Brown, died in February 2019, leading to a by-election being held on 11 April 2019.

References

External links

Old Merthyr Tydfil: Cyfarthfa
- Historical Photographs of Cyfarthfa {{Merthyr Tydfil Communities in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Wards of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Mid Glamorgan electoral wards

Community

Electoral ward

See also

References

External links