Written by:
Geraint Talfan Davies
Chair of the new Cyfarthfa Foundation
Last Tuesday saw the launch of the Cyfarthfa Plan; setting out a plan to transform Merthyr Tydfil’s Cyfarthfa Castle into an international quality museum set in an expanded 100-hectare public park.
It could draw more than half a million visitors each year and energise the Valleys Regional Park concept.
As an exemplar project to demonstrate the force and effectiveness of the agenda of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act’, the 20-year Cyfarthfa Plan is the result of 12-month’s work by a multi-disciplinary team led by the internationally renowned Ian Ritchie Architects with the Design Commission for Wales being closely engaged throughout.
The plan was commissioned by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and has already been approved unanimously. A new company – The Cyfarthfa Foundation – has been formed to take the scheme forward. We are currently seeking charitable status, and have already submitted our plans to the Welsh Government.
The report sets out a three-pronged plan for the castle and a ‘Greater Cyfarthfa Park’ that will
- Celebrate Merthyr Tydfil’s unique history and heritage, as a spur to social renewal
- Celebrate and heal the natural environment to provide a beautiful setting for recreation, education and scientific advance
- Create an engine of creativity that can embrace the whole community”.
It states: “Realising these proposals would change the rest of the world’s view of Merthyr Tydfil and other Valleys communities. It would energise the Valleys Regional Park concept by giving it a core of real scale and impact.
“It would also bring something new and compelling to the economy of the Capital Region, in an area of great need, with a clear agenda of social purpose”.
The report sets out a menu of more than 70 possible projects split into ‘must do’, ‘should do’ and ‘could do’ categories. Among the key proposals are:
- Almost doubling the size of the current Cyfarthfa Park, extending it westwards to take in both sides of the river Taff, ‘healing a wounded landscape’.
- Renovating Cyfarthfa Castle – home to the Crawshays, the famous 19th century ironmasters – and creating new exhibition galleries that will celebrate the industrial and social history of Merthyr Tydfil and Wales.
- Rescuing the 200-year-old Cyfarthfa furnaces west of the Taff, a scheduled ancient monument of world importance, but currently endangered.
- A new ‘Iron Way’ – a dramatic high-level walkway connecting the castle and the furnaces, to echo the 19th century aqueduct that spanned the valley.
- A new ‘Glass Way’ entrance through the park to the east the castle – incorporating two giant greenhouses – the largest is 50 metres in diameter – to echo the castle’s vanished 19th century greenhouses.
- Developing the Pandy Farm buildings opposite the entrance to the castle as a real community asset, offering genuine employment and workspaces.
- An eight-acre community vegetable garden – that could also supply produce to new outlets at the castle – together with the creation of bio-diversity meadows.
The plan also places a strong emphasis on education. It proposes a ‘co-creation centre’ at the castle to extend the castle’s education and outreach programme, while also reserving a site at the confluence of the Taff and Taf Fechan rivers for a possible new environmental institute that could be linked to a higher education institution.
A project of national as well as local importance, the Cyfarthfa Plan will use our past, and Merthyr’s story in particular, as a springboard to address the challenges of the 21st century.
The vision is one of transformation; working in harmony with nature to celebrate our heritage for the benefit of future generations. As Chair of The Cyfarthfa Foundation, I welcome your support because, together, I know that we’ll make it happen.
You can find out more here – https://www.visitmerthyr.co.uk/thecyfarthfaplan/
