IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
High Street, MERTHYR TYDFIL, CF47 8AF

Built in 1896. Refurbished 2012-2014. Now renamed as REDHOUSE - Hen Neuadd Y Dref / Old Town Hall. Keir Hardie, a founding father of the Labour party, was elected to parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare in 1900 and made speeches from this balcony. Grade II* listed. For more details see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3875014 .

Part of the same building as the old Town Hall.

This is one of the many Carnegie libraries. The statue in front is of James Gomer Berry, Viscount Kemsley, former proprietor of the Sunday Times and a number of regional newspapers. The plaque to the left of the library door commemorates Richard Lewis, aka Dic Penderyn, "a Martyr of the Welsh Working Class", who was hanged at Cardiff Gaol in 1831 for his part in the Merthyr insurrection that year.

Cadw records that the building is dated May 1896 on a foundation stone. Although Merthyr was for a time the largest town in Wales (its population was two and a half times that of Cardiff in 1851), it did not attain formal urban status until 1894, when an urban district council was established. The town hall is an immediate expression of that status, and quickly became the focal point for civic and political life in the town. It became customary for the results of parliamentary elections to be announced from its steps, and it was here in 1900 that the victory of J. Keir Hardie as the first Labour Member of Parliament in Britain is said to have been announced. His increased majority in the subsequent elections of 1906 and 1910 was announced from the balcony. The building was Grade II (star) listed in 1975.

Built in 1896. Home to the town’s civic functions and law courts, and was once a focal point for political life in Merthyr Tydfil. Nightclub from late 1980s to 2002. Derelict until 2012. Refurbished 2012-2014 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3000944 . Reopened as an arts and creative industries centre on St David's Day 2014. The building now houses a theatre, a glazed roof courtyard for multi-media displays, dance and recording studios, music practice rooms and dedicated art gallery, as well as café/bar, conference facilities and heritage interpretation components. Renamed as REDHOUSE - Hen Neuadd Y Dref / Old Town Hall. Grade II* listed.

St David's was built in 1846-7 to house the growing English-speaking congregation. St Tydfil's was the parish church at that time and was mainly Welsh-speaking. St David's is a large church built in the Victorian Gothic Early English style although the interior is mostly 20th century.

The former Miner's Welfare Hall is believed to have been designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but was severely damaged by fire sometime in the past. It was Grade II listed on 13 January 1988.