Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough,
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 ...
, administered by
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after
Tydfil, daughter of
King Brychan of
Brycheiniog
Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans be ...
, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. generally means "
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin : a place of worship built over a martyr's
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s. Similar place names in south Wales are
Merthyr Cynog,
Merthyr Dyfan
Merthyr Dyfan or Dyfan is a northeastern suburb of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, in south Wales, formerly an independent medieval village. It is also an ecclesiastical parish and a formal electoral ward of the Vale of Glamorgan. It borders Colco ...
and
Merthyr Mawr.
History
Pre-history
Peoples migrating north from Europe had lived in the area for many thousands of years. The
archaeological record starts from about 1000 BC with the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
. From their language, the
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...
developed.
Hillforts were built during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
and the tribe that inhabited them in the south of Wales was called the
Silures
The Silures ( , ) were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobunn ...
, according to
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
, the Roman historian of the
Roman invaders.
The Roman invasion
The Romans arrived in Wales by about 47–53 CE and established a network of
forts
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, with
roads to link them. They had to fight hard to consolidate their conquests, and in 74 CE they built an
auxiliary
Auxiliary may refer to:
* A backup site or system
In language
* Auxiliary language (disambiguation)
* Auxiliary verb
In military and law enforcement
* Auxiliary police
* Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...
fortress at
Penydarren, overlooking 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 ...
. It covered an area of about three
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s, and formed part of the network of roads and fortifications; remains were found underneath the
Merthyr Town F.C.
Merthyr Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Merthyr) is a Welsh semi-professional football club based in Merthyr Tydfil, currently playing in the , in the seventh tier of the English football league system.
The football club was o ...
football ground. A road ran north–south through the area, linking the southern coast with
Mid Wales
Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...
and
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
via
Brecon
Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...
. Parts of this and other roads, including ''
Sarn Helen'', can be traced and walked.
The
Silures
The Silures ( , ) were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobunn ...
resisted this invasion fiercely from their mountain strongholds, but the
Roman army
The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
eventually prevailed. In time, relative peace was established, and the Penydarren fortress was abandoned by about 120 CE. This was bad for the local economy, which had come to rely upon supplying the fortress with beef and grain, and imported items such as oysters from the coast. The Romans had intermarried with local women and many auxiliary veterans had settled on farms locally.
With the
decline of the Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...
,
Roman legion
The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...
s were withdrawn about 380 CE. By 402, the Roman army in Britain consisted mostly of Germanic troops and local recruits; the cream of the army had been withdrawn to the continent of Europe. Sometime in that period, Irish Dalriadans (Scots) and
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...
attacked and breached
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...
. During the 4th and 5th centuries the coasts of Cambria (Wales) had been subject to the raids of Irish pirates, in much the same way as the south and east coasts of Britain had been raided by
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
pirates from across the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
. Around the middle of the 5th century, Irish settlements had been established around
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, the
Gower Peninsula,
Carmarthenshire, and in
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
and eventually petty kingdoms were established as far inland as Brecon.
The coming of Christianity
The Latin language and some
Roman customs and culture became established before the withdrawal of the Roman army. The
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
religion was introduced throughout much of Wales by the Romans, but locally it may have been introduced later by monks from Ireland and France, who made their way into the region following rivers and valleys.
Local legends
Local tradition holds that, around 480 CE, a girl called
Tydfil, daughter of a local chieftain named
Brychan
Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales.
Life
According to Celtic hagiography Brychan was born in Ireland, the son of a Prince Anlach, son of Coronac, and h ...
, was an early local convert to Christianity, and was murdered by either
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
or
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
pagans Pagans may refer to:
* Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire
* Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices
* Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series
* Pagan's ...
, and buried in the town. The girl was considered a
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
after her death. ''Merthyr'' translates to "martyr" in English, and tradition holds that when the town was founded, the name was chosen in her honour. A church was eventually built on the traditional site of her burial.
The Normans
For several hundred years the valley of 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 ...
was heavily wooded, with a few scattered farms on the mountain slopes.
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
barons moved in after the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
of England, but by 1093 they occupied only the lowlands; the uplands remained in the hands of the local Welsh rulers. There were conflicts between the barons and the families descended from the Welsh princes, and control of the land passed to and fro in the
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...
. During this time
Morlais Castle
Morlais Castle is a 13th-century castle located above the Taff Gorge near the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.
History
Building of the castle was first begun by Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester on land claimed by Humphrey de Bohun, 3 ...
was built two miles north of the town.
Early modern Merthyr
No permanent settlement was formed until well into the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. People continued to be self-sufficient, living by farming and later by trading. Merthyr was little more than a village. An
ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...
existed in the parish in the
Elizabethan period
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...
, but it did not survive beyond the early 1640s at the latest. In 1754, it was recorded that the valley was almost entirely populated by shepherds. Farm produce was traded at a number of markets and fairs, notably the Waun Fair above
Dowlais
Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...
.
[The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008.]
The Industrial Revolution
Influence and growth of iron industry
![DV405 no](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/DV405_no.172_Merthyr_Tydfil.png)
Merthyr was close to reserves of iron ore, coal, limestone, timber and water, making it an ideal site for ironworks. Small-scale iron working and coal mining had been carried out at some places in South Wales since the Tudor period, but in the wake of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
the demand for iron led to the rapid expansion of Merthyr's iron operations. By the peak of the revolution, the districts of Merthyr housed four of the greatest ironworks in the world:
Dowlais Ironworks,
Plymouth Ironworks
The Plymouth Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located on land leased from the Earl of Plymouth at Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales. The metal produced was considered to be the finest in South Wales.
The Ironworks was ...
,
Cyfarthfa Ironworks and
Penydarren.
