Welcome to Cyfarthfa Castle

Opening Times

1st April - 30th September
Daily10am - 5:30pm
 
1st October - 31st March
MondayCLOSED
Tuesday10am - 4pm
Wednesday10am - 4pm
Thursday10am - 4pm
Friday10am - 4pm
Saturday12pm - 4pm
Sunday12pm - 4pm
Free Admission

Contact

If you require any information about the Castle, feel free to contact us any time:

Tel: +44 (0)1685 723112
Email: museum@merthyr.gov.uk

Iron Industry Collection

    bottle fragment

    Bottle Fragment

    27mm height x 69mm width x 8mm depth

    Fragment of a green glass bottle enclosed in a wooden frame. The wood is covered by ink writing: June 13 1850, Portion of the bottle broken against no 9 Furnace at Plymouth works when named “Sarah”.

    cannon ball

    Iron Cannon Ball

    68mm diameter

    Iron cannon ball made at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks for Nelson’s troops.

    Iron Rail Section

    129mm length x 68mm width x 44mm depth

    ‘I’ shaped iron rail section.

    Oil Painting

    580mm height x 790mm width

    Dowlais Works at Night (1929), attributed to Mansell Lewis.

    Painting (Watercolour)

    470mm height x 390mm width

    Working Iron at Merthyr Tydfil (1792), by Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759–1817). The painting shows a puddled mass of iron being hammered to remove slag.

    Pencil Drawing

    550mm height x 780mm width

    Cyfarthfa House & works by William Pamplin. This is one of the earliest illustration of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, drawn some time between 1791–1800. Pamplin was the gardener of Richard Crawshay and was requested to draw Cyfarthfa iron works.

    Pig Iron

    80mm height x 30mm width

    A portion of pig iron, taken from the first run at the newly opened ‘Sarah’ Blast Furnace at the Plymouth Works, 1850.

    Reward Poster

    380mm height x 503mm width

    Reward poster for £100. It concerns rumours surrounding the Nantmelyn Colliery, put about by some ‘evil-disposed person.’ The poster was produced by William Morris of Aberdare.

    Scholarship Certificate

    208mm height x 252mm width

    This Guest Testimonial Scholarship Certificate was awarded to Anne Jones, aged 13, for proficiency in reading, writing, arithmetic, dictation and the scriptures; and for regular attendance and good attendance at school. Charlotte Guest was endowed with a strong social conscience and established schools in the area for the education of the workers’ children. This particular example is dated Dowlais, 28th December 1866.

    Truck System Token

    25mm diameter

    In paying their workers, the Ironmasters were divided over paying by tokens or by hard cash. The Crawshays paid their workers with money, and the employees were free to spend the money where they liked, other employers, such as the Guests of Dowlais, paid with tokens redeemable in company-run shops. This example is a 5 shilling token.