Cyfarthfa Castle: £50m plans for renovation of Merthyr Tydfil site

An artist's impression of the proposed development

Plans to renovate a historic site with a museum and public park could bring more than half a million visitors each year, a report says.

The 20-year project would see Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil undergo a £50m update to celebrate the area's history.

It would include doubling the site, renovating the castle and creating an education centre.

Geraint Talfan Davies, chair the new Cyfarthfa Foundation, said it was "of national as well as local importance".

The foundation has been formed to take the scheme forward.

Plans have also been submitted to the Welsh Government after being commissioned by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

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The report sets out a three-part plan for the castle and a "Greater Cyfarthfa Park" that will "celebrate Merthyr Tydfil's unique history, celebrate and heal the natural environment to provide a beautiful setting for recreation, education and scientific advance and create an engine of creativity that can embrace the whole community".

Plans include a "Glass Way" greenhouse entrance through the park

It says: "Realising these proposals would change the rest of the world's view of Merthyr Tydfil and other Valleys communities."

Of the 70 possible projects, some include almost doubling the size of the current Cyfarthfa Park, rescuing the 200-year-old furnaces west of the Taff and a new "Iron Way" - a high-level walkway connecting the castle and the furnaces, to echo the 19th Century aqueduct that spanned the valley.

Cyfarthfa Castle was once home to the wealthy iron-making Crawshay family

Other plans include a "Glass Way" greenhouse entrance through the park, developing the Pandy Farm buildings opposite and an eight-acre community vegetable garden.

Jonathan Shaw, project leader for Ian Ritchie Architects, said: "The project should grow in parallel with the lives of the youngest generations as they grow into adults. We have developed these plans on the back of extensive consultation with schools, young people and community organisations in Merthyr.