The companies were mainly owned by two dynasties, the
Guest
Guest or The Guest may refer to:
* A person who is given hospitality
* Guest (surname), people with the surname ''Guest''
* USS ''Guest'' (DD-472), U.S. Navy ''Fletcher''-class destroyer 1942–1946
* Guest appearance, guest actor, guest star, e ...
and
Crawshay Crawshay is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Crawshay Bailey (1789–1872), English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales
*David Crawshay (born 1979), Australian rower
*Eliot Crawshay-Williams (1879–1 ...
families.
Starting in the late 1740s, land within the Merthyr district was gradually being leased for the smelting of iron to meet the growing demand, with the expansion of smaller furnaces dotted around South Wales.
By 1759, with the management of John Guest, the Dowlais Ironworks was founded. This would later become the Dowlais Iron Company and also the first major works in the area. Following the success at Dowlais, Guest took a lease from the Earl of Plymouth which he used to build the Plymouth Ironworks.
However, this was less of a success until the arrival in 1763 of a "Cumberland ironmaster,
Anthony Bacon, who leased an area of eight miles by five for £100 a year on which he started the Cyfarthfa Ironworks and also bought the Plymouth Works".
After the death of Anthony Bacon in 1786, the ownership of the works passed to Bacon's sons, and was divided between Richard Hill, their manager and
Richard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay (1739 – 27 June 1810) was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799.
Early life and marriage
Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of ...
. Hill now owned the Plymouth Iron Works and Crawshay the works at Cyfarthfa. The fourth ironworks was
Penydarren, built by
Francis Homfray
Francis Homfray (7 September 1725 – 1798) was an English industrialist and one of the founders of the iron industry in South Wales.
He was the third son of Francis Homfray (1674–1736), of Wales, a village in Rotherham located in the coun ...
and his son
Samuel Homfray in 1784.
It was the need to export goods from Cyfarthfa that led to the construction of the
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951.
History
Construction started in 1790; being wa ...
running from their works right down the valley to Cardiff Bay, stimulating other businesses along the way.
![Merthyr Tydfil Cefn Viaduct](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Merthyr_Tydfil_Cefn_Viaduct.png)
During the first few decades of the 19th century, the ironworks at Cyfarthfa (and neighbouring Dowlais) continued to expand, and at their height were the most productive ironworks in the world: 50,000 tons of rails left just one ironworks in 1844, for the railways across Russia to Siberia. With the growing industry in Merthyr, several railway companies established routes linking the works with ports and other parts of Britain. They included the Brecon and Merthyr Railway,
Vale of Neath Railway,
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...
and
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. They often shared routes to allow access to coal mines and ironworks through rugged country, which presented great engineering challenges. According to David Williams, in 1804, the world's first railway steam locomotive, "The Iron Horse", developed by the Cornish engineer
Richard Trevithick, pulled 10 tons of iron with passengers on the new
Merthyr Tramroad
The Merthyr Tramroad (sometimes referred to as the Penydarren Tramroad due to its use by Trevithick's locomotive built at that ironworks) was a long line that opened in 1802, connecting the private lines belonging to the Dowlais and Penydarren I ...
from Penydarren to
Quakers Yard.
He also claims that this was the "first 'railway' and the work of George Stephenson was merely an improvement upon it".
A replica of this locomotive is in the
National Waterfront Museum
The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea or NWMS ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau) is a museum in Swansea, Wales, forming part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. It is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial ...
in Swansea. The tramway passed through what is arguably the oldest railway tunnel in the world, part of which can be seen alongside Pentrebach Road at the lower end of the town. The demand for iron was also fuelled by the Royal Navy, which needed cannon for its ships, and later by the railways. In 1802,
Admiral Lord Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
visited Merthyr to witness cannon being made.
Famously, upon visiting Merthyr in 1850,
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
wrote that the town was filled with such "unguided, hard-worked, fierce, and miserable-looking sons of Adam I never saw before. Ah me! It is like a vision of Hell, and will never leave me, that of these poor creatures broiling, all in sweat and dirt, amid their furnaces, pits, and rolling mills."
Living conditions in the China district
China was the name given to a nineteenth-century slum in the Pont-Storehouse area of Merthyr Tydfil. This was not a '
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
' in the modern sense, and its residents were mainly English, Irish and Welsh. The inhabitants of China were seen as a separate class, away from the respectable areas of Merthyr, and were clearly recognisable by their lifestyle and appearance. In his article, ''In search of the Celestial Empire'', historian Keith Strange compares China to areas of Liverpool, Nottingham and Derby, and states that this area was just as bad if not worse than those "little Sodoms".
There were at least 1,500 people living in the slum, the inhabitants of which were the poorest of society and had a bad reputation. Their living conditions were some of the most squalid in Britain. The slum was based around narrow streets, badly ventilated and full of crowded houses that led to festering diseases. China became known as "Little Hell" and was notorious for having no toilets but open sewers, which caused diseases such as
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
and
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
.
The Merthyr Rising
With the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
came a sharp decline in young men working in agriculture, who were attracted by higher wages paid in industries such as iron. In 1829, the depression hit Merthyr hard, as ironmasters responded with dismissals, wage cuts and short-term working. Any sudden downturn in the market plunged workers into hardship, widening the class distinctions.
The
Merthyr Rising
The Merthyr Rising, also referred to as the Merthyr Riots, of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the fir ...
of 1831 was precipitated by ruthless collection of debts, frequent wage reductions, and imposition of
truck shops. Some workers were paid in specially minted coins or credit notes known as "truck", which could be spent only at shops owned by their employers. Many workers objected to the price and quality of goods sold there. Throughout May 1831, the coal miners and others who worked for
William Crawshay took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, calling for reform, and protesting against the lowering of their wages and general unemployment.
Between 7,000 and 10,000 workers marched, and for four days magistrates and ironmasters were under siege in the Castle Hotel, with the protesters effectively controlling the town. Soldiers called in from
Brecon
Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...
clashed with the rioters, and several on both sides were killed. Despite the hope of negotiating with the owners, the skilled workers lost control of the movement. Several supposed leaders of the riots were arrested. One of them, Richard Lewis, popularly known as
Dic Penderyn, was hanged for stabbing a soldier in the leg, becoming known as the first local working-class martyr. It was claimed in 1876 that it was not Lewis who stabbed Black, but another man, Ianto Parker, who fled to America after the incident to avoid prosecution. Such claims have never been fully verified, although Lewis's innocence is widely accepted in Merthyr.
