Francis Crawshay commissioned a series of portraits of workers at the Hirwaun and Treforest Ironworks. It is possible that David Davies, the Cinder Filler at Hirwaun depicted in this picture, could have been among the rebels who gathered on Hirwaun Common to sacrifice a calf and soak a flag in its blood.

They gathered at a place north of Aberdare, following their instinct for the mass meeting, soon to be a part of their lives..... 'Bara neu waed!' the Welsh ancestry echoed his cry. 'Bara neu waed!' It thundered like a shock wave over Hirwaun, reverberating into silence... . Silently, as men with a purpose, they split into squads, and commands were whispered. Led by the boys with the blood-stained flags, they converged in ten thousand on to the town of Merthyr.

At Hirwaun go straight across the first roundabout and turn right at the second roundabout on the A 4059 for Brecon. After about 1 1/2 miles the village of Penderyn (3) is reached.

For a short detour through the village slow down after the Post Office (on the left), and turn left immediately after the sign for the Community Hall into Church Road, just before the Siloam Chapel. Continue up this road, which becomes a narrow, steep lane after the houses, before reaching St Cynog's Church, Penderyn. This is the route Sun and Dic take:

Field bindweed was opening its cups to the sun as Dic and Sun went hand in hand, singing up the lane for Tafern Uchaf and the church. From here the valley of the Penderyn quarries that served the trade was white with mist, but a smoke cloud hung over distant Merthyr, and Aberdare was sending flame-shot cinders into a bright September sky.

Turn right in front of the church gates and pass the Tafarn Llew Goch on the right before following the lane back down into the village. Shortly after the children's playgound turn right through the houses. This brings you back onto the main road, the A4059, with the Lamb Hotel on the left, where Lewis Lewis was held following his capture:

Lewis Lewis was taken on the road in Penderyn... Yet the villagers of Penderyn slept on, for he made no sound, it was said. And they bound him on the road, being men of great strength, and took him to the Lamb Inn, and there detained him; and they sent a child to the Castle Inn to tell of his capture.

Go straight across the main road, sign-posted Cwm Cadlan. This is a narrow lane with passing places to begin with, but widens as you rise higher. Keep going, crossing a cattle grid as you come out onto open moorland. There are tremendous views from the summit as you look back towards the Heads of the Valleys, and in front to the Brecon Beacons. Continue over another cattle-grid and into forestry. There is a pleasant Forestry Commission picnic and barbeque site on the right - Pen y Heol - and more picnic tables under the trees further on to the left. Through the trees Llwyn-On Reservoir is just visible. At the T-junction, turn left as the road runs along the edge of the reservoir. After about half a mile, turn sharp left back on yourself, up the hill to Garwnant Visitor Centre (4) where you can enjoy a cup of tea looking out over the reservoir. To return to Merthyr Tydfil retrace your route to the T-junction and turn left out of Garwnant. Cross over the bridge and turn right onto the main road, the A470 returning to Merthyr Tydfil. This is the road from Brecon where:

Randy Goldie climbed the heights of Cefn which overlook the Brecon road. Here a body of rioters under the command of Abod of Penydarren had made their camp, awaiting the passage of an ammunition convoy coming from Brecon Barracks in support of the Highlanders. ...Road blocks had been set up across the road to Aberdare now, even mountain tracks were controlled by rebel snipers; nobody was allowed to leave Merthyr.

Robert Thompson Crawshay, Cyfarthfa Ironmaster - he who was later to lie in Vaynor Churchyard with God Forgive Me on his grave - built the new church in 1867. He was reputed to have treated his workers and family harshly and is buried here under a 10 ton slab of stone with the inscription, "God forgive me" as his epitaph.

Take the path to the left of the church through the graveyard to view his grave, which is surrounded by iron railings.

After visiting the Church retrace your route back up the hill and turn right signposted for Pontsticill (6). Continue through the lanes until you drop down into the village turning right just after the Red Cow pub and the bus stop, down a steep windy lane (10 tonne weight limit and unsuitable for long vehicles). Cross the bridge with the river on your right. (For a short detour to the northern terminus of the Brecon Mountain Railway and Pontsticill Reservoir turn sharp left straight after the water works; alternatively stop lower down the valley at Blaen y gwarth Station where you can board the train for a trip all the way up to the reservoir.) To return to Merthyr Tydfil keep straight on after the water works and continue under the bridge. The site of Castel Morlais is now visible on your right. Looking back up the valley there are views towards the Brecon Beacons where:

Thunder bellowed and reverberated among the great Van Rocks and around the fortifications of Brechain where an ancient woman was slain, and her name was Tydfil, the daughter of a Brecon King who once ruled Merthyr. And Merthyr, under a king of commerce, slept in filth and tears and silver plate and laughter; a land of new promise, a Canaan of gorging sewers and cholera.

