Geograph IrelandLatest Images by John Wilson
https://www.geograph.ie/
2024-03-28T13:08:23+00:00text/html2008-11-27T12:51:38+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.752162 -3.393416SO0306 : Cyfarthfa Iron Works - View north east from the furnace bank
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1061003
Cyfarthfa Iron Works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks was the largest in the world in the early nineteenth century, utilising the new technological innovation of Henry Cort's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cort puddling process for the production of bar iron ( also known as "the Welsh method" ).
We are stood on top of the furnace bank, looking north east towards the iron master's residence of Cyfarthfa Castle and park
Immediately below is the site of the original Cyfarthfa Iron Works complex on the west bank of the river Taff.
The industrial estate in the middle ground occupies the site of the original Cyfarthfa Iron Works complex on the east bank of the river Taff; the houses of Williamstown lie beyond, and Cyfarthfa Castle is visible in the distance.
This photo was taken in March 2007.text/html2008-11-27T12:24:59+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.751604 -3.394992SO0306 : Cyfarthfa Iron Works - View north from the furnace bank
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1060988
Cyfarthfa Iron Works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks was the largest in the world in the early nineteenth century, utilising the new technological innovation of Henry Cort's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cort puddling process for the production of bar iron ( also known as "the Welsh method" ).
We are stood on top of the furnace bank, looking north west towards Cefn-coed-y-cymmer.
The main site of the Cyfarthfa Iron Works lies below, with the Taff Trail waymark path visible alongside the river to the right.
This photo was taken in March 2007. A large scale archaeological excavation was subsequently undertaken on the flat concrete floor area of the site, which was then filled in with rubble and restored to largely the same appearance as this photo.
Some restoration work has been undertaken on the structure in recent years, and the site has been acknowledged as "home to some of the best surviving nineteenth-century furnace structures in the world" http://www.emailwire.com/release/Cadw-funds-restoration-of-Merthyrs-industrial-heritage.html . Nevertheless the site as a whole remains in a state of neglect, and is not sign-posted as an official tourist site.text/html2008-11-24T18:00:40+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.756150 -3.390786SO0407 : Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr Tydfil
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1057882
The iron master's residence Cyfarthfa Castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Castle was built by William Crawshay II in 1824, overlooking the massive Cyfarthfa Iron Works http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks below (and see archived photos of the iron works here http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/cyfarthfa_ironworks.htm ).
This view shows the main facade of the building, which overlooks the valley to the west.
Dominating the scene in medieval fashion with its castellated towers, it's no wonder that during the 1831 Merthyr Rising http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merthyr_Rising_1831 the Chartist protesters came to Cyfarthfa Castle to protest their grievances against their main protagonist William Crawshay.
In 1909 Cyfarthfa Castle was purchased for £19,700 from the Crawshay family and was opened as a public Museum and Art Gallery in 1910 http://www.merthyr.gov.uk/Home/Leisure+and+Tourism/Libraries/History/Local+Facts/1900+to+1925.htm .
The building is currently (2008) home to the Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery http://www.merthyr.gov.uk/Museum/Castle/English/home/ and the Cyfarthfa High School http://www.cyfarthfahigh.merthyr.sch.uk/home.asp .text/html2008-11-24T17:15:51+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.760015 -3.405974SO0307 : Cefn Coed Viaduct, Merthyr Tydfil
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1057792
The Cefn Coed Viaduct was built in 1866 to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecon_and_Merthyr_Railway across the river Taff at Pontycapel.
This view is from the south end of the viaduct, looking north west.
Built by Messrs. Savel and Ward at a cost of £25, 000, it is the third largest viaduct in Wales. The viaduct consists of 15 openings, each one 39 feet 9 inches, a length of 725ft. and a maximum height of 115ft.
The viaduct's main point of architectural interest is the fact that it was built on a curve - as highlighted in this view.text/html2008-11-24T16:59:11+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.759566 -3.405960SO0307 : Cefn Coed Viaduct, Merthyr Tydfil
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1057764
The Cefn Coed Viaduct was built in 1866 to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecon_and_Merthyr_Railway across the river Taff at Pontycapel.
