Cyfarthfa Castle

Cyfarthfa Castle is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which ‘at night, offer a truly magnificent scene, resembling the fabled Pandemonium, but on which the eye may gaze with pleasure’. Cyfarthfa loosely translates from the Welsh for place of barking. The reason is hunting dogs were regularly heard in this area of the town, hunting polecats and weasels among others. Despite appearing to be a fortified building, it is a house built in the style of a large mansion with a large kitchen, bake house and dairy, billiard room, library, and a range of reception rooms. In addition, there is a brew house, icehouse and extensive storage cellars that used to contain over 15, 000 individual bottles of wines and spirits such as Sherry, Champagne, Whiskey, Brandy, Madeira Wine, and over 7, 500 bottles of port. Adjoining the building were also stable blocks and coach houses. The castle stands in 158acre of parkland, now called Cyfarthfa Park and maintained by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. HistoryThe castle was designed in 1824 by the architect Robert Lugar for William Crawshay II, and built at a cost of approximately £30, 000 using locally quarried stone. The Crawshays lived in the house until 1889. The noise and pollution made Cyfarthfa Castle unattractive to William; he preferred a site that overlooked the works rather than one that sat within it.

Cyfarthfa Castle is a castellated mansion that was the home of the Crawshay family, ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The house commanded a view of the valley and the works, which ‘at night, offer a truly magnificent scene, resembling the fabled Pandemonium, but on which the eye may gaze with pleasure’. Cyfarthfa loosely translates from the Welsh for place of barking. The reason is hunting dogs were regularly heard in this area of the town, hunting polecats and weasels among others. Despite appearing to be a fortified building, it is a house built in the style of a large mansion with a large kitchen, bake house and dairy, billiard room, library, and a range of reception rooms. In addition, there is a brew house, icehouse and extensive storage cellars that used to contain over 15, 000 individual bottles of wines and spirits such as Sherry, Champagne, Whiskey, Brandy, Madeira Wine, and over 7, 500 bottles of port. Adjoining the building were also stable blocks and coach houses. The castle stands in 158acre of parkland, now called Cyfarthfa Park and maintained by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. HistoryThe castle was designed in 1824 by the architect Robert Lugar for William Crawshay II, and built at a cost of approximately £30, 000 using locally quarried stone. The Crawshays lived in the house until 1889. The noise and pollution made Cyfarthfa Castle unattractive to William; he preferred a site that overlooked the works rather than one that sat within it.