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CARDIFF

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 318 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARDIFF , a See also:

city, municipal, See also:county and See also:parliamentary See also:borough, seaport and See also:market-See also:town, and the county town of See also:Glamorganshire, See also:South See also:Wales, situated on the Taff, 1 m. above its outflow, 1451 M. from See also:London by the See also:Great Western railway via See also:Badminton, 402 m. W. of See also:Bristol and 451 M. E.S.E. of See also:Swansea. Cardiff is also the See also:terminus of both the Taff Vale and the See also:Rhymney See also:railways, the latter affording the London & See also:North-Western railway See also:access to the town. The See also:Barry See also:line from Barry See also:dock joins the Great Western and Taff Vale railways at Cardiff, and the Cardiff Railway See also:Company (which owns all the docks) has a line from See also:Pontypridd via Llanishen to the docks. The Glamorganshire See also:canal, opened in 1794, runs from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil, with a See also:branch to See also:Aberdare. The increase of the See also:population of Cardiff during the 19th See also:century was phenomenal;from 187o inhabitants in 18or, and 6187 in 1831 it See also:grew to 32,954 in 1861. The borough, which originally comprised only the parishes of St See also:John's and St See also:Mary's, was in 1875 and 1895 extended so as to include Roath and a large See also:part of See also:Llandaff, known as See also:Canton, on the right of the Taff. The whole See also:area was See also:united as one See also:civil See also:parish in 1903, and the population in 1901 was 164,333, of whom only about 8% spoke Welsh. Probably no town in the See also:kingdom has a nobler See also:group of public buildings than those in Cathays See also:Park, which also commands a view of the See also:castle ramparts and the old keep. On opposite sides of a See also:fine See also:avenue are the See also:assize courts and new town See also:hall (with municipal offices), which are both in the See also:Renaissance See also:style. The Glamorgan county See also:council has also a site of one See also:acre in the park for offices.

The University See also:

College of South Wales and See also:Monmouthshire, founded in 1883, under the principalship of J. Viriamu See also:Jones, for some See also:time carried on its See also:work in temporary buildings, pending the erection of the commodious and imposing See also:building from the plans of Mr W. D. Carne, in Cathays Park, where the registry of the university of Wales (of which the college is a constituent) is also situated. The Drapers' Company has given 15,500 towards building a library, in addition to previous donations to the See also:engineering See also:department and the scholarship fund of the college. The college has departments for arts, pure and applied See also:science and technology, See also:medicine, public See also:health, See also:music, and for the training of men and See also:women teachers for elementary and secondary See also:schools. Its library includes the See also:Salesbury collection of books See also:relating to Wales. Aberdare Hall is a See also:hostel for the women students. The Baptist theological college of See also:Pontypool was removed to Cardiff in 1895. The public library and museum were founded in 1863, but in 1882 were removed to a new building which was enlarged in 1896. The library is especially See also:rich in books and See also:MSS. relating to Wales and in See also:Celtic literature generally. These comprise the Welsh portion of the MSS. which belonged to See also:Sir See also:Thomas Phillipps of Middlehill (including the See also:Book of Aneurin—one of the " Four See also:ancient books of Wales "), See also:purchased for 3500.

A See also:

catalogue of the printed books in the Welsh department, which soon became a See also:standard work of reference, was published in 1898, while a See also:calendar of the Welsh MSS. was issued by the See also:Historical MSS. See also:Commission in 1903. There are six branch See also:libraries, while a See also:scheme of school libraries has been in operation since 1899. The See also:chief features of the museum are collections of the fossils, birds and See also:flora of Wales and of obsolete Welsh domestic appliances, casts of the pre-See also:Norman monuments of Wales, and reproductions of See also:metal and See also:ivory work illustrating various periods of See also:art and See also:civilization. There is also a unique collection of Swansea and Nantgarw See also:china. The fine arts department contains twenty-seven oil paintings by See also:modern See also:English and See also:continental artists bequeathed by See also:William See also:Menelaus of Dowlais in 1883, the Pyke-See also:Thompson collection of about roo See also:water-See also:colour paintings presented in 1899, and some 3000 prints and drawings relating to Wales. In 1905 Cardiff was selected by a privy council See also:committee to be the site of a See also:state-aided See also:national museum for Wales, the whole contents of the museum and art See also:gallery, together with a site in Cathays Park, having been offered by the See also:corporation for the purpose. A See also:charter providing for its See also:government was granted on the 19th of See also:March 1907. In Cathays Park there is also a " gorsedd " or bardic circle of huge monoliths erected in connexion with the See also:eisteddfod of 1899. The other public buildings of the town include the infirmary founded in 1837, the See also:present buildings being erected in 1883, and subsequently enlarged; the See also:sanatorium, the See also:seamen's See also:hospital, the South Wales See also:Institute of See also:Mining See also:Engineers (which has a library) built in 1894, the See also:exchange, an institute for the See also:blind, a school for the See also:deaf and dumb, and one of the two prisons for the county (the other being at Swansea). There are a technical school, an intermediate school for boys and another for girls, a " higher-grade " and a See also:pupil teachers' school. A musical festival is held triennially.