This view is from north of the viaduct.
Built by Messrs. Savel and Ward at a cost of £25, 000, it is the third largest viaduct in Wales. The viaduct consists of 15 openings, each one 39 feet 9 inches, a length of 725ft. and a maximum height of 115ft. The viaduct's main point of architectural interest is the fact that it was built on a curve.text/html2008-10-28T20:33:06+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.751587 -3.396440SO0306 : Cyfarthfa Iron Works - furnace bank
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1025206
Cyfarthfa Iron Works [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks ] was the largest in the world in the early nineteenth century, utilising the new technological innovation of Henry Cort's [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cort ] puddling process [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddling_(metallurgy) ] for the production of bar iron ( also known as "the Welsh method" ).
We are stood on top of the furnace bank, looking north west, and can see six of the original seven late eighteenth and early nineteenth century furnaces (- the seventh was removed with a later conversion to steel production, and the large arch visible here was constructed to span the gap).
Some restoration work has been undertaken on the structure in recent years, and the site has been acknowledged as "home to some of the best surviving nineteenth-century furnace structures in the world" [ http://www.emailwire.com/release/Cadw-funds-restoration-of-Merthyrs-industrial-heritage.html ].
Nevertheless the site as a whole remains in a state of neglect, and is not sign-posted as an official tourist site.
This photo was taken in March 2007. A large scale archaeological excavation was subsequently undertaken on the flat concrete floor area of the site, which was then filled in with rubble and restored to largely the same appearance as this photo.text/html2008-10-28T19:21:21+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.748925 -3.393461SO0306 : Cyfarthfa Retail Park
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1025082
Cyfarthfa Retail Park was opened in May 2005 - newsworthy as a part of the regeneration of the Heads of the Valleys area [ see http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/tm_objectid=15502313&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=retail-park-is-opened-in-boost-for-merthyr-name_page.html ].
We are viewing the main shopping complex, stood at the entrance roundabout and looking north; the woods of Cyfarthfa Castle and Park are visible on the distant horizon, just left of centre.
This photo was taken in March 2007. The car parks are busy. Leading High Street names denote the new branded landscape of consumption.
This retail park development represents a large-scale transformation of previously derelict industrial land. The current Google Earth image for this area (accessed October 2008) does not include the new retail park.
This area is that of the Cyfarthfa Iron Works [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyfarthfa_Ironworks ] landscape. The Cyfarthfa iron works furnaces and furnace bank lie out of sight nearby in the valley floor, to the north-west.text/html2008-10-27T17:10:56+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.754283 -3.396524SO0307 : Pont y Cafnau iron rail bridge and aqueduct (1793)
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1023577
A note on viewing the bridge design:
1) Double deck | This is a cast iron bridge, with a double deck - the upper deck for the rail tram-road, and the lower deck for the aqueduct.
2) Cast iron A frame structure | The wire mesh and rails have been added to the bridge at a later date, confusing the appearance to the eye of the original design elements. - The original structure is the cast iron A frame - hence this was a bold, functional and elegant design with a certain aesthetic integrity.
The Pont y Cafnau iron bridge has been acknowledged as the world's oldest surviving iron railway bridge [ - see Context for World Heritage Bridges
A joint publication with TICCIH, 1996, By Eric DeLony http://www.icomos.org/studies/bridges.htm ; and Hague, D and Hughes, S - Pont Y Cafnau, the first iron railway bridge and aqueduct? - Ass. Industrial Archaeology Bulletin, 1982, 9, No4, 3-4 ].
The Pont y Cafnau bridge is located just below the confluence of the Afon Taf Fawr and the Afon Taf Fechan rivers; it is used as a public footpath and may be used to cross the river and connect the Taff Trail waymarked path with the nearby Cyfarthfa Castle.
This is a unique cast-iron bridge, a two-deck combined aqueduct and tramroad bridge built by the chief engineer of the Cyfarthfa ironworks, to carry both the works' tram line from the nearby limestone quarries at Gurnos and its water supply over the river. Its diminutive scale notwithstanding, this was an important early prototype for iron bridge construction that influenced Telford's monumental feats of engineering such as the celebrated Pontcysyllte and Chirk aqueducts. [ See The International Canal Monuments List, and: http://www.icomos.org/studies/canals2a.htm ]text/html2008-10-26T22:41:30+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.754650 -3.395955SO0307 : Pont y Cafnau iron rail bridge and aqueduct (1793)
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1022863
The Pont y Cafnau iron bridge has been acknowledged as the world's oldest surviving iron railway bridge [ - see Context for World Heritage Bridges
A joint publication with TICCIH, 1996, By Eric DeLony http://www.icomos.org/studies/bridges.htm ; and Hague, D and Hughes, S - Pont Y Cafnau, the first iron railway bridge and aqueduct? - Ass. Industrial Archaeology Bulletin, 1982, 9, No4, 3-4 ].
The Pont y Cafnau bridge is located just below the confluence of the Afon Taf Fawr and the Afon Taf Fechan rivers; it is used as a public footpath and may be used to cross the river and connect the Taff Trail waymarked path with the nearby Cyfarthfa Castle.
This is a unique cast-iron bridge, a two-deck combined aqueduct and tramroad bridge built by the chief engineer of the Cyfarthfa ironworks, to carry both the works' tram line from the nearby limestone quarries at Gurnos and its water supply over the river. Its diminutive scale notwithstanding, this was an important early prototype for iron bridge construction that influenced Telford's monumental feats of engineering such as the celebrated Pontcysyllte and Chirk aqueducts. [ See The International Canal Monuments List, and. http://www.icomos.org/studies/canals2a.htm ]text/html2008-10-26T22:21:36+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.754283 -3.396524SO0307 : Pont y Cafnau iron rail bridge and aqueduct (1793)
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1022847
The Pont y Cafnau iron bridge has been acknowledged as the world's oldest surviving iron railway bridge [ - see Context for World Heritage Bridges
A joint publication with TICCIH, 1996, By Eric DeLony http://www.icomos.org/studies/bridges.htm ; and Hague, D and Hughes, S - Pont Y Cafnau, the first iron railway bridge and aqueduct? - Ass. Industrial Archaeology Bulletin, 1982, 9, No4, 3-4 ].
The Pont y Cafnau bridge is located just below the confluence of the Afon Taf Fawr and the Afon Taf Fechan rivers; it is used as a public footpath and may be used to cross the river and connect the Taff Trail waymarked path with the nearby Cyfarthfa Castle.
This is a unique cast-iron bridge, a two-deck combined aqueduct and tramroad bridge built by the chief engineer of the Cyfarthfa ironworks, to carry both the works' tram line from the nearby limestone quarries at Gurnos and its water supply over the river. Its diminutive scale notwithstanding, this was an important early prototype for iron bridge construction that influenced Telford's monumental feats of engineering such as the celebrated Pontcysyllte and Chirk aqueducts. [ See The International Canal Monuments List, and. http://www.icomos.org/studies/canals2a.htm ]text/html2008-10-26T21:44:11+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/30750John Wilson51.749976 -3.395811SO0306 : Cyfarthfa Retail Park
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1022795
Cyfarthfa Retail Park was opened in May 2005 - newsworthy as a part of regeneration of the Heads of the Valleys area [ see http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/tm_objectid=15502313&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=retail-park-is-opened-in-boost-for-merthyr-name_page.html ].
This sign is facing the main A470 road.
We are looking north east. Cyfarthfa Castle is just about visible in the distance on the left.
Out of sight in the valley floor is the site of the Cyfarthfa Iron Works, of which the Cyfarthfa iron works furnace bank is the largest remaining landmark.