Cadw – The Melting Pot

Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr

I recently received an enquiry asking whether there were any Scheduled Monuments in Merthyr Tydfil. The following is transcribed from Wikipedia:-

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough has 43 scheduled monuments. The prehistoric scheduled sites include many burial cairns and several defensive enclosures. The Roman period is represented by a Roman Road. The medieval periods include two inscribed stones, several house platforms and two castle sites. Finally the modern period has 14 sites, mainly related to Merthyr’s industries, including coal mining, transportation and iron works. Almost all of Merthyr Tydfil was in the historic county of Glamorgan, with several of the northernmost sites having been in Brecknockshire.

Scheduled monuments have statutory protection. The compilation of the list is undertaken by Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, which is an executive agency of the National Assembly of Wales. The list of scheduled monuments below is supplied by Cadw with additional material from RCAHMW (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.

Name	Site type	Community	Details	Historic County
Gelligaer Standing Stone	Standing stone	Bedlinog	A 2 m (6.6 ft) high stone on open moorland. Probably Bronze Age and with the possible remains of a Bronze Age burial alongside. An inscription on the stone, now mostly illegible, is described as either post-Roman/Early Christian or Early Medieval.	Glamorganshire
Coed Cae Round Cairns	Round cairn	Bedlinog	Located in a cairnfield with at least 19 stony mounds, the scheduling consists of a group of eight Bronze Age burial cairns.	Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Round Cairns	Round cairn	Bedlinog	A group of eleven Bronze Age burial cairns.	Glamorganshire
Carn Castell y Meibion ring cairn	Ring cairn	Cyfarthfa Troed-y-rhiw	A ring cairn, possibly dating to the Bronze Age, with a 8 m (26 ft) diameter and surrounded by a 3 m (9.8 ft) wide stony ring bank.	Glamorganshire
Brynbychan Round Cairn	Round cairn	Merthyr Vale,	A Bronze Age circular cairn with a diameter of 18 m (59 ft). There is an OS triangulation pillar on the site.	Glamorganshire
Cefn Merthyr Round Cairns	Cairnfield	Merthyr Vale		Glamorganshire
Morlais Hill ring cairn	Ring cairn	Pant		Glamorganshire
Tir Lan round barrow cemetery	Round barrow	Treharris	The remains of six Bronze Age round barrows, three to the north-west and three to the south-east of Tir Lan farm. All six remain substantially intact despite being reduced by ploughing in the past.	Glamorganshire
Garn Las Earthwork	Round cairn	Troed-y-rhiw	The remains a circular burial cairn measuring 14 m (46 ft) in diameter, probably dating to the Bronze Age.	Glamorganshire
Merthyr Common Round Cairns	Round cairn	Troed-y-rhiw	A group of six Bronze Age burial cairns ranging from 5 to 19 m (16 to 62 ft) in diameter.	Glamorganshire
Carn Ddu platform cairn	Platform Cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws ring cairn	Ring cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws, Cairn on SW side of	Round Cairn	Vaynor		Brecknockshire
Coetgae’r Gwartheg barrow cemetery	Round cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Garn Pontsticill ring cairn	Ring cairn	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Dyke 315m E of Tyla-Glas	Ditch	Bedlinog	The remains of a later prehistoric/medieval dyke with a clearly defined bank and ditch running east-west across a ridge top. The 3 m (9.8 ft) wide ditch is 1.5 m (4.9 ft) deep at its east end.	Glamorganshire
Cefn Cil-Sanws Defended Enclosure	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Brecknockshire
Enclosure East of Nant Cwm Moel	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Enclosure on Coedcae’r Ychain	Enclosure – Defensive	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Gelligaer Common Roman Road	Road	Bedlinog		Glamorganshire
Nant Crew Inscribed Stone (now in St John’s Church, Cefn Coed )	Standing stone	Vaynor	A 1.5 m (5 ft) high square-sectioned pillar stone thought to date to the Bronze Age. A Latin inscription on the west face and cross incised on the north face are from the 6th and 7th-9th centuries. Holes in the stone indicate that it had been used as a gatepost.	Brecknockshire
Platform Houses and Cairn Cemetery on Dinas Noddfa	House platforms (& Cairnfield)	Bedlinog	Medieval house platforms, also prehistoric cairnfield	Glamorganshire
Platform Houses on Coly Uchaf	Platform house	Bedlinog		Glamorganshire
Morlais Castle	Castle	Pant	The collapsed remains of a castle begun in 1288 by Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. The walls enclosed an area of approximately 130 by 60 m (430 by 200 ft). It was captured during the 1294-95 rebellion of Madog ap Llywelyn and may have been abandoned shortly afterwards.	Glamorganshire
Cae Burdydd Castle	Motte	Vaynor	A 3 m (9.8 ft) high motte and ditch dating to the medieval period. The diameter of 23 m (75 ft) narrows to 9 m (30 ft) at the top.	Brecknockshire
Cefn Car settlement	Building (Unclassified)	Vaynor		Glamorganshire
Gurnos Quarry Tramroad & Leat	Industrial monument	Gurnos		Glamorganshire
Sarn Howell Pond and Watercourses	Pond	Town		Glamorganshire
Abercanaid egg-ended boiler	Egg-ended Boiler, re-purposed as garden shed	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Canal Level	Canal Level	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Cyfarthfa Tramroad Section at Heolgerrig	Tramroad	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Iron Ore Scours and Patch Workings at Winch Fawr, Merthyr Tydfil	Iron mine	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Ynys Fach Iron Furnaces	Industrial monument	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Penydarren Tram Road	Trackway	Merthyr Vale		Glamorganshire
Iron Canal Bridge from Rhydycar	Bridge	Park		Glamorganshire
Pont-y-Cafnau tramroad bridge	Bridge	Park	An ironwork bridge spanning the River Taff constructed in 1793. The name, meaning “bridge of troughs”, comes from its unusual three tier design of a tramroad between two watercourses, one beneath the bridge deck and the other on an upper wooden structure which is no longer present. Pont-y-Cafnau is also Grade II* listed.	Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad: Morlais Castle section	Tramroad	Pant		Glamorganshire
Merthyr Tramroad Tunnel (Trevithick’s Tunnel)	Tramroad	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire
Cwmdu Air Shaft & Fan	Air Shaft	Cyfarthfa		Glamorganshire
Remains of Blast Furnaces, Cyfarthfa Ironworks	Blast Furnace	Park		Glamorganshire
Tai Mawr Leat for Cyfarthfa Iron Works	Leat	Park		Glamorganshire
Deserted Iron Mining Village, Ffos-y-fran	Industrial monument	Troed-y-rhiw		Glamorganshire

