Cardiff

Obviously Cardiff is the capital of Wales, but it only achieved that status in 1955, and indeed only became a city in 1905. As this mile post makes clear, it was just a town in 1835.

Indeed, in 1800 it was a rather small town, with a population on only about 2000, but over the course of the nineteenth century it became huge!

The growth was due to the work of John Crichton-Stuart, Second Marquess of Bute; a Scotsman who owned a big chunk of South Wales, and saw an opportunity to make a lot of money by developing docks in Cardiff to serve the growing coal and steel industries in the valleys to the north.

Todays the docks are a shadow of their former glory. though much of the area has now been redeveloped.

This image is a good starting point, showing Cardiff bay. At one time this would have been the scene of intense industry, but today a barrage has been built across the entrance to the bay (centre of the photo), and no ships can enter. It is no longer tidal.

To the left, you can see two cranes; these stand over the one remaining working dock, and left of that in the Norwegian Church.

All these images were taken in a 40-hour period in April, during which we had a full range of weather from heavy rain and hail to clear blue skies, even in the space of an hour, so if the sky looks wildly different across the photos, that is why. It looks lovely in this image, but after I took it, we had a look inside the church, and then had to shelter from the hailstorm!

Heading westwards round the bay, this is the Senedd, seat of the Welsh government.

This is the Pierhead; originally headquarters of the Cardiff Railway Company, now used by the Welsh government. It stood between the entrances to Bute East Dock and Bute West Dock. Some of the east dock is still there - though I never saw it - but it is now isolated from the bay. The Senedd stands where the entrance used to be.

The west dock has gone completely. This image shows where the tidal basic has been filled in, now called Roald Dahl Plass; Dahl was bon in Cardiff. The rest of the dock has gone completely.

Beside the old tidal basin is the Water Tower, also called Torchwood Tower as it featured in the BBC series. It has water cascading down the sides, which look rather more impressive in real life than a static image.

This shows the view looking into the old tidal basin.

And looking the other way into the bay. Two cormorants were posing nicely, but after I took the photo I realised another two were in the water, just a bit left and up from them. The headland is Penarth Head.

Looking back at the Norwegian Church, and I am including this one for sky.

A Wetherspoons pub - one of many - this is Mount Stuart, the name of the Second Marquis' house on Bute, but also the name of the ship builders on the site.

There are three docks still extant, I think they were dry docks used for ship building. None seem to have any use now. This view nicely shows the cranes of the in-use docks.

Heading north, way from the bay, there is the Lord Bute pub. I think it is currently closed, though it looks in good condition.

Behind that is the old Coal Exchange. This magnificent building was one of the most important buildings in the world at one time as this was where the price of coal was set. It is now an expensive hotel.

There are a number of other fine buildings in the areas, until we get to - and including - Cardiff Bay Station. This was the headquarters of the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), which was the first railway in Cardiff.

However, there is then a fairly uninspiring walk nearly a mile north to get to the city centre along Bute Street, parallel to the railway. One feature of interest, almost at the end of the walk, is this bridge, which used to take the railway over a canal.

This was a short spur off the Glamorganshire Canal, which ran northwards to the west of the railway. The spur connected to the top of Bute West Dock. The canal had a breach in 1942, and Cardiff Corporation took the opportunity to buy it cheap, and close it down in 1944. Only a few clues to its existence still exist in Cardiff.

A bit further on is Callaghan Square, which felt to me like it needs a bit more care and attention.

Just to the north is the mainline to London. This was originally opened by the South Wales Railway in 1850. Like the TVR, it was designed by Brunel, but while he built the TVR to standard gauge this was built to broad gauge to allow trains to run from Paddington.

This is the next bridge to the west (and taken from the north side), and is notable because it crossed the Glamorganshire Canal as well as the road.

Just visible to the left is the old Customs House, built in 1845. It was replaced in 1898, but survived and in 2024 became incorporated into a hotel.

In fact, this was where we stayed and the view from the fourteenth floor was amazing!

Over the road is the Great Western pub, another Wetherspoons.

The Great western Railway took over all the railways in Cardiff in 1922. The main station, Cardiff Central, is just to the west, and was rebuilt by the Great Western between 1931 and 1934. Brunel diverted the course of the River Taff to make room for his original station.

The interior is similarly Art Deco.

Opposite the station is the very modern BBC Wales building in stark contrast.

Behind you can just see part of the Principality Stadium. Here is another view from the north side, looking down river.

The huge white structures are cantilevers holding up the roof on the inside, and in my view do nothing for the look of the place. Here is one in close-up. The point is only about a meter from the building on the left.

Just east of the stadium is a pub called Tiny Rebel. This is the interior; through the window you can see the approach to the stadium, whilst on the screen, you can see the women's rugby match that was playing there. Wales did not win...

I failed to get a photo of the exterior somehow, but just down the street is the Queens Vault, which is an attractive traditional pub.

Next door is what used to be the garage for two hotels, the Royal, on the other side of the road, and the Queens, which at one time stood behind it. Built in 1936, it offered free transport to the recently open Splott Airport.

The city centre is east of the stadium, and gets wild at night! This is the Borough - note how narrow it is.

The Owain Glyndwr, another Whetherspoons.

The Blue Bell, which seems to be two pubs. There appears to be no way of getting from one half to the other when inside - which confused us when half the group went in the left one and the other half the right one! The one on the right is the original; it opened in 1813, and was for a time the Goat Major. The CAMRA web site has images of it as the Goat Major and later as the Blue Bell with the second Blue Bell on the left. I am guessing that is a recent addition.

This fine shop was built in the 1870s as The Queen’s Music Warehouse, selling musical instruments. Wales Online tells me "Its Venetian Gothic facade was directly inspired by Ruskin’s book The Stories of Venice and reflect both the proximity of the site to the old Glamorgan canal and the popularity of Italian architectural styles during this period."

A rather fancy KFC! I am guessing this used to be a bank.

There must be half a dozen little arcades. This one, Wyndham Arcade, bends sharply left!

Inside...

Anoither one, this is inside Royal Arcade.

The entrance to Cardiff market.

And inside.

The Corner House pub, the last one I sampled on my visit. The pub is quite a contrast to the modern building on the left, Cardiff Library. The Glamorganshire Canal passed between the two at one time.

East of the centre is Churchill Way, notable because the dock feeder runs below it. The dock feeder is a water channel that takes water from the river to keep the West Bute Dock and East Bute Dock supplied. It is about three and a half miles long, and was completed in 1839. It was culverted in 1949 to make room for the road. In 2023, a section was opened up to create a feature.

North is the New Theatre.

The dock feeder passes behind the theatre, though the trees you can see on the right.

This is the Boulevard de Nantes, the dock feeder runs along behind the fence on the left.

Whilst on the other side is Gorsedd Gardens.

Through the trees you can see the National Museum, Cardiff, a magnificent building that opening in 1922.

Next door is City Hall. This was designed as the fifth town hall for Cardiff, but during construction Cardiff became a city, and so became the City Hall when opened in 1906.

And just to the east of that is the Crown Court, designed by the same company as the city Hall, and opening in 1904.

This is the end of Boulevard de Nantes, looking south along North Road towards the centre of Cardiff. The dock feeder runs under the road on the far side of the junction from right to left. Through the trees on the right you can see the castle wall, and the canal used to run alongside that, passing over the docker feeder.

About half way along the castle wall the canal passed under North Road, and the bridge is still there.

The castle was first built by the Normans, though the site was previously used for Roman forts. It was expanded and rebuilt, especially in the second half of the nineteenth century.