The Chartist movement of 1831 did not consider the reforms put forward by
The Reform Act of 1832 to be extensive enough.
The decline of coal and iron
![Cyfarthfa Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks%2C_Merthyr_Tydfil_2013.jpg)
The population of Merthyr reached 51,949 in 1861, but then went into decline for several years. As the 19th century progressed, Merthyr's inland location became increasingly disadvantageous for iron production. Penydarren closed in 1859 and Plymouth in 1880; thereafter some ironworkers migrated to the United States or even
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, where Merthyr engineer
John Hughes established an ironworks in 1869, creating the new city of
Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...
in the process.
In the 1870s the advent of coal mining to the south of the town gave renewed impetus to the local economy and population growth. New mining communities developed at
Merthyr Vale,
Treharris
Treharris is a small town and community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South Wales. It is located about west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Ba ...
and
Bedlinog
Bedlinog is a small village (and larger community) located in The Taff Bargoed valley (Cwm Bargoed), north of Pontypridd, north west of Caerphilly and south east of Merthyr Tydfil in south-east Wales. It is currently in the south of Merthyr Tydf ...
, and the population of Merthyr rose to a peak of 80,990 in 1911. The growth of the town led to a grant of
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
status in 1908.
A prime example of the decline is the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. The actions, or inactions, of
Robert Crawshay
Robert Thompson Crawshay (3 March 1817 – 10 May 1879) was a British ironmaster.
Life
Crawshay, youngest son of William Crawshay by his second wife, Bella Thompson, was born at Cyfarthfa Ironworks. He was educated at Dr. Prichard's school at ...
("The Iron King") can be seen as the main reasons for its downfall. The Crawshays refused to modernise by replacing iron production with steel production, using the newly discovered
Bessemer process. This led to closure of the works in 1874, which caused economic hardship and unemployment in Merthyr.
![The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian Jul 5 1845](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/The_Cardiff_and_Merthyr_Guardian_Jul_5_1845.jpg)
After Robert's death in 1879 his son William Thompson Crawshay took over the Cyfarthfa works. William finally modernised the works, introducing steel production. However it took until 1882 to get the works back up and running. It never fully caught up with other steel-making areas and closed again in 1910. Despite a comeback during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, it finally closed in 1919. The local steel and coal industries began to decline after the war. By 1932, more than 80 per cent of men in
Dowlais
Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...
were unemployed; 27,000 people emigrated from Merthyr in the 1920s and 1930s, and a Royal Commission recommended that the town's county borough status be withdrawn. The fortunes of Merthyr revived temporarily during World War II, as war industry reached the area.
Post-Second World War
Immediately after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, several large companies set up in Merthyr. In October 1948 the American-owned
Hoover Company
The Hoover Company is a home appliance company founded in Ohio, United States. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom; and, mostly in the 20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the Ho ...
opened a large washing machine factory and depot in the village of
Pentrebach
Pentrebach (, sometimes written Pentre-Bach, literally: ''small village'') is a village in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales and is formed from the original settlements of Lower Pentrebach, Tai-bach and Duffryn.
It lies on the east side of th ...
, a few miles south of the town. The factory was purpose-built to manufacture the Hoover Electric Washing Machine, and at one point Hoover was the largest employer in the borough. Later the
Sinclair C5
The Sinclair C5 is a small one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle, technically an "electrically assisted pedal cycle". It was the culmination of Sir Clive Sinclair's long-running interest in electric vehicles. Although widely described ...
was built in the same factory.
Hoover and other companies targeted Merthyr, and its declining coal and iron industries gave space for new businesses to start up there and grow. There were then increasing numbers of unemployed workers in the area, and since the Second World War this has included women too. "Initially 350 people were employed, by the mid 1970s that number had risen to near 5,000; making Hoover the largest employer in the borough", and therefore strongly filling in for the declining coal and iron industries.
The strong growth of employment of women in Merthyr after the Second World War can be seen as a result of the introduction of more light manufacturing and consumer-based business – a stark contrast to the heavy industry in the coal and ironworks which had an almost entirely male workforce.
Several other companies built factories, including the aviation components company Teddington Aircraft Controls, which opened in 1946 and closed in the early 1970s. The Merthyr Tydfil Institute for the Blind, founded in 1923, is the oldest active manufacturer in the town.
Cyfarthfa, the former home of the ironmaster
William Crawshay II
William Crawshay II (27 March 1788 – 4 August 1867) was the son of William Crawshay I, the owner of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
William Crawshay II became an ironmaster when he took over the business from his father. He wa ...
, an opulent mock castle, is now a museum. It houses a number of paintings of the town, a large collection of artefacts from the town's Industrial Revolution period, and a notable collection of
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
tomb artefacts, including several
sarcophagi.
In 1992, while testing a new
angina
Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by ischemia, insufficient blood flow to the Cardiac muscle, heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease.
Angina is typical ...
treatment in Merthyr Tydfil, researchers discovered that the new drug had erection-stimulating side effects for some of the healthy volunteers in the trial study. This discovery formed the basis for
Viagra
Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra, among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is unclear if it is effective for treating sexual dysfunction in women. It is taken by ...
.
In 2006 inventor Howard Stapleton, based in Merthyr Tydfil, developed the technology that gave rise to the recent mosquitotone or
Teen Buzz
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
phenomenon.
In September 2021, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council announced a bid to apply for city status, to be coordinated by urban economic and social researcher Dr Jane Croad.
