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Museums abound throughout Southern Wales and
include those at Cyfartha Castle in Merthyr Tydfil, built
by the Iron Baron William Crawshay who's beautiful
home now tells the history of Merthyr while the Cynon
Valley Museum at Aberdare’s historic Gadlys Ironworks
offers an insight into what life in the valley was like in
days gone by.
At the other end of the spectrum lies Tredegar House, the ancestral
home of the Morgan family who gave their name to Gla-Morgan.
Tredegar House is a testimony to courage at one extreme and
extravagance at the other. Lord Tredegar was the man who gave the
order at the Charge of the Light Brigade and his horse is buried in
the grounds.
The extravagance came in the 1930-40 when the family wealth was
squandered on wild parties and entertaining with the likes of Noel
Coward and other theatrical people.
Photographs
1. Caerleon Ampitheatre || 2. Cyfarthfa Castle ||
3. National Museum, Cardiff || 4. St Fagans National History
Museum || 5. Tintern Abbey || 6. Llancaiach Fawr
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Long before the castles were built, the Romans arrived and
settled in a number of places, but Caerleon was one of the most
important settlements for them. The whole town is built over the
original Roman town, although the baths, amphitheatre and
barracks can still be viewed along with the Roman Legionary
Museum, also in the town. The amphitheatre is also reputed to
be the site of King Arthur’s Round Table.
There are also interesting museums at Chepstow and in Newport,
with a particularly interesting one at Monmouth that is dedicated to
Admiral Horatio Nelson who visited the town with Lady Hamilton.
Probably the finest is the National Museum in Cardiff’s Civic
Centre, with the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside
of the Louvre in Paris.
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