Cyfarthfa Castle

Cyfarthfa Castle

File:MerthyrTydfilCyfarthfaCastleFrontView.jpg Front view of Cyfarthfa Castle
Location within Merthyr Tydfil
Location	Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Coordinates
Type	Historic house museum, art museum
Owner	Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust
Website	Cyfarthfa Castle

File:Cyfarthfa castle, Glamorganshire.jpeg

Cyfarthfa Castle, c.1840

File:Merthyr Tydfil Cyfarthfa and Gardens.jpg

Cyfarthfa Castle, commissioned in 1819 by the ironmaster William Crawshay.

Cyfarthfa Castle (Welsh: Castell Cyfarthfa) a castellated mansion, the former home of the Crawshay family, historical ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a perfect view of the valley and the works, which ‘at night, offer a truly magnificent scene, resembling the fabled Pandemonium, but on which the eye may gaze with pleasure’. Cyfarthfa loosely translates from the Welsh for ‘place of barking’. The reason is hunting dogs were regularly heard in this area of the town, hunting polecats and weasels among others.

Despite appearing superficially to be a fortified building it is a house built in the style of a large mansion with a large kitchen, bake house and dairy; a billiard room, library and a range of stunningly decorated reception rooms. As well as a brew house, icehouse and extensive storage cellars, containing over 15,000 individual bottles of wines and spirits such as Sherry, Champagne, Whiskey, Brandy, Madeira Wine, and over 7,500 bottles of port alone, were all stored here. Adjoining the building were also stable blocks and coach houses. The castle stands in 158-acre (64 ha) of parkland, now called Cyfarthfa Park and maintained by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

History

It was designed in 1824 by the architect Robert Lugar for William Crawshay II, and built at a cost of approximately £30,000 using locally quarried stone. The Crawshays lived in the house until 1889; the noise and pollution made Cyfarthfa house unattractive to William; he preferred a site that overlooked the works rather than one that sat within it.

The castle was sold in 1908 to the local council, who were initially unsure as to what purpose it should be put. Eventually, they decided to use part of the ground floor for a museum, which still operates. The museum includes paintings including two by James Inskipp.

The rest of the building became a secondary school, and it was opened in 1913, operating as separate boys` and girls` schools. In 1945, they amalgamated, and in accordance with the then government policy the school was redesignated as a Grammar school under the name of Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School. It became a comprehensive school in 1970, under the name Cyfarthfa High School.

The Basement Galleries are where the story of Merthyr Tydfil’s long and varied history begins. The display throughout this area combine to tell 3000 years of the town’s history. These galleries are now the perfect place to discover all about the world’s first steam locomotive to be run on rails, its first journey in 1804 and its inventor Richard Trevithick.

The Entrance Hall is one of the most elegant rooms of the house and is where you will find the shop and reception area of the Castle. Much of the decoration has a Mock Tudor feel. The small shields around the frieze, the tall pillars round the windows, huge Gothic doors and the superb red and clear glass windows that fill the rear of the hall, all add to the imposing grandeur. When the house was completed in 1825 this room was the largest and was undoubtedly the room in which the Crawshays held any large functions. It remained the largest room in the house until the school – which occupied the vast majority of the building from 1913 – knocked smaller rooms into one and created large halls for a variety of reasons. The ceiling depicts the white rose of Yorkshire, the original home of the Crawshay family.

Facilities and events

The park features include acres of walks and a miniature steam railway run by Merthyr Tydfil Model Engineering Society since 1987. A Canolfan Cyfarthfa, which has function rooms and a seasonal café, a children's playground complete with a ‘Splash Pad’, a 9-hole golf course, bowling grounds and tennis courts, and a fishing lake. The park also hosts a varied calendar of events throughout the year such as car shows, horse shows and concerts.

On 30 June 2007, Donny Osmond, who traces his family history to Merthyr Tydfil, performed the 'Donny Comes Home' concert in the park grounds. The concert was attended by 15,000 people despite unseasonal heavy rain. On 26 July 2008, Status Quo performed in the park grounds.

The Museum and Art Gallery are set in restored Regency rooms and contain a superb collection of family memorabilia, fine and decorative are, curios from around the world and social history material.

The Playroom is the Castle's temporary exhibition space. When the Crawshay family lived there the room had a very different purpose. This was one of several rooms that were solely for use of the Crawshay children hence the name Playroom. William Crawshay had many children and he adored having his children close, which is why all the children’s areas of the house surround his office. ‘The Playroom’ hosts a wide variety of temporary exhibitions each year, from contemporary and classical art exhibitions, to community and social history exhibitions.

Bibliography

• Margaret Stewart Taylor – The Crawshays of Cyfarthfa Castle: A family history (1967)
• Roderick Thomas – Cyfarthfa and the Crawshays (1999)
• Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery – Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery (2014)

External links

• Old Merthyr Tydfil: Cyfarthfa Castle & The Park – Historical Photographs of Cyfarthfa Castle & Cyfarthfa Park.
• Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council
• Panoramic views of the castle
• Photos and images of the Crawshay family held on Gathering the Jewels
• cyfarthfamr.blogspot.com