The Welsh language
Use of the
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...
in the town declined significantly in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In the
1891 census, 68.4 per cent of the 110,569 inhabitants habitually spoke Welsh. By the 1911 Census, the figure had fallen to 50.9 per cent of 74,596 inhabitants. The
2011 census showed 8.9 per cent primarily speaking Welsh.
Industrial legacy
Despite Merthyr's long and varied
industrial heritage, much of it has declined, with the closure of long-established nearby
collieries
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
, and
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
and ironworks. Despite improvements, some parts remain economically disadvantaged and a marked proportion of the community are still long-term
unemployed
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...
. In 2006, a
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
series ranked Merthyr Tydfil as the United Kingdom's third-worst place to live. In the 2007 edition of the same series, Merthyr had improved to fifth-worst.
Open-cast mining
In 2006, a large
open-cast coal mine to extract 10 million tonnes of coal over 15 years was authorised just east of Merthyr as part of the
Ffos-y-fran open-cast mine.
Government
The parish of Merthyr Tydfil was made a
local board district
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...
in 1850, which became an
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
in 1894. The urban district was made a
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
in 1905, with eight
electoral wards
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...
. Merthyr Tydfil was granted
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
status in 1908, making it independent from
Glamorgan County Council
Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...
.
From 1974 to 1996 the borough reverted to being a lower-tier
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
council, with
Mid Glamorgan County Council providing county-level services in the area. The borough was also enlarged in 1974, gaining
Vaynor
Vaynor (Welsh: ''Y Faenor'', meaning "The Manor") is a village and community (formerly a parish) in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales, United Kingdom. The population of the community at the 2011 census was 3,551.
Location
It is about fo ...
from
Brecknockshire
, image_flag=
, HQ= Brecon
, Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974)
, Origin= Brycheiniog
, Status=
, Start= 1535
, End= ...
and
Bedlinog
Bedlinog is a small village (and larger community) located in The Taff Bargoed valley (Cwm Bargoed), north of Pontypridd, north west of Caerphilly and south east of Merthyr Tydfil in south-east Wales. It is currently in the south of Merthyr Tydf ...
from
Gelligaer Urban District.
In 1996 Mid Glamorgan County Council was abolished, and the borough council took over its functions in the area, being renamed
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. The council governs the town and the wider
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, which stretches as far south as
Treharris
Treharris is a small town and community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, South Wales. It is located about west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Ba ...
and Bedlinog. The town includes the electoral wards 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 ...
,
Penydarren, Cyfarthfa, Gurnos, Dowlais, Vaynor, and
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
.
The
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for the
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency is
Gerald Jones, and the
Senedd
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...
member is
Dawn Bowden
Dawn Alison Louise Bowden (born 14 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist serving as Chief Whip of the Welsh Government and Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport since 2021. Bowden has been the Member of the Sened ...
MS.
Religion
Anglican churches
![St Tydfil's Church, Merthyr Tydfil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/St_Tydfil%27s_Church%2C_Merthyr_Tydfil.jpg)
Merthyr was regarded as a
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
stronghold in the 19th century, but the chapels declined rapidly from the 1920s onwards and most are now closed.
The Church of England (now the Church in Wales) sought to counterbalance the influence of nonconformity in the 19th century and Merthyr had a succession of notable parish priests. Among them was
John Griffith, rector of Merthyr from 1858 until his death in 1885. Griffith had previously been the incumbent at
Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...
, where he had created controversy for his evidence to the commissioners preparing the
1847 Education Reports
The Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales, commonly referred to in Wales as the "Treason of the Blue Books" or "Treachery of the Blue Books" ( cy, Brad y Llyfrau Gleision) or just the "Blue Books''"'' are a ...
. His views became more tempered over time. Griffith's move to Merthyr Tydfil saw him take over a much larger and more established parish than Aberdare. He became less than popular with the church authorities, however, as a result of his support for
disestablishment
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...
. In July 1883 he stated "I have been for years convinced that nothing but Disestablishment, the separation of the Church from the State, can ever reform the
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.
The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...
."
Griffith's funeral was said to have been attended by 12,000–15,000 people. "I venture to declare," wrote one correspondent, "no man in this part of the kingdom could be more popular in his day and generation than the Rev. John Griffith." Among the nonconformist ministers present was an old rival, Dr
Thomas Price Thomas Price may refer to:
*Thomas Price (South Australian politician) (1852–1909), Premier of South Australia
*Thomas Price (bishop) (1599–1685), Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel
*Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc) (1787–1848), Welsh literary ...
of Aberdare.
Another influential character was Sir
John Guest, who contributed greatly to the building of
St John's Church, Dowlais
St John's Church is a defunct Grade II Listed building, listed church in the village of Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.
The church was built in 1827 for local Dowlais Ironworks, ironworks manager Sir John Josiah Guest, at a cost of £3000. ...
. Despite the generally small congregations of Anglican churches, St John's thrived: it held two services in English each Sunday and also two in Welsh. This church was significant in the plan to counterbalance nonconformity in Merthyr. In 2019 the church was converted into residential flats which retain the original structure.
Nonconformity
Merthyr was notable in the 19th and early 20th centuries for a large number of nonconformist places of worship, most holding services in Welsh.
One of the earliest was
Ynysgau Chapel, which dated from 1749. It was demolished in 1967 as part of the Merthyr Town Improvement Scheme.
The original cause at Ynysgau was established by various "
dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
s" from the Church of England.
It had been acquired by the Independents (
Congregationalists
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
) by the early 19th century.
Other early chapels were Zion and Ebenezer (
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
), Zoar and
Bethesda (Independents) and Pontmorlais (
Calvinistic Methodists
Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...
).
The Merthyr Hebrew Congregation
Merthyr Tydfil had the largest Jewish community in Wales in the 19th century, reaching 400 at its height.
As the Jewish population had increased, Merthyr Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1848 and a cemetery consecrated a few years later at Cefn-Coed.
