It's one of Wales’ most frequently visited free tourist attractions and, arriving on a sunny spring day, it’s easy to see why. Cyfarthfa Castle stands in a commanding position looking across its park and lake towards the monumental remains of the ironworks it was once built to survey.
The building of the castle – which is not strictly a castle, but a grand mansion created for ironmaster William Crawshay II and his family – was completed in 1825. It’s a vast building with 15 towers and 72 rooms and, when it passed out of the hands of the Crawshays, it became a museum and a school.
It continues to be a museum housing a fascinating selection of displays – from work by Welsh artists to items and exhibits documenting Merthyr’s huge importance as a steel town – the Crawshay’s ironworks was once the largest in the world, with Merthyr accounting for 40 percent of the UK’s iron exports.