In the business part the buildings are also for the most part imposing and the thoroughfares spacious, while the chief suburban streets are planted with trees. The Taff is spanned by two See also:

bridges, one a four-arched See also:bridge rebuilt in 1858–1859 leading to Llandaff, and the other a See also:cantilever with a central swinging span of 190 ft. 8 in. In virtue of its being the See also:shire-town, Cardiff acquired in 1535 the right to send one representative to See also:parliament, which it did until 1832, from which date See also:Cowbridge and See also:Llantrisant have been joined with it as contributory boroughs returning one member. The great sessions for the county were during their whole existence from 1542 to 1830 held at Cardiff, but the assizes (which replaced them) have since then been held at Swansea and Cardiff alternately, as also are the See also:quarter sessions for Glamorgan. The borough has a See also:separate commission of the See also:peace, having a stipendiary See also:magistrate since 1858. It was granted a separate See also:court of quarter sessions in 189o, it was constituted a county borough in 1888, and, by letters patent dated the 28th of See also:October 1905, it was created a city and the dignity of See also:lord See also:mayor conferred on its chief magistrate. The corporation consists of ten aldermen and See also:thirty councillors, and the area of the municipal borough is 8408 acres. Under See also:powers secured in 1884, the town obtains its chief water See also:supply from a gathering ground near the See also:sources of the Taff on the old red See also:sandstone beyond the See also:northern out-See also:crop of the See also:mineral See also:basin and on the See also:southern slopes of the Brecknock Beacons. Here two reservoirs of a combined capacity of 668 million gallons have been constructed, and a conduit some 36 m. See also:long laid to Cardiff at a See also:total cost of about £1,250,000. A third See also:reservoir is authorized. A See also:gas company, first incorporated in 1837, supplies the city as well as Llandaff and See also:Penarth with gas, but the corporation also supplies electric See also:power both for See also:lighting and working the tramways, which were purchased from a private company in 1898.

The city owned in 1905 about 290 acres of parks and " open spaces," the chief being Roath Park of Too acres (including a botanical See also:

garden of 15 acres), Llandaff See also:fields of 70 acres, and Cathays Park of 6o acres, which was acquired in 1900 mainly with the view of placing in it the chief public buildings of the town. See also:Commerce and See also:Industries.—Edward II.'s charter of 1324 indicates that Cardiff had become even then a trading and See also:shipping centre of some importance. It enjoyed a brief existence as a See also:staple town from 1327 to 1332. During the reigns of See also:Elizabeth and See also:James I. it was notorious as a resort of pirates, while some of the ironfounders of the See also:district were suspected of secretly supplying See also:Spain with See also:ordnance. It was for centuries a " See also:head See also:port," its limits extending from See also:Chepstow to See also:Llanelly; in the 18th century it sank to the position of " a See also:creek " of the port of Bristol, but about 1840 it was made See also:independent, its limits for customs' purposes being defined as from the Rumney See also:estuary to See also:Nash Point, so that technically the "port of Cardiff" includes Barry and Penarth as well as Cardiff proper. Down to the end of the 18th century there was only a See also:primitive See also:quay on the See also:river See also:side for shipping purposes. See also:Coal was brought down from the hills on the backs of mules, and See also:iron carried in two-ton wagons. In 1798 the first dock (12 acres in extent) was constructed at the terminus of the Glamorgan canal from Merthyr. The commercial greatness of Cardiff is due to the vast coal and iron deposits of the See also:country drained by the Taff and Rhymney, between whose outlets the town is situated. But a great impetus to its development was given by the 2nd See also:marquess of See also:Bute, who has often been described as the second founder of Cardiff. In 183o he obtained the first See also:act for the construction of a dock which (now known as the See also:West Bute dock) was opened in