Merthyr Synagogue
The former Merthyr Synagogue is located on Bryntirion Road in the Thomastown section of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. It is a Grade II listed building and is the oldest purpose-built synagogue still standing in Wales. History
The Jewish congregation o ...
was built in 1875. Religious services ceased when it had a male Jewish congregation of under ten, the
minyan
In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...
(quorum) required for them.
In 1978 the building was given Grade II* listing, changed to Grade II in 1983. In the 1980s the 120-year-old synagogue was sold and became a Christian Centre, then a gym. In 2009 permission was obtained to turn it into flats. In 2019 it was bought by the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, which plans to open as a Jewish Heritage Centre in 2025.
Culture
![Hen Neuadd y Dref Merthyr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Hen_Neuadd_y_Dref_Merthyr.jpg)
The town's many cultural events include local poets and writers holding poetry evenings and
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...
s organised at
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 ...
and Park.
Menter Iaith
Menter Iaith (plural: ''Mentrau Iaith'', English language, English: Language Initiative) is a community-based organisation which works to raise the profile of the Welsh language in a specific area. Each local ''Menter Iaith'' receives a basic grant ...
Merthyr Tudful (the Merthyr Tydfil Welsh Language Initiative) has successfully transformed the Zoar Chapel and adjacent vestry building in Pontmorlais into a community arts venue,
Canolfan Soar
Canolfan Soar is a Grade II-listed community facility in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, that includes a theatre and other facilities. It was converted from the closed Grade II-listed, eighteenth-century, Zoar Chapel in the first decade of the twenty-first ...
and Theatr Soar, which run a programme of performance events and activities in both Welsh and English, together with a cafe and a bookshop specialising in local interest and Welsh language books and CDs.
Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association, in partnership with Canolfan Soar, has raised funds to turn the Pontmorlais area into a cultural quarter. With references to the 1831
Merthyr Rising
The Merthyr Rising, also referred to as the Merthyr Riots, of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the fir ...
and red bricks for its frontage, an arts and creative industries centre named Redhouse Cymru was launched in
Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall
Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Merthyr Tudful) is a municipal building in the High Street, Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed buil ...
on
Saint David's Day 2014. The town's several choirs – Dowlais Male Voice Choir, Ynysowen Male Voice Choir, Treharris Male Voice Choir, Merthyr Tydfil Ladies Choir, Con Voce, Cantorion Cyfarthfa, St David's Church Choir, St David's Choral Scholars, Merthyr Aloud and Tenovus – perform locally and abroad and in the media.
Merthyr has several historical and heritage groups:
*Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Regeneration Trust aims to preserve for the benefit of the residents... and the Nation at large whatever of the Historical, Architectural and Constructional Heritage may exist in and around Merthyr Tydfil in the form of buildings and artefacts of particular beauty or of Historical, Architectural or Constructional interest and also to improve, conserve and protect the environment thereto."
*Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society sets out "to advance the education of the public by promoting the study of the local history and architecture of Merthyr Tydfil".
*Merthyr Tydfil Museum and Heritage Groups aspire "to advance the education of the public by the promotion, support and improvement of the Heritage of Merthyr Tydfil and its Museums."
Merthyr's Central Library holds a prominent position in the town centre, as a
Carnegie library. Merthyr hosted the
National Eisteddfod
The National Eisteddfod of Wales (Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors ...
in 1881 and 1901 and the national
Urdd Gobaith Cymru Eisteddfod in 1987. Like nearby
Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...
, it is known for its music scene. Several bands have achieved national success, including
The Blackout and
Midasuno
Midasuno were a Welsh four-piece alternative rock band from South Wales. The band toured the United Kingdom and recorded three singles, an EP and three albums. The band are the subject of the road diary "Dial M For Merthyr" by the Welsh author ...
. From 2011 to 2014, the town held a Merthyr Rock Festival at Cyfarthfa Park. To complement this, the town holds the Merthyr Rising each year – a three-day celebration of town history through local music, held on the site of the Rising itself in Penderyn Square at the junction of Castle Street and High Street.
Tourism
The town lies the southern edge of the
Brecon Beacons National Park
The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain (range), Black Mountain ...
and is also well-placed for visitors to the
South Wales Valleys. The remains of
Morlais Castle
Morlais Castle is a 13th-century castle located above the Taff Gorge near the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.
History
Building of the castle was first begun by Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl of Gloucester on land claimed by Humphrey de Bohun, 3 ...
are on the northern edge of Merthyr Tydfil, the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
castle was reportedly never completed. The
Brecon Mountain Railway
The Brecon Mountain Railway (Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Mynydd Brycheiniog'') is a narrow gauge tourist railway on the south side of the Brecon Beacons. It climbs northwards from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir (also called ...
is a narrow-gauge tourist railway that runs up the
Taf Fechan
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 ...
valley from
Pant
Pant may refer to:
Clothing
* Pants or trousers, an article of outer clothing worn on the lower half of the body
* Underpants, an item of underwear
Places
* Pant, Denbighshire, Wales; a township of Llysfaen
*Pant, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
*Pan ...
on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil.
Transport
The "Pen-y-Darren" locomotive
![Pen-y-Darren](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Pen-y-Darren.jpg)
In 1802, Homfray, the Master of the Penydarren Ironworks, commissioned engineer
Richard Trevithick to build one of his high-pressure steam engines to drive a
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
at the Penydarren Ironworks. With the assistance of works engineer Rees Jones, Trevithick mounted the engine on wheels and turned it into a locomotive. In 1803, Trevithick sold the patents for his locomotives to Homfray.
Homfray was so impressed with Trevithick's locomotive that he made another bet with Crawshay, this time for 500
guineas, that it could haul 10
ton
Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses.
Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean
* the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds
...
s of iron along the
Merthyr Tydfil Tramroad from Penydarren to
Abercynon
Abercynon (), is both a village and a community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, ...
