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Merthyr Tydfil (Welsh: Merthyr Tudful) is a town and county borough in the traditional county of Glamorgan, south Wales, with a population of about 55,000.
It was a small village until the industrial revolution. It was situated close to reserves of iron ore, coal, limestone and water, making it an ideal site for ironworks. This led to it becoming the largest town in Wales in 1851, with a population of 46,000. It has been in decline since the 1920s.
The current borough boundaries date back to 1974, when the former county borough of Merthyr Tydfil expanded slightly to cover Vaynor in Glamorgan and Bedlinog in Breconshire, it becoming a local government district in the administrative county of Mid Glamorgan at the time. The district became a county borough again on April 1, 1996.
Its football club, Merthyr Tydfil F.C. or 'The Martyrs' play in the Southern Football League.
Merthyr Tydfil hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1881 and 1901. It is twinned with Clichy-la-Garenne, France.
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