Green light for 20-year visitor attraction plans
A PLAN has been approved to create a museum and visitor attraction at a historic Valleys beauty spot.
Cyfarthfa Castle and Park and the surrounding area will be turned into a major museum and visitor attraction based on Merthyr Tydfil’s world-renowned industrial heritage.
The go-ahead by Merthyr Tydfil County Council follows a year of work on the project by a team led by London-based Ian Ritchie Architects working closely with the Design Commission for Wales.
The Cyfarthfa Plan focuses on the next 20 years and has led to the formation of more than 70 projects.
It will involve a 100-hectare park, formed around the confluence of the Taff and Taf Fechan rivers, which will expand on the existing 65 hectares to create a “Greater Cyfarthfa Park” and encompass some of the most important heritage sites including Cyfarthfa Castle, Cyfarthfa Ironworks and Furnaces, Pont-y-Cafnau Bridge and Pandy Farm.
The plan is split into four phases across the two decades of the plan.
Phases one and two from 2020 to 2031 focus on the castle and iron way projects respectively.
Phases three and four will look at creative arts projects and post-secondary education from 2031-2040.
A public launch of the plans this week had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Wales but it will now take place later in November when the firebreak has ended.
There will then be a series of meetings with community organisations and others throughout the county borough and the region.
The council’s cabinet member for regeneration and public protection, Geraint Thomas, said: “The consultants have produced an exciting vision that has the capacity to bring about a transformation in the fortunes of Merthyr Tydfil.
“It is not just about giving the castle and park a new lease of life – it’s about engaging the whole town in a new future. I’m delighted that it has received crossparty backing by the whole council.
“The consultants have done a remarkable job in delivering such exciting and wide-ranging proposals despite all the constraints of the Covid-19 outbreak.”
The 20-year plan follows nearly 60 consultation meetings and workshops which happened last autumn before the pandemic.
Meetings and creative workshops were held with primary and secondary school pupils and teachers, college students and lecturers, community groups, council officers, Welsh Government officials and conservation body Cadw.
Work is also ongoing on a separate nationwide study of archive materials relating to Merthyr Tydfil’s development in the 18th and 19th centuries as an ironmaking centre of world significance, as well as its history in the 20th century.
The findings will provide the platform of knowledge on which to base exhibitions in new galleries at Cyfarthfa.