, a distance of . Amid great public interest, on 21 February 1804 it successfully carried 11.24 tons of coal, five wagons and 70 men over the full distance in 4 hours and 5 minutes, at an average speed of . As well as Homfray, Crawshay, and the passengers, other witnesses included Mr Giddy, a respected patron of Trevithick, and an "engineer from the Government". The latter was probably a safety inspector, who would have been particularly interested in the boiler's ability to withstand high steam pressures. This allowed others to develop Trevithick's ideas; some claim the modern railway system was born in Merthyr Tydfil. In modern Merthyr, behind the monument to Trevithick's locomotive, is a stone wall, the sole remainder of the former boundary wall of Penydarren House. There is a full-scale working replica of Trevithick's 1804 steam-powered railway locomotive in the
National Waterfront Museum
The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea or NWMS ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau) is a museum in Swansea, Wales, forming part of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. It is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial ...
, Swansea.
Roads
Road improvements mean the town is increasingly a commuter location and has shown some of the highest house-price growth in the UK.
Public transport
Regular trains run from
Merthyr Tydfil railway station
, symbol_location = gb
, symbol = rail
, image = Railway Station, Merthyr Tydfil (geograph 4049515).jpg
, caption = Merthyr Tydfil railway station in 2014
, borough = Merthyr Tydfil, Mer ...
to
Cardiff Queen Street
, symbol_location = gb
, symbol = rail
, image = Cardiff Queen St. (19366639218).jpg
, caption = Cardiff Queen Street seen from the north.
, borough = Cardiff, City and County of Cardiff
, country = Wales
, coordinates =
, grid_name = G ...
and
Cardiff Central.
Merthyr Tydfil bus station is located in Swan Street, to the south of the town centre. The station opened in June 2021, replacing a previous one in Castle Street. The new bus station is closer to the railway station, to facilitate interchange as part of a proposed
South Wales Metro
The South Wales Metro () is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network in South East Wales around the hub of . The first phase was approved for development in October 2013. Works are current ...
network.
Employment
Merthyr relies on a combination of
public sector
The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...
, manufacturing and
service sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
companies to provide employment. The
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
has recently opened a major office in the town near a large
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
call centre
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...
(T-Mobile & EE).
Hoover (now part of
Candy Group) has its
registered office in the town and remained a major employer until it transferred production abroad in March 2009, with a loss of 337 jobs from the closure of its factory.
Sports and leisure
Boxing
![EddieThomasSculptureMerthyr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/EddieThomasSculptureMerthyr.jpg)
Merthyr is well known for boxers,
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
and
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
. The latter have included
Johnny Owen
John Richard Owens (7 January 1956 – 4 November 1980) was a Welsh professional boxer who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His seemingly fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including the "Merthyr Matchstick" and the "Bionic Ba ...
,
Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone, MBE (15 April 1939 – 30 September 2000) was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Med ...
, and
Eddie Thomas. A series of bronze sculptures in the town mark their achievements.
Where the sculpture of Eddie Thomas stands was also the site of The Bethesda Community Arts Centre in the 1980s.
Football
Merthyr has a football team,
Merthyr Town
Merthyr Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Merthyr) is a Welsh semi-professional association football, football club based in Merthyr Tydfil, currently playing in the , in the seventh tier of the English football league system.
The ...
or "The Martyrs", currently competes in England's Evostick
Southern Football League
The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
and plays home games at
Penydarren Park.
The town was home to the professional
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
club
Merthyr Town F.C. (1909)
Merthyr Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Merthyr) is a Welsh semi-professional association football, football club based in Merthyr Tydfil, currently playing in the , in the seventh tier of the English football league system.
The ...
, which folded in the 1930s; Merthyr Tydfil AFC was founded in 1945. In 1987 it won the Welsh Cup and qualified for the
European Cup Winners' Cup. The year 2008 marked the centennial of football at
Penydarren Park. After going into liquidation in 2010, the club dropped down three divisions, reverted to the name of Merthyr Town and made Rhiw Dda'r its new home ground. After promotion the club moved back to Penydarren Park in July 2011.
Rugby
Union
Merthyr RFC is known as "the Ironmen". It was one of the 12 founding clubs of the
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
The WRU is responsible for the running ...
in 1881. It competes in the
Principality Premiership
The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season.
Compe ...
and plays home games at
The Wern
The Wern is a sports stadium in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. It is the home of rugby union club Merthyr RFC and was, for a short period in 2017, also home of rugby league club South Wales Ironmen. The stadium is located on Cae'r Wern in the east of Mer ...
.
League
From 2017, semi-professional
League 1 club
South Wales Ironmen, previously known as "South Wales Scorpions", plays in the town at Merthyr RFC's ground, The Wern. Merthyr is also home to the
Tydfil Wildcats Rugby League
Tydfil Wildcats Rugby League is a Rugby league club based in Merthyr Tydfil. The club colours are yellow and blue. The home ground was the cage in Troedyrhiw until September 2010 but relocated for the 2011 season to Dowlais RFC. The Wildcats play i ...
team, which played at The Cage in Troedyrhiw until September 2010.
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 ...
was one of the first rugby league sides in Wales in 1907 and beat the first touring Australian side in 1908.
Mountain biking
Bikepark Wales, the UK's first purpose-built mountain biking centre, is located at Gethin Woods, Merthyr Tydfil.
Outdoor pursuits
Parkwood Outdoors Dolygaer is an outdoor activity centre that was opened in 2015 on the site of an earlier centre run by the local education authority. Pursuits include canoeing and stand-up paddleboarding on the
Pontsticill Reservoir
Pontsticill Reservoir () or Taf Fechan Reservoir is a large reservoir on the Taf Fechan lying partly in the county of Powys and partly within the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. It lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park a ...
.
Education
The main secondary schools in the town are Afon Taf High School, Cyfarthfa High School and Pen-Y-Dre High School.
Notable people
:''See
:People from Merthyr Tydfil''
Among those born in Merthyr are:
*
Gareth Abraham
Gareth John Abraham (born 13 February 1969) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He made over 100 appearances in English Football League, The Football League wi ...
