| It was here
in 1804 that Richard Trevithick tested the
world’s first steam railway, the Merthyr
Tramway.
In the 1830s Merthyr’s population exceeded
that of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport added
together, giving rise to poverty, radicalism
and the popularity of one of Wales’ most
famous figures, Keir Hardy, Britain’s first
socialist MP. The ‘red flag’ was created here
in 1831 when rioters dipped their flag in the
blood of a calf.
|