Pass Blaen y gwarth Station on the left. Soon after the station turn right sign-posted for Heads of the Valleys road - 3/4 mile. Take care here to turn left just before the roundabout, sign-posted for Abergavenny and the A465. Turn right onto the A465. Keep on this road for about 1 1/2 miles. On the horizon, front right, is Waun Hill (7) where visible traces of the iron-making once carried out here remain. This is the site of Wales' oldest fair:

It was on the last day of May that the workers climbed the tracks and defiles from the crazy streets of Dowlais for the annual Waun Fair held up by the old Full Moon and Trecae Farm...... In summer the air is gentle in The Fair Place, which is the ancient name for Waun Hill.

This site was also chosen for the mass meeting leading up to riots:

Darkness fell on Waun Hill, and the workers gathered... They came with black flags that signified their distress and white ones lettered with the words 'Reform in Parliament' and these petitioned their hope.... and there grew upon Waun Hill a glow of redness that was not the spilling of the hearths but the glowing fire of discontent that precedes rebellion.

Turn right at the next roundabout signposted for Dowlais. This is Dowlais (8) village which grew up around the Dowlais Ironworks managed by Josiah John Guest. These Ironworks, for a short period, shared with the Cyfarthfa Works the distinction of being the largest ironworks in the world. Dowlais House, home to Josiah and his wife Charlotte Guest, stood on the left shortly after the Antelope Hotel.

If you want to explore this area, turn right opposite the Engine House, signposted for Dowlais Stables, into Market Street and then left in front of Dowlais Stables. You can park here and walk back down through the gardens (the site of the former Dowlais Market), through the archway, down Market Street and across the main road, turning left into the public gardens. Looking up the hill Dowlais House would have been on the right after the Engine House. Return to your car. Many of the nearby facilities, including the church were provided by the Guests for the Dowlais community.

Return to the main road and continue down the hill towards Merthyr Tydfil town centre, going straight across the next three roundabouts. This area is known as Penydarren (9). Penydarren House, where the ironmasters were besieged, is now the site of Merthyr¹s Football Club:

With Lewis Lewis and a small body of rioters firing on the Castle Inn from the cinder-tip behind China, the order was given to evacuate the defenders to Penydarren House, Forman's mansion built on the site of a Roman fortification. ....The cavalry escorted the evacuating coaches of the ironmasters up the hill to Penydarren. And Merthyr, under the red flag, fell to the rioters.

There is little remaining of the Penydarren Works, although this marvellous painting by Thomas Horner shows how they looked in 1817:

...down the Penydarren dram-road past the works... the setting sun was dimmed by the incandescent flashes of iron. The labourers of the slopes and the inclines were outlined against a sky of scarlet; ... brought to pygmy size by the fire-shot smoke of the open hearths.

When Penydarren Road forks at the mini-roundabout, keep left on High Street. Just before the next turning on the right into Castle Street (10), look out for the former Castle Cinema/Bingo on the corner. This was the site of the Castle Inn the focus for all the action in The Fire People:

Turn right down Castle Street and right again at the traffic lights. This was the site of Ynys-Gau Chapel in front of the old iron bridge which crossed the River Taff here. The bridge was replaced in 1963. At the next set of traffic lights turn left over the bridge along Penry Street. Turn left after the Fire Station in front of the Three Horseshoes signposted for Heolgerrig, along Aberdare Road: Dic took another pint at the Horseshoes, then walked slowly along Bridgefield where Ynysfach ironworks was belching smoke and soot at the sun, over the narrow road that led to China, the slum of Merthyr's slums.

Turn left immediately up Ynysfach Road (11), where Dic and Sun lived, close to his employment at the Ynysfach Ironworks. The Glamorganshire Canal used to run past Ynysfach. The painting on the next page by Penry Williams shows the canal in front of the Ironworks:

In a scene of beauty the iron came out at dusk. The furnaces belched and moaned, alternatively simmering in hiss and billowing smoke, now blazing red as the gases ignited, wallowing up at the clouds the incandescent lighting that was Ynysfach, competing with the giant Cyfarthfa, her sister iron for heat.

The Engine House and four furnace arches that remain can be inspected on foot. There is a small car park on the left of Ynysfach Road with a footpath down to the site.

Return back down Ynysfach Road and imagine the scene as: All down Ynysfach the people went inside and bolted the doors and drew the curtains while the Penderyn furniture was carried out to the Court of Requests, for debt.

Turn right and then left past the Three Horseshoes (where the Chartists met to discuss reform) onto Dynevor Street. The Court of Requests (12) is the next pub on the left a short distance down Dynevor. This was the hated Court of Requests........administered by a certain Mr Coffin, of Merthyr, (which) has the power under the local magistracy to seize workmen's furniture and effects and auction these articles to repay private debts - usually groceries - and ale: be fair.

Coffin's Court is an early focus for the crowd and for Lewis Lewis and Dic Penderyn:

Dic...took stones and pelted the court windows. Glass tinkled bringing the mob in the front to momentary silence, then into renewed roaring as the shattering of glass rose to a crescendo in the hail of stones. Running round the front, Dic joined Lewis Lewis and a dozen others with a timber battering ram, charging the heavy doors of the court... The flames leaped up, black smoke began to billow over Merthyr and pages of debt were blowing down the road to Maerdy Garden, pursued by pit-lads and torn to pieces.

Continue up Dynevor Street to the next roundabout and turn right. Cross the bridge over the river, which was immortalised in the novel as the location where Jump Jackson, the one-legged landlord of the Wellington, jumps off Jackson¹s Bridge every Saturday night for a wager (13). This area was known as China, the notoriously poor part of Merthyr Tydfil which stretched down nearly as far as the Iron Bridge:

All around was the incredible stink that was a part of Merthyr's China, the mud of the road stained yellow. But the air became clearer as he walked, and as he neared Jackson's Bridge a little wind blew from the iron-master's park, bringing the tang of Hopkins Brewery: the British Tip reared up before him and at its burned base new harebell was growing in astonishing profusion amid the usual cat's ears and dandelion.

This street is now a cul de sac so turn around and return to the roundabout, turning right along Nantygwenith Street. Turn right at the traffic lights and then immediately left and right into Chapel Row (14). The town grew at a rapid rate with the influx of workers and housing was literally thrown up to accommodate the large numbers of incoming people. Skilled workers were given better housing as here at Chapel Row built in 1801, and Williamstown built in 1838 for workers at Cyfarthfa. These houses are double fronted, and much larger than the average worker's house. A small section of the Glamorganshire Canal also remains here in front of the cottages where, the stately barges of the Glamorgan Canal loaded with the iron of Cyfarthfa, glid(ed) for the ports of the world. Dr Joseph Parry, composer of ŒMyfanwy¹, was born at Number Four, Chapel Row, which is now a small museum.

Rejoin the dual carriageway, turning right onto it, and go straight across at the traffic lights. Turn right at the next roundabout returning on the other side of the dual carriageway. Take the slip road off to the left from where you can view the remains of Cyfarthfa Ironworks (15), once the largest in the world:

"The old Cyfarthfa stink" said Dic Penderyn. Yellow smoke filled with sulphuretted gases was billowing upwards from the roasting mine; shafts of fire pinned the dusking sky, and from the inferno of light and smoke there came the hiss and venting of pistons, the clanging of bells and the whine of the mills. Here, with an almost total disregard for the human condition, the violation called Merthyr sent its finished iron to the ports of the world, its economics tuned to rate and price. Men were mutilated here, eyes put out, children worked in the pits here or laboured in their hundreds..... women gave birth at the face, youth was old at ten, and the expectation of life was twenty.

A programme of restoration is under way at the Ironworks, so access may not be possible at all times. (Up to date details available from Cyfarthfa Castle Museum.) Rejoin the dual carriageway and turn left at the traffic lights. Follow the road around across the river and up through Williamstown (16) where:

Bedraggled, ragged children who had escaped the ravages of the early cholera in Georgetown and Williamstown, played aimlessly in the gutters amid the cracking of the mule-whips and clattering hooves.

Turn left at the Pandy Tower and turn right immediately through the gates into Cyfarthfa Park. The tour ends here where there are refreshments and toilets.

Cordell Country Map:

Tour Route 4 - Merthyr & Surroundings

(c) Crown copyright. All rights reserved Torfaen CBC Licence No LA 09020L. (2002)

The Ordnance Survey mapping included within this publication is provided by Torfaen County Borough Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey in order to fulfil its public function to promote the tourist and heritage sights within the area.

Tour Route 4 - Merthyr Town

Details included in this leaflet were correct at time of going to press. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy in this guide, Torfaen County Borough Council and partners can accept no liability whatsoever for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions or for any matter in any way connected with or arising out of the publication of this information.

Jointly published by the County Borough Councils of Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Newport, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Torfaen, and the County Council of Monmouthshire.

We would like to thank the following for kindly allowing quotations, paintings, drawings, maps and photographs to be reproduced on this leaflet:Alan Matthews, Chris Barber, Mr & Mrs Hancock, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Merthyr Tydfil Library, National Museums and Galleries Wales, Hulton Getty Archive, private collectors and Mapped Out (01600 890009). Designed by Morf Designs (01633 253995)