Stuart’s Photography

Merthyr Road is a photographic project exploring the history and the legacy of the industrialisation of the South Wales Valleys.

Where else in the world will you find the world’s oldest railway bridge, or the route of the world’s first railway journey? This was where the world’s first 1 million business deal was done, and where the chains for the SS Great Britain were made. It was a haven for the persecuted Quakers, and where Isambard Kingdom Brunel left magnificent bridges still in use today. The largest tin works in the world – not just one, but two of them – processed ore brought down from the iron capital of the world by an amazing canal that has been largely erased from both memory and the landscape. The mines brought wealth and great tragedy in equal measure, and five private railways criss-crossed the valley on their way to battle to carry the coal sought the world over as a military advantage. Huge docks were dug out of the marshes to berth the ships that carried the coal over the horizon, and then abandoned in the 1960’s to their fate. Radio was transmitted over open water for the first time just along the coast from here. A marshland became home to people from around the world, and the wealth of a family was used to create magnificant parks, an amazing civic centre, and a fairytale castle folly guarding the pass to the north. It has given the world the national anthem of Wales, and two of the world’s most celebrated singers in Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones. The pioneer of cremation in the UK worked here, and he left magnificant round houses and the druids’ Rocking Stone. It is now home to the National Assembly for Wales, the international arts centre the Millenium Centre, and renowned sports stadium and concert venue the Millenium Stadium.

From the mouth of the River Taff at Cardiff Docks, up through the Taff Gap (also known as the Garth Gap) opening up into the Taff Vale, and then the Taff Valley north from Pontypridd to Merthyr Tydfil, there’s a rich heritage to be explored and seen from an industrial age reaching back to the 1700’s and earlier. But time is running out, as modern developments continue to erase all traces of what was once the most important industrial area in the whole world.

This is Merthyr Road, the route travelled by river, turnpike, canal, railway and now the A470 and A4054 roads. It is largely unprotected, unacknowledged, and unknown to tourists and locals alike. Through this project, I hope to play a small part in changing that.

The best photos are posted to my Flickr account, with accompanying write-ups here in my photography diary. I’m not aiming to create a definitive history of the area, although I hope one day someone will. I’m just looking to capture some of the hidden wonders of this remarkable place before they are gone forever, and some of the new things that are being added in modern times.

Current articles in the Merthyr Road series (including the Single Shot Series of stand-alone photographs) are:

• 14 Shots Of Taff Vale
• 16361
• 4am At Penarth Pier
• A Giant’s Bite In The Landscape
• A Lost Canal Bridge
• A Sea Of Daisies
• A Walk Along The Cardiff Railway
• Abercynon Colliery 1889-1988
• Aberfan – Forty One Years On, by thereggy
• Alert! Treforest Estate
• Alleyway Beside The TVR
• Alleyway Light
• An Evening At Font-y-gary
• An Evening In Cathays Park (coming 2nd August 2010)
• Animal Wall, Cardiff
• Anthropomorphic Crap
• Atrium Window and Ceiling Light
• Barbed Wire and Broken Window
• Barred Gate At Pontcana
• Beneath Brunel’s Bridge
• Birchgrove Railway Station (coming 19th August 2010)
• Brewing The Beer At Brains
• Bridge Over The Glamorganshire Canal At Pont-y-dderwen
• Bridge Over Western Avenue To UWIC
• Bridging The Rivers At Pontypridd
• Callaghan Square
• Canal Park and Sea Lock Pond
• Cardiff’s Little Venice
• Cardiff Bay Railway Station
• Cardiff City Hall At Dawn
• Cardiff City Hall Reflection
• Cardiff Clock Tower and Trees
• Cardiff Railway North Out Of Taffs Well (coming 9th September 2010)
• Cathays Station
• Cathays Station Grill
• Cathays Station Sign Behind Grilled Fence
• Cefn Coed Viaduct
• Chain Link Arches
• Circular Walk From Tongwynlais To The Old Glamorganshire Canal
• Comms Tower Beside Ty Glas Station
• Controversial Bridge Into Bute Park
• Coryton Railway Station (coming 29th July 2010)
• Custom House Doors
• Cycle Hire Pedal Power
• Cycling the Rhymney Railway to Penrhos Cutting (coming 26th July 2010)
• Daffodils Beside Brown Lenox
• Dawn On Caerphilly Mountain
• East Canal Wharf
• East Glamorgan Hospital
• Excellent Photos From A Bygone Age
• First Visit To Navigation
• Former Home Of The Welsh National Opera
• Found on Flickr: Pontypridd in 2005
• Gabalfa Roundabout (coming 23rd July 2010)
• Graffiti At The Old Tin Works
• Heath Low Level Railway Station (coming 2nd September 2010)
• Junction 32
• Kingsmill and Clock
• Lamp and Bushes Beside Cathays Station
• Lane Control Beside The Canal
• Lighting The Harbour As Night Falls
• Loading The Chains At Brown Lenox
• Looking North Along The Lost Canal
• Lonely Cone
• Lost TVR Route To The Docks
• Low Water Levels At Llwyn Onn Reservoir
• Margam Park In The Spring (coming 6th August 2010)
• Melingriffith – The Other Tin Works
• Morning Across The Taff
• Mumbles Lighthouse
• Novotel, Cardiff
• Passing Beneath Catherine Street
• Past, Present and Future in Cardiff
• Past, Present and Future in Cardiff: 2010
• Pontygwaith In The Autumn
• Pontypridd From The Common
• Public Telephone At Heath Low Level Station
• Railings To Gabalfa Roundabout
• Railway Bridge Out Of Treforest Industrial Estate (coming 16th September 2010)
• Restored Bridge At Taffs Well (coming 22nd July 2010)
• Rhiwbina Railway Station (coming 12th August 2010)
• Robert Price Timber and Roofing, Taffs Well
• Roundabout Ahead
• Securing The Gate At Caedelyn Park
• Signs of Broadway (coming 20th August 2010)
• Signs of Rhiwbina (coming 13th August 2010)
• Silliness At Sardis Road? (coming 30th July 2010)
• Sunset On The Hill
• Temporary Home of Cardiff Library
• The Aneurin Bevan, Cardiff (coming 21st July 2010)
• The Decline Of Pontypridd
• The Disappearing Reservoirs of Lisvane and Llanishen (coming 27th July 2010)
• The Gatso Is Your Friend
• The House That Glenn Built
• The Houses Of Trefforest
• The Leafy Road To Llantrisant
• The Lost LifeTrail(tm) Stations
• The Magic Roundabout
• The Maltsters Arms
• The Millennium Centre, Cardiff
• The Rain At Night
• The Rediscovered House
• The Register Office Has Moved To City Hall
• The Rooftops of Cilfynydd
• The Royal Oak, Pontypridd
• The Taff Trail North Of Pontypridd
• The Towers Of Brains Brewery
• The Unofficial Taff Vale Eastern Ridge Walk
• The View From The Garth
• The Vue Cinema, Cardiff
• The Way Is Blocked
• The World’s First Steam Powered Railway Journey
• This Way To Merthyr Road
• Ty Glas Railway Station (coming 26th August 2010)
• Un Stella Artois, S’il Vous Plait
• Under The A470
• Unity – The Pontypridd Sculpture
• Unity or Lunacy?
• Vulcan Hotel, Cardiff
• Walnut Tree Viaduct
• Water Bus Stop In Bute Park
• Watching Over The A470
• What Pontypridd Bridge Might Have Looked Like
• Where Brown Lenox Used To Be
• Whispy Clouds Above Cathays
• Witchurch Railway Station (coming 5th August 2010)
• ye olde Newbridge Arms
• Yellow Quarry Tipper Lorry

(Articles with dates beside them have already been written and scheduled to be automatically published on the date shown. You can find all of the photos for upcoming articles in my Flickr photostream).

I’ve taken far more photos than I’ve had time to write about This is a list to remind me of the articles I still need to tackle:

• A Break In The Trees On Top Of The Lesser Garth
• A Civic Centre Fit For A Capital
• A Night Out In Cardiff Bay
• An Early Start In Whitmore Bay
• Abandoned Signal Box At Pontypridd
• Administering The Canal
• Barry Railway Between Taffs Well And The M4
• Barry Railway South Of The M4
• Birchgrove Railway Station
• Carvings In Bute Park
• Coryton Railway Station
• Follow The Cable Up The Lesser Garth
• From The Tin Works To The Power Station
• Gabalfa Roundabout
• Gateway Into South Wales – The Old Severn Bridge
• Gateway Into South Wales – The Second Severn Crossing
• Heath Low Level Railway Station
• In Search Of Willowford Station
• Inside The Sheds At The Old Tin Works
• Junction 100 Years Later
• More Cardiff Railway … Through Taffs Well
• My Cardiff
• Mystery On The Taff At Merthyr
• Playing In The Sun At Cardiff Bay
• Porthkerry Park and The Knapp
• Pumping Out The Severn Tunnel
• Recording The Surviving Stones On The Penydarren Tramway
• Romantic Folly Of The Butes
• Rhiwbina Railway Station
• Rhymney Railway From Walnut Creek To Penrhos
• Surviving Bridges On The Glamorganshire Canal
• Tearing Down The Railway Sheds At Canton
• The Barrage At Cardiff Bay
• The Blast Furnaces Of The Crawshays
• The Doctor’s Tramroad Through Pontypridd
• The Glamorganshire Canal Local Nature Reserve
• The Decline Of Pontypridd – Part II
• The Decline Of Pontypridd – Part III
• The Road To Nowhere
• The Rocking Stone Circle In The Snow
• Tracing The Canal Through Cardiff
• Tracing The Canal Through Merthyr
• Ty Glas Railway Station
• Waiting For The Train At Cardiff Queen Street Station
• Wales Rally Launch Christmas 2008
• Walnut Tree Junction Viaduct
• Where Did The Hill Go?
• Whitchurch Railway Station
• Ynysangharad War Memorial Park, Pontypridd

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