3-089-949 - ©National Museum of Wales/Heritage Images

Bute Furnaces, Rhymney ironworks, Mid-Glamorgan, South Wales, c1830. View of the Egyptian Furnaces. A record from 1826 states: 'The engine-house is a fine building in the Egyptian style of architecture. Notwithstanding the stagnation, and consequent extreme distress experienced in most of the manufacturing districts through the kingdom, the ironworks of Merthyr Tydfil and neighbourhood are actively carried on.' The actual design of the Egyptian Furnaces remains a matter of debate. It appears the original plan was to build 24 furnaces in an Egyptian style, which was hugely fashionable at that time. Designed by John MacCulloch, they were said to resemble the temples of Dendera in Egypt. Eventually six were built between 1824 and 1839.