– professional footballer
*
Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...
– fashion designer and retailer
*
Des Barry – author
*Members of
The Blackout – Rock band featuring Sean Smith
*
William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose – newspaper proprietor, and his brothers
Seymour Berry, 1st Baron Buckland and
Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley
*
Jamie Bevan
Gareth Jamie Bevan is a Welsh language campaigner from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales and a prominent member of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg. Bevan refused to pay fines and costs to Merthyr Tydfil Magistrate's Court for breaking into Conservative Party offi ...
– Welsh language activist
*
Nathan Craze
Nathan Craze (born 26 November 1986 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) is a Welsh former professional ice hockey netminder. He played in the Elite Ice Hockey League for the Cardiff Devils, Belfast Giants and the Edinburgh Capitals. He also played for th ...
– professional ice hockey goaltender
*
Gordon Davies –
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...
leading goal scorer and Wales international football player
*
Richard Davies – actor
*
Timothy Evans – wrongly convicted and hanged for murder
*
Kevin Gall
Kevin Alexander Gall (born 4 February 1982) is a Welsh people, Welsh former association football, footballer.
Gall, a former Wales national under-21 football team, Welsh under-21 international, started his career with Newcastle United F.C., New ...
– professional footballer
*
Sir Samuel Griffith
Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, (21 June 1845 – 9 August 1920) was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and t ...
–
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n politician;
Premier of Queensland and first
Chief Justice of Australia
The Chief Justice of Australia is the presiding Justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia. The incumbent is Susan Kiefel, who is the first woman to hold the position.
Co ...
*
Gavin Gwynne
Gavin Gwynne (born 25 April 1990) is a Welsh professional boxer who has held the Commonwealth lightweight title since February 2021, and the BBBoC British Lightweight title since April 2022.
Professional career
Gwynne made his professional deb ...
– professional boxer
*
Richard Harrington – actor
*
John Hughes – businessman
*
Ciaran Jenkins
Ciaran Jenkins (born 1984, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) is a Welsh journalist and reporter who works for ''Channel 4 News'', the flagship news programme of British broadcaster Channel 4. He is the channel's Scotland correspondant.
Personal life
...
– broadcaster and journalist
*
Declan John – professional footballer
*
David W. Jones
David W. Jones (March 25, 1815 – November 17, 1879) was a politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania at two years old with his family. He went to Madison College in Pen ...
(1815–1879), Wisconsin politician
*
Glyn Jones – poet
*
John Edward Jones – American politician and the eighth Governor of Nevada
*
William Ifor Jones
William Ifor Jones (January 23, 1900 – November 11, 1988) was a Welsh conductor and organist. Born into a large coal-mining family and raised in Merthyr Tydfil, Jones studied at the Royal Academy of Music as a scholarship student in London f ...
– American conductor and organist
*
Brian Law
Brian John Law (born 1 January 1970 in Merthyr Tydfil) is a Welsh former professional footballer and Wales international.
Club career
Law began his career with Queens Park Rangers making his debut against Sheffield Wednesday at Loftus Road ...
– Welsh international football player
*
Chelsea Lewis – Welsh international netball player
*
Peter Locke – Welsh professional darts player
*
Julien Macdonald – fashion designer
*
Man – prog-rock band
*
Leslie Norris
George Leslie Norris (21 May 1921 – 6 April 2006), was a prize-winning Welsh poet and short story writer. He taught at academic institutions in Britain and the United States, including Brigham Young University. Norris is considered one of ...
– poet
*
Geoffrey Olsen
Geoffrey Olsen (4 November 1943 – 6 December 2007) was a Welsh people, Welsh artist from Merthyr Tydfil, who spent time living in the Cotswolds, Rome, Florence and Miami.
Life and career
Born Geoffrey Robert Olsen in Merthyr Tydfil on 4 Nov ...
– artist
*
Dale Owen
Ivan Dale Owen (2 August 1924 – 12 November 1997) was a Welsh architect in the modernist architectural style. The Glamorgan Archives and ''The Independent'' newspaper both described him as a 'leading figure in Welsh architecture'. He was ...
– architect
*
Johnny Owen
John Richard Owens (7 January 1956 – 4 November 1980) was a Welsh professional boxer who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His seemingly fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including the "Merthyr Matchstick" and the "Bionic Ba ...
– boxer
*
Jonny Owen
Jonathan Tudor "Jonny" Owen (born 4 July 1971 in Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan) is a British producer, actor and writer who has appeared in TV shows including ''Shameless'', ''Murphy's Law'' and ''My Family''. Owen won a Welsh BAFTA in 2007 fo ...
– actor, broadcaster and producer
*
Morgan Owen – poet and author
*
Joseph Parry – composer
*
Gustavius Payne – artist
*
Mark Pembridge
Mark Anthony Pembridge (born 29 November 1970) is a Welsh retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and a current coach at the academy for Fulham.
He played 333 matches in England's top division for Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Evert ...
– Wales international football player
*
Robert Sidoli
Roberto Andrew "Rob" Sidoli (born 21 June 1979), also known as Robert Sidoli, is a former Welsh international rugby union player. He has won 42 caps for Wales as a lock forward.
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, he played for his school, Bishop Hedley H ...
– Welsh rugby international
*
Eddie Thomas – boxer
*
Penry Williams – artist
*
Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone, MBE (15 April 1939 – 30 September 2000) was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Med ...
– boxer
Other notable residents have included poet and author
Mike Jenkins (his son
Ciaran mentioned above) and daughter
Plaid Cymru politician
Bethan Jenkins
Bethan Sayed (née Jenkins, born 9 December 1981) is a Welsh politician. She represented the South Wales West Region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the Senedd from 2007 to 2021.
Early life and education
Sayed was born in Aberdare, the dau ...