Please follow the link below to see the original:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scheduled_monuments_in_Merthyr_Tydfil_County_Borough

Merthyr’s Chapels: Hen Dy Cwrdd, Cefn Coed

We continue our series on Merthyr’s chapels with a look at one of the oldest causes in the Borough.

Hen Dy Cwrdd is the oldest chapel in the borough of Merthyr Tydfil. The chapel was originally built in 1747 when the Unitarians split from the congregation at Cwm-y-Glo and built their own small chapel at Cefn Coed.

This original building was built in a clearing in the wood between the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr rivers. It was a small barn-like structure, similar to the chapel at Cwm-y-Glo, with very small windows and a thatched roof. Indeed, the thatched roof wasn’t replaced by tiles until 1792.

An artists impression of the original Hen Dy Cwrdd Chapel

In 1765, Anthony Bacon built the first furnace at Cyfarthfa Iron Works and the wood was stripped of trees, and a small village began to grow in the clearing which became Cefn Coed y Cymer. Just over a century later, amid the rapid population explosion, a new chapel was built to cater for the ever growing congregation. The architect was John Lewis of Vaynor. £434 was collected via subscriptions by the members of the chapel and the new building opened in December 1853.

This chapel was very badly damaged in a storm and major repairs were necessary. The opportunity was taken to carry out various alterations and the chapel was virtually rebuilt in 1894/5 at a cost of £750, and so the present building took shape.

Hen Dy Cwrdd is considered to be an outstanding building and in 1985 it was listed by CADW Grade II, as being of Special Architectural and Historic Interest, and they made a considerable contribution to extensive refurbishment work, and in 1995-7 the chapel was re-erected using the masonry and fittings of the 1895 structure and is an almost exact replica of that building.

The reopening in 1997 coincided with the celebration of the chapel’s 250th Anniversary.

A to-do about a loo

by Carl Llewellyn

Whilst reading in the News of Wales on December 12, 2002 I came across an article written by Tony Trainor. Civic officials wanted to add an outside toilet to Joseph Parry’s former cottage to add to its historical significance. Councillors in Merthyr Tydfil believed the great musician’s home at Chapel Row in Georgetown now a museum – would be improved by the addition of the “privy”. A suitable toilet block was even offered by a resident living in River Row, Abercanaid – a terrace of historic workers’ cottages similar to the one lived in by the writer of the famous tear-jerker – Myfanwy. The council also resolved to move it to Chapel Row, so that visitors to the Joseph Parry birthplace museum would be able to see how people went about their toilet in the 19th Century as part of their tour.

Despite the council’s attempts to recreate the past, no research had been carried out to determine where Parry’s original outhouse would have been sited if indeed he ever had one. Mr Henry Jones, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for education, said the toilet building could have been moved at relatively little public expense to a site at Chapel Row, where it would have been seen by visitors. A conservation architect from Cadw, the body responsible for historic buildings, then criticised the council’s plan to dismantle the privy in Abercanaid, an original structure made of rubble and sandstone with a lime-washed finish. “The building is an interesting historical survival of a type once commonly associated with terraced houses of this type”, he said. “In the absence of any convincing argument for its demolition, I cannot support the proposal to remove it”.

Whatever would the composer of Wales’ love song Myfanwy made of it all?