An Introduction to Merthyr Tydfil by Greg Stevenson

We think of Wales as essentially a rural nation, yet our outstanding contribution to world history was that we were, in fact the first industrialized nation – the first country in the world where more people were employed in industry rather than agriculture.

Merthyr was the industrial crucible of Wales. With four huge ironworks, this was a town full of fire, smoke, slag and iron. Now all that has gone. The canals have been filled in, the railways ripped up, the ironworks closed.

There isn’t a great deal of ancient history to this town – which is a refreshing change for us. The Romans did have a camp up at Penydarren but everything you see standing dates from the industrial revolution and later.

Since the industrial decline the town has seen incredible changes – canals filled in, residential and shopping areas built onto the old ironwork sites. There has been so much change that it is a difficult town to understand in terms of layout.

At the top end of the high street there is a collection of interesting buildings. Regrettably the old town hall is a sorry sight. No longer the town hall, and no longer owned by the council, it’s empty and deteriorating. It was built in 1896, and designed by Johnson, a local architect who worked in Merthyr and Abergavenny. It is one of the few surviving buildings that shows the former civic pride of the town.

Across the road from the old town hall stands another sorry story – the Castle cinema. Built in 1929, it is another building important in the community history of this town that is being lost. The cinema stands on the site of the former Castle Hotel, where in 1831 the Merthyr Uprising began, and some would say the Welsh working class was born. It was in this bloody revolt that the legend of Dic Penderyn was born.

The Carnegie Library, opposite is the only building here in the very centre of town, that seems to be faring well. A handsome piece of design, it is one of the few things on the High Street that I really like.