; poet, journalist, and
Welsh Nationalist Harri Webb
Harri Webb (7 September 1920 – 31 December 1994) was a Welsh poet, Welsh nationalist, journalist and librarian.
Early life
Harri Webb was born on 7 September 1920 in Swansea, at 45 Tŷ Coch Road in Sketty, but before he was two the family mo ...
; General Secretary of the
PCS
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
Mark Serwotka; poet, author, and Welsh language activist
Meic Stephens; poet, author, and journalist
Grahame Davies
Grahame Davies LVO (born 1964) is a poet, author, editor, librettist, literary critic and former journalist. He was brought up in the former coal mining village of Coedpoeth near Wrexham in north east Wales.
Education
After gaining a degree i ...
; and current head of
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
Andrew Haines.
Sam Hughes
Sir Samuel Hughes, (January 8, 1853 – August 23, 1921) was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I. He was notable for being the last Liberal-Conservative cabinet minister, until he was dismissed from his cabinet post ...
began his career as a noted player of the
ophicleide
The ophicleide ( ) is a family of conical-bore keyed brass instruments invented in early 19th century France to extend the keyed bugle into the alto, bass and contrabass ranges. Of these, the bass ophicleide in C or B took root over the cours ...
in the Cyfarthfa Brass Band. One of the first two
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MPs to be elected to parliament was the Scot
Keir Hardie, for
Merthyr Tydfil constituency.
Notable descendants of Merthyr include the singer-songwriter
Katell Keineg
Katell Keineg (born February 1965), is a Breton- Welsh singer-songwriter, based in Wales.
Early life
Born in Brittany and raised first there and later in the Rhymney Valley, Katell Keineg is the second child and only daughter of Breton poet and ...
, whose mother is from Merthyr, the "
Chariots of Fire" athlete
Harold Abrahams' mother Esther Isaacs, and the grandfather of
Rolf Harris. The 1970s juvenile group
The Osmonds traced its ancestry to Merthyr.
Lady Charlotte Guest
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the '' Mabinogion'', the earliest prose l ...
, publisher and translator, married ironmaster
John Josiah Guest
Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet (2 February 1785 – 26 November 1852), known as John Josiah Guest, was a Welsh engineer, entrepreneur and politician.
Early life
Guest was born on 2 February 1785 in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He wa ...
in 1833 and moved to his mansion in Dowlais, where she lived for many years. There she translated the stories of the
Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
in 1838–1845 and 1877.
References in art and literature
*
Horatio Clare
Horatio Clare (born 1973) is an English author known for travel, memoir, nature and children's books. He worked at the BBC as a producer on '' Front Row'' (BBC Radio 4), ''Night Waves'' and ''The Verb'' (BBC Radio 3).
Clare has written memoirs s ...
's retelling of one of the
Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
tales, ''The Prince's Pen'' (
Seren) refers to Merthyr as being "declared an insurgent zone", and that people would refer to "'what happened at Merthyr' for years to follow".
*In the third episode of the 1978
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Going Straight
''Going Straight'' is a BBC sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale. The programme was a direct spin-off to the sitcom ''Porridge'', which all four were involved in, with ...
'', Merthyr is referred to as having "more pubs... than anywhere else in Britain, and they're all shut Sundays."
*In
Jasper Fforde's ''
Thursday Next'' series (set in an
alternate history
Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...
), Merthyr is the capital of an independent People's Republic of Wales.
*Australian poet
Les Murray references his experiences in the town in his poem, "Vindaloo in Merthyr Tydfil".
*Canadian songwriter
Jane Siberry
Jane Siberry ( ; ; born 12 October 1955) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known for such hits as " Mimi on the Beach", "I Muse Aloud", "One More Colour" and "Calling All Angels". She performed the theme song to the television series ''Maniac Ma ...
once visited Merthyr Tydfil, and used the line "and my heart is black and heavy, it is slags of Merthyr Tydfil" as an image to convey feelings of abandonment and sadness in her song "You Don't Need", from the 1984 album, ''
No Borders Here
''No Borders Here'' is the second album (and first to be available outside Canada) by Jane Siberry.
The album's single " Mimi on the Beach" was Siberry's breakthrough hit in her native Canada, and remains one of her most famous songs. Toronto's C ...
''.
Twinnings
*
Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, since 1980
See also
*
Sustainability in Merthyr Tydfil
Local and national public authorities in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil have taken considerable steps towards improving social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability in the area. This has included funding from charities, organisat ...
References
The population given as 38,000 is for the parishes round the town centre: the population of the County Borough at the 2011 census was 58,800 and in 2014 59,500.
Bibliography
*''A Brief History of Merthyr Tydfil'' by Joseph Gross. The Starling Press. 1986
*''The Merthyr Rising'' by Gwyn A Williams. University of Wales Press,
*''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press,
*''People, Protest and Politics, case studies in C19 Wales'' By David Egan, Gomer 1987
*''Cyfres y Cymoedd: Merthyr a Thaf'', edited by Hywel Teifi Edwards. Gomer, 2001
*''Civilizing the Urban: Popular culture and Urban Space in Merthyr, c. 1870–1914'' by Andy Croll. University of Wales Press. 2000.
*''Methyr Tydfil A.F.C. 1945–1954: The Glory Years'' By Philip Sweet. T.T.C. Books. 2008
*''The Eccles, Antiquities of the Cymry; or The Ancient British Church'' by John Williams (1844), p116.
*''Noteworthy Merthyr Tydfil Citizens'' by Keith L. Lewis-Jones. Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Trust 200
mtht.co.uk*''Keith Strange, In Search of the Celestial Empire, Llafur, Vol 3; no.1 (1980)
*''Merthyr Historian volumes 1 – 21'', Merthyr Tydfil Historical Society
*
External links
Old Merthyr Tydfil– Historical Photographs of Merthyr Tydfil.
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council*
www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Merthyr Tydfil and surrounding area
{{Authority control
Towns in Merthyr Tydfil county borough
Burial sites of the Children of Brychan