Geraint leads the group up to Morlais Castle, Vaynor and back via Llwyn-on reservoir on 25 July, 2015

A group of 17 walkers joined leader Geraint within the grounds of Cyfarthfa Castle, where the house despite its appearance as a fortified building with its castellated towers was actually built as a mansion house for William Crawshay II a member of the notable iron makers of the 19th century, using local stone. The Crawshay family used the park for horticultural and recreational purposes whilst the ironworks was sited down below and they remained in residence until 1889. In 1908, the castle was sold to the local authority with part of the building being kept as a museum whilst the remainder was turned into a school.

At the start of the 19th century the Cyfarthfa Ironworks was the largest in the world and water was their main power source for the four huge furnaces. Cyfarthfa’s chief engineer Watkin George designed a 50ft high, 7ft wide iron waterwheel which was installed at Cyfarthfa and was named Aeolus after the Greek God to the winds and it carried 25-tons of water every minute.

In order to feed this waterwheel along with other machinery a system of channels drew water from the nearby Taff Fechan and Taff Fawr which joined just above the ironworks to form the River Taff.

The Cyfarthfa leat sometimes known as the Gurnos feeder was fed by the Taff Fechan River and ran for a kilometre through the Taff Fechan gorge into the lake within the grounds of Cyfarthfa Castle and was then piped into the ironworks.

On a dry but cool morning and heading northwest past the lake they exited the parkland and descended onto the old disused Gurnos railway, a horse-drawn tramway that carried limestone from the Gurnos quarries to purify the iron ore at the Cyfarthfa Ironworks.

A few feet above the tramway is the Cyfarthfa leat which carried water to the ironworks and the castle and tramping along the path which is often very muddy because of water escaping from the leat, they followed the tumbling Taff Fechan River, gradually climbing up through the Taff gorge to a road.

Following the road uphill for a short distance before deviating through a gateway, a grassy track led up through the tall green ferns into the spectacular but redundant Morlais quarries which have long been returned to nature. High above the group on the edge of the limestone escarpment stood a horse watching them as they scrambled up the limestone rocky path onto Morlais Hill.

The group entered the site of the ruined Morlais Castle from where there were brilliant 360-degree views.

Morlais derives its name from mawr meaning ‘great’ and ‘glais’ which is a stream and overlooking the Taff Fechan Valley, the castle was most likely built on the site of an Iron Age fort. Now it is barely visible at ground level except for the Crypt which remains intact and which the group visited before pausing for morning break.

The castle was built around 1270 by the Earl of Gloucester and Lord of Glamorgan, Gilbert de Clare, possibly because he was planning to raid Vaynor to obtain land from his rival Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Brecknock. Whilst the families had previously been friendly, it is believed that the castle was never completed because of a violent dispute which raged between these two powerful men and which resulted in the Battle of Maesvaynor in 1291 when the church at Vaynor was set on fire and de Clare’s men were defeated.

Part of an old Welsh poem describes the event as –

The battle was won by the Men of Bohun
And blood like an ocean in Vaynor was seen

At a later point, King Edward I had to intervene and both men were fined and spent some time in the Tower of London as punishment and as the King did not want Morlais to become an important stronghold on the boundary between Brecknock and Glamorgan, he deliberately destroyed parts of the castle so it was no longer fortified.

There is an engraved print dating to 1741 which shows the castle still with some walls that have been struck by lightning. Although the castle is barely distinguishable on the ground, from the air the shape can clearly be seen and the ditch on the western side which was cut through solid rock is very impressive.

Enjoying glorious clear views across sheep-filled green fields towards the central Beacons, the steep rocky descent led them into woodland and crossing the wooden footbridge over the Taff Fechan River another short climb led to St Gwynno’s Church at Vaynor, which replaced the original church that was burnt down during the Battle of Maesvaynor.

Opposite stands Church Tavern built on the site of a 13th century tithe barn which was used during the 1700’s as a local circuit court, which was held upstairs in a room divided by three raisable oak panels fixed to the ceiling for use when the court was in session. It later became an inn but is now a private dwelling, which was being painted by the occupant who kindly paused for a quick chat.

St Gwynno’s Church was built as a new church in 1870 by the Crawshay family and within the churchyard is the grave of Robert Thompson Crawshay, son of William Crawshay II who was known as the ‘Iron King’. Both he and his wife Rose Mary Crawshay helped to provide schools in the area and books to read and he was both admired and also hated, because he refused to embrace new technology as the industrial revolution progressed and many of his workers lost not only their jobs, but their homes as well.

Lying on top of the grave is a ten ton slab of rock emblazoned with the words ‘God Forgive Me’ which could refer to the way in which he treated his workers or possibly because of bitter family arguments, whilst also being a common inscription on Victorian tombstones.

Passing through the overgrown gravestones of the old church where the bell tower still stands before crossing a brook, a narrow path exited out onto the road just north of the Pontsarn Viaduct near the listed Italian style villa of Hy Brasail. Built in 1912 around a very plain 19th century dwelling it was named after the magical land, a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean and in Irish myth said to have links with St Brendan.

Turning off the road, a pine needle covered track through an archway of conifers at Pen-rhiw-glas led them past the farmer on his quad bike who was exercising four sheepdogs in an adjacent field.

Passing a field containing a very young lamb, several horses and tall foxgloves they enjoyed brilliant views back to Morlais Hill. Tramping through grassy meadows adorned with summer flowers and reaching a dried up river bed near the ruined buildings at Blaenglais, they stopped beside a small stream for lunch in lovely sunshine.

Then continuing across rough open and in places boggy moorland containing shorn ewes and their almost grown lambs, they deviated in a westerly direction below Garn-Ddu.

The bridle path descended gradually through a conifer plantation towards the lovely refurbished outbuildings at Fedw, from where there were tremendous views across the Llwyn-on reservoir.

Descending to the valley bottom and carefully crossing the busy A470, a stile led them onto a path running south beside the Llwyn-on reservoir to the dam where a stop was made for refreshment. The Llwyn-on reservoir holds 670-million gallons of water and took sixteen years to complete mainly because of the interruption of the Great War.

Refreshed and crossing the Taf Fawr to join part of the Taff Trail which led them steeply uphill by road in warm sunshine, a stony track led into Penmoelallt Wood with its outstanding views back across the reservoir towards the central Beacons.

Part of this woodland has been lovingly rejuvenated by Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalist Society or ‘the Nats’ who formed in 1977, when a group of like-minded people gathered to share their love of natural history and the countryside. In partnership with Forestry Commission Wales they help take care of three nature reserves, this woodland, along with Cilsanws reserve which is limestone moorland and Webber’s Pond, a disused colliery reservoir in Gethin Woods.

At Penmoelallt Community Woodland, 33 hectares have been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest and this mixed broad leaf and coniferous woodland with its history stretching back to the Stone Age, incorporating ironmasters, sheep farmers and woodsmen has a stone table in its special outdoor classroom, that was designed by local potter Alison Richards which was installed in 2011 and with its slate top, makes an ideal place for schoolchildren to complete natural history projects.

They also host educational fun days and there is a circular walk which incorporates 12-numbered markers, each of which corresponds to interesting information on a leaflet relating to wild mammals, fossils, amphibians and reptiles, mini beasts, birds, fungi, biodiversity, bats and moths, tree-hugging, hidden history, wild flowers and tree leaves.

There is also an exciting sculpture trail within the wood and the sculptures have word puzzles attached to them for educational purposes such as ‘Mad as a March…….’

Exiting from the wood and following a rough lane downhill, an underpass led them safely below the A470, past a large well-kept graveyard to a stone bridge over the River Taff.

Jutting 115ft into the blue sky above them stands the curved Cefn coed viaduct, built in 1866 to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway across the River Taff at Pont y Capel. It was designed by A. Sutherland who was a friend of Robert Thompson Crawshay and was built by Savel and Ward. The 15-arches measure 39ft -9inches in width and it is 725-feet in length making it the third largest viaduct in Wales.

The railway line ran through the village with the station situated at the top of the High Street and the last train passed over the viaduct in 1964.

Arriving into the village, Merthyr Heritage Trust have hung a plaque on the side of what was the Gwynne’s Arms pub in honour of Arthur Mostyn ‘Moss’ Evans 1925-2002 who was born at Cefn coed-y-cymmer on 13 July,1925. He was a miner’s son whose mother was widowed during the Great War but who married Moss’s father and bore him 12-children. His upbringing was hard and they were very poor and in the 1930’s the family joined the Welsh migration moving to Birmingham where his father found work. At the age of 14 Moss joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union and after being bombed out during WW2, the family moved back to south Wales where Moss got married and then moved back to the Midlands, where he gradually became more heavily involved in the Trade Union movement finally rising to General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union where he served during the 1978-9 ‘Winter of Discontent,’ which eventually led to the collapse of the Labour Government led by James Callaghan.

It is interesting to note that at one time this village contained the following public houses:-

… Imagine doing a pub crawl around them!!!

Soberly making the short journey back along the High Street to Cyfarthfa Park, before pausing near the lake for a group photograph where Canada geese were floating on the water whilst enjoying a late afternoon nap, they passed below Cyfarthfa Castle.

Then circumnavigating the miniature railway track upon which a miniature version of the 66020 EWS locomotive runs in the park providing rides for the general public below the castle, led them back to their start after their delightful 13-mile trek.