Brecon Road

The main route into Merthyr Tydfil from Brecon was the Brecon Road.

This was once a thriving commercial area. There was a thriving shopping centre here and a large number of public houses. The Bernstein Family lived here at number 86; apparently Moses Abraham went off to Australia for the good of his health leaving his wife with the children to earn a living through their pawn shop business but he then returned after 7 years and they had 4 more children.

The Pandy Farm

The original name suggests the building was originally a fulling mill but the mill was probably nearer the river. The present farm was built in 1816 and then the clock tower was added in 1856. The original clock had 3 faces with one facing the ironworks. The mechanical clock, which could have been heard up to half a mile away was replaced by an electrical one in 1962. 

The Tollgate House

Cattle, sheep, pigs and geese would all be walked in Merthyr via this route to feed the growing industrial population. The placing of toll-gates, bars or chains at strategic points enabled a good deal of revenue to be extracted from travellers. The charges applied to livestock also and farmers taking their animals and produce to market objected to the heavy tolls. Conflicts around the toll houses would often erupt into violence and the ‘Rebecca Riots’ against the tolls were famous in West Wales. The Pandy Farm was once used as a Toll House until a new toll-house was established in 1842. This building, once the Old Toll House, Grawen, Brecon Road, still stands today and is called the Round House.

St Tydfil’s Well

St Tydfils’ Well Church is linked with the Parish Church of Cyfarthfa, Christ Church

There was once a well in Well Street, (legend says to be ‘Tydfil’s healing well) from which the local population obtained their water, and this has given rise to the place name. However, generally speaking the old wells started not to be used as much after Merthyr Tydfil adopted the Public Health Act in 1850 and each property had to have its own water supply.

The Brewery

Bryant’s Field was the name of the area, immediately north of the former fishpond on present-day Brecon Road between Cae Pant Tywyll and Pen y Darren Park, now occupied by Tudor Street, Cromwell Street and The Walk. It was very clearly marked on the 1836 Street Map and the 1876 Ordnance Survey Map both showed a pond immediate south of Brecon Road, called Old Brewery Pond and Merthyr Brewery was alongside. It seems that the Brewery here was owned by a Mr. Bryant at the beginning of the 19^th century.

Vulcan House

Between Georgetown and Caepanttywyll, this building was once a small iron foundry

but it also housed the Chartist printing press. It was here that Morgan Williams and David John produced the Welsh language paper Udgorn Cymr, Trumpet of Wales and a English language Chartist news sheet, the Advocate and Free Press in the 1840s. In spite of the short existence of both papers, they nevertheless moulded the radical mind

of the Chartists in the borough. The house dates form the early 19^th century and there is an original carriage arch which leads to the rear yard.

There was a tragic accident in the foundry in the late nineteenth century when a new boiler exploded and killed the owner of the business. 

Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel,

This religious building on the Brecon Road was built in 1897 and is a mixture of ornate, classical and Romanesque. The original chapel in Cae Brynant was built in 1835, modified, altered or rebuilt in 1842 and in 1897 it was replaced by the present building, designed by architect George Morgan at a cost of £1,650.

St Mary’s Church

This splendid large Church dates from 1893 and was the second religious building used by the Roman Catholics of the town, the first was a simple chapel in Georgetown  which became a lodging house for the Spaniards.

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