Joseph Parry's Cottage facts for kids
Joseph Parry's Cottage, also called 4 Chapel Row, is a small house in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It was built in the early 1800s for people who worked with iron. This cottage is famous because it's where the well-known Welsh composer Joseph Parry was born in 1841. He lived until 1903. Today, you can visit the cottage as a museum.
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Where is Joseph Parry's Cottage?
The cottage is on the edge of Merthyr Tydfil, near the River Taff. The houses on Chapel Row have a special connection to the old Cyfarthfa Ironworks. This ironworks was a huge workplace in the 1800s. Many people moved to Merthyr Tydfil to find jobs there.
The Chapel Row cottages were built in the 1820s. They were made to house all the new workers, especially those who worked for the Crawshay family, who owned the ironworks. These cottages were built for skilled workers and even had big outdoor spaces for future additions.
What Does the Cottage Look Like?
Number 4 Chapel Row is a great example of a skilled ironworker's home. It was built in a style common for that time. The cottage is a typical two-story house in a row of houses. It has a continuous slate roof, small windows, and light-colored stone corners.
Most of the building materials came from nearby areas. In the valleys above, in the Brecon Beacons, you could find natural resources like limestone, ironstone, and sandstone. These local materials were used to build the cottages. The Crawshay family then rented them to their workers.
Inside Joseph Parry's Cottage
Many rooms inside the cottage have been fixed up. They now look like a typical 19th-century Victorian home. The inside also shows what life was like for people working at the ironworks.
The main room you see is the living room. This was the most important part of a Victorian home. People didn't just relax here; they also cooked, washed clothes, and ironed. The living room has a stove with a bread oven. This stove was used for cooking, heating the house, and warming irons for chores. There's also a dining table and basic kitchen items like a kettle. A traditional longcase clock stands in the middle of the room. Even though it doesn't work now, these clocks were very common back then.
Also on the ground floor is the bedroom where Joseph Parry was born. This room has also been restored. It has an old wooden cradle and a linen chest. Outside, in the garden, there was an outdoor toilet. This was common at the time, but it could sometimes help spread diseases. The cottage's features are still looked after today.
Joseph Parry's Cottage Today
Today, the cottage on Chapel Row is a museum. It mostly tells the story of Joseph Parry's life. But it also shows what daily life was like in Merthyr Tydfil in the 1800s. Many of the old features of the cottage have been restored and are now on display.
The cottages on Chapel Row were almost torn down in the early 1970s. Luckily, they were saved and restored between 1976 and 1977. The first floor of the cottage now celebrates Joseph Parry's career. You can see many of his photos and documents framed for everyone to view. There's also an organ and copies of some of his music. This floor also shares more about Merthyr Tydfil's industrial past.
Joseph Parry's home was recently updated with money from a local company. It reopened to the public on what would have been the composer's 175th birthday. The home is now part of the Cyfarthfa Heritage Area.
