Cefn-coed-y-cymmer

Cefn Viaduct
Close up view of viaduct
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Cefn (Newbridge) Viaduct (partly in Cefn Community)
Designated	4 January 1966 Amended 29 July 1998
Reference no.	628

Cefn-coed-y-cymmer (also Cefn coed y cymer, Cefn Coed y Cymer, Cefn Coed-y-cymmer and Cefncoedycymer) (pronounced [ˌkɛvɛnˌkɔɨ̯dəˈkəmɛr]) is a small community on the northwestern edge of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in south Wales. It is situated in the neck of land between the rivers Taf Fawr and Taf Fechan at their confluence (Welsh: 'cymer'). The village lies within the community of Vaynor. Immediately to the north of the village is the hill of Cefn Cil Sanws on the southern slopes of which is Merthyr Tydfil Golf Club. The village is bounded both to the north and the west by the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Notable features of the village are the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road and the impressive curving Cefn Coed Viaduct. The viaduct, which spans the Taf Fawr river, came into being as part of the Merthyr- Pontsticill junction line. This additional line extended the Brecon and Merthyr Railway and was only agreed following a special Act of Parliament in July 1862 to allow its construction.

The viaduct is the third largest in Wales and is now a Grade II listed building. It was designed by Alexander Sutherland in conjunction with Henry Conybeare and partly built by Thomas Savin and John Ward. In early 1866, the project faced disaster when Savin and Ward suffered serious financial and legal difficulties. It was eventually completed with the assistance of Alexander Sutherland. He produced an alternative route into Merthyr, curving the viaduct, so that the railway line avoided property owned by ironmaster Robert Thompson Crawshay. It cost £25,000 to build (equivalent to £2.1 million in 2015).

It consists of 15 arches, each one 39 feet 6 inches wide, and is 770 ft. long with a maximum height of 115 ft. It was planned to be constructed entirely of limestone like the nearby Pontsarn Viaduct but a trade union strike by stonemasons in February 1866 caused the company to buy 800,000 bricks and use bricklayers to complete the 15 arches. It was completed on 29 October 1866, three years after the main line which linked it with Brecon. The last trains travelled over the viaduct in the mid 1960s and it subsequently fell into disrepair. It was refurbished by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council with assistance from a grant from the National Lottery. It has now become part of the Taff Trail, route 8 of the National Cycleway.