Cardiff, the largest and capital city of Wales is located on the southern coast straddling the River Taff and facing the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. It is the busy and bustling commercial heart of Wales, a University city and above all the centre of the major urban area of Wales which includes the towns of Newport and Barry.
Shopping is a delight in any of the six canopied Victorian and Edwardian arcades, which retain shop fronts of their time, and sell everything from food to fashion. The Royal Arcade was built in 1856 and is the oldest. Cardiff Arms Park is the home of Welsh Rugby and is located in the heart of the city. The second Arms Park is a relatively new ground, built next door to the main stadium for club rugby.
Cardiff was little more than a village until the 18th century when the coalfields were developed to feed the growing demand caused by the Industrial revolution. However, it was not officially designated a city until 1905 and capital of Wales until 1955. Its history goes back to the Romans, who built a ford here in AD76 to defend roads built into the interior. A Norman keep was built on the Roman site a thousand years later, to subdue the rebellious Welsh, with parts of the Roman foundation still visible underground in an illuminated chamber. The town grew up around the Norman Castle, one of the most remarkable buildings in Britain which was transformed in the 19th century by the local landowner, the 2nd Marquess of Bute, who built the docks and turned Cardiff into one of the world’s greatest ports.
With the demise of the coal and steel industries, the Docklands, as in many cities, has since been turned into an area of luxury apartments and penthouses. Cardiff Castle was restored and rebuilt by the 3rd Marquess of Bute, one of the richest men in Britain. Work started in 1860 and he, and his architect William Burges, turned the fortress into a romantic medieval fantasy of lavish opulence. Outside, on the castle walls, stone animals stare at passers-by and the beautiful clock-tower soars above the city streets. Inside, is a riot of stained-glass windows, tapestries, wall paintings and impressive chimney-pieces, carved and painted animals, birds and fishes, along with damsels and knights, abound. Within the fortress walls, the stone keep sits atop a steep mound with a moat around the base for further protection. It is one of the best preserved in Britain today. Two military museums are also within the castle walls – the Welch Regimental Museum, in the Black Tower, and the Queen’s Dragoon Guards Museum, which both recall the history of their regiments. Good views of the Castle can be had from Bute Park on the banks of the River Taff.
Much of Cardiff’s civic Centre is built from dazzling white Portland stone – the City Hall, home to the City Council, allows the public access to the first floor known as the ‘Marble Hall’ with its collection of marble statues of Welsh Heroes including St. David, Owain Glyndwr and Harri Tudur, later becoming King Henry Tudor VII of England - the National Museum of Wales seems almost to be a copy of City Hall but has a grander entrance and houses the story of Wales through the ages - the Welsh National War Memorial with bronze sculptures of a soldier, a sailor and an airman. In front of the National Museum is a circle of ceremonial Gorsedd Stones which were erected in 1899 to proclaim the holding of the National Eisteddfod.
Other sites, in the city, worthy of mention:
Blackfriars Priory, the remains of the medieval Dominican Priory excavated by the 3rd Marquess of Bute.
St John’s church, dating back to 1453 and the only medieval church still left in the city centre. It has a splendid 40 metre Somerset Tower and a Jacobean Chapel of special beauty and interest.
The Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, has boats, steam locomotives and engines on display.
Other places of interest within 30 kilometres:
Castell Coch, or the Red Castle, is sited on a steep wooded hill just outside Cardiff. As with Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch was created by the 3rd Marquess of Bute and his architect and designer, William Burges, in the 19th century and decorated in the same manner.
The Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagan’s to the west of Cardiff, has many vernacular buildings, taken from all over Wales, and re-erected on this 40 hectare site, along with numerous items denoting life in Wales over the centuries.
Caerphilly Castle, eleven kilometres north of Cardiff, the second largest castle in England and Wales after Windsor, an impressive ruin with two moats and elaborate defences.
Llandaff Cathedral, 4 kilometres north-west of Cardiff and extensively damaged during the Second World War, was reconstructed and re-opened in 1957. It contains an aluminium sculpture of Christ in Majesty by Epstein.
Did you know that – like Edinburgh, a Searchlight Military Tattoo is held in the inner courtyard of Cardiff Castle, complete with martial music and the sound of marching feet? It is staged in the first two weeks in August every other year (the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held annually).
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