Cyfartha Castle
Cyfartha Castle in Merthyr Tydfil is a remarkable Gothic Revival castle built in 1824 for William Crawshay II, one of the most powerful ironmasters in the world at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, overlooking the vast Cyfartha Ironworks that made Merthyr Tydfil the iron capital of the world in the early nineteenth century. The castle, now a museum and art gallery managed by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, reflects the extraordinary wealth generated by the iron industry and the ambitions of the Crawshay dynasty who shaped the industrial development of south Wales. The museum interprets the history of the castle, the Crawshay family and the industrial heritage of Merthyr Tydfil from medieval times to the present day. Merthyr is one of the most historically significant industrial towns in the world, and Cyfartha Castle provides the finest expression of the ironmaster culture that drove the first Industrial Revolution.