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Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan

Historical Description

Merthyr Tydfil or Merthyr Tydvil, a market-town, a parliamentary borough, the head of a poor-law union and county court district, and a parish in Glamorgan. The town stands on the river Taff, on the Glamorgan Canal, and at a convergence of railways, 1¼ mile SE of the boundary with Brecknockshire, 4 miles W of the boundary with Monmouthshire, 23 NNW of Cardiff, and 184 by railway from London. It takes its name from a noble lady called Tudfyl, daughter of a Celtic prince, and said to have been martyred by Pagan Saxons in the 6th century. It adjoins tracts which abound in traditions, and where the ancient Britons and the Saxons were long in conflict; and it is supposed to have been known to the Romans for purposes of mining in lead and iron ores. Yet it never was more than a mere village till the end of the 18th century. It owed its origin as a town, and has acquired immense increase of population and great prosperity, entirely to great wealth of minerals around it, together with the establishment and extension of ironworks. It began to emerge from obscurity about 1765, when Mr Anthony Bacon established the ironworks of Cyfarthfa, which supplied the government with cannon till 1782, and which came to have seven furnaces, besides vast puddling and rolling mills, and passed through several hands into the ownership of Messrs Crawshay and Hill; and it acquired additional importance by the establishment of the ironworks of Dowlais, Penydarren, and Plymouth, and by the working and export of mineral produce and of manufactured iron, till it became the greatest seat of the iron trade in Great Britain. It stands on ground about 500 feet above sea-level, with declivities sufficient for very free drainage, and with exposures abundant for the freest ventilation, and is surrounded by lofty mountains. Both its site and its environs were naturally bleak and wild, but have been transformed by the working of the mines and ironworks.

The town grew in a very irregular manner, rather in detached groups of offices and of labourers' cottages around the several ironworks, than as a compact or continuous town; it lay scattered about the valley and on the hills. In recent years great improvements have been made. Waterworks were constructed by the local board of health, and an ample supply of pure water obtained; and sewerage works were constructed at a large outlay to provide an efficient system of drainage. The public buildings do not present any special features of interest. The parish church is a plain structure, rebuilt in 1807 and restored in 1895.In the outer wall is an inscribed slab, supposed to refer to a brother of St Tudfyl. St David's Church was built in 1846 as a chapel of ease to the parish church. There are other churches in the parish, and numerous chapels for Roman Catholics and the principal dissenting denominations. There are a large market-hall, a temperance and lecture hall, a drill hall for the volunteers, a library and reading-room, an hospital, and a workhouse. The town has a head post office, three banks, and is a seat of petty sessions and county courts. The railway station serves for the G.W.R., L. & N.W.R., Taff Vale railway, Rhymney railway, and the Brecon and Merthyr railway, by which lines Merthyr is placed in communication with all parts of the kingdom. On a tramway running from the Penydarren Ironworks to the Glamorgan Canal basin, 8 miles from Merthyr, the first locomotive engine ever run was started in 1805. The Glamorgan Canal is likewise of value to the town, and was long a highly important medium of conveyance. The ironworks have now for the most part been converted into steel works, and the Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, and Plymouth works and collieries give employment to a large population. Brewing and flannel weaving are also carried on to some extent. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and fairs are held on 18 March, 18 July, and 18 Nov. The town was made a parliamentary borough by the Reform Act of 1832; it was given one representative then, and another by the Act of 1867; and, as a borough, it comprises most of Merthyr Tydfil parish, all Aberdare parish, and chief part of Vaynor parish-the last in Brecknockshire. Population, 104,021.

The parish includes the hamlets of Dowlais Forest, Gellideg, Heolwermiod, Pentrebach, Trehams, and Cyfarthfa. Acreage, 17,140 of land and 260 of water; population of the civil parish, 58,080; of the ecclesiastical, 19,532. Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Penydarren, and Pentrebach form separate ecclesiastical parishes. Cyfarthfa Castle belongs to the Crawshay family, stands above Cyfarthfa Ironworks, in a good position, backed by wooded hills; is a modern edifice in the castellated style, with a very fine round tower, and has good grounds. Morlais Castle is traditionally said to have been built by Ivor Bach, a famous chieftain of the 12th century; was the scene of a singular legal dispute between the Crown and the Lords of the Welsh Marches in the time of Edward I.; stands on a lofty limestone cliff overhanging the Lesser Taff, near the boundary with Brecknockshire; is now a shattered ruin; and only includes a chamber, cleared out in 1846, and about 90 feet in circumference, with a groined roof supported by a central pillar. The living is a rectory, united with the chapelry of St David, in the diocese of Llan-daff; gross value, £675 with residence. The first dissenting congregation in Wales was formed in this parish in 1620.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Registration districtMerthyr Tydfil1837 - 1974

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Findmypast, in conjunction with the National Library of Wales and the Welsh County Archivists Group, have the following parish records online for Merthyr Tydfil:

ParishBaptismsBannsMarriagesBurials
Merthyr Tydfil1763-19121763-19221921-19271763-1888

Maps

Online maps of Merthyr Tydfil are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online:

CountyMerthyr Tudful - Merthyr Tydfil
RegionSouth Wales
CountryWales
Postal districtCF47
Post TownMerthyr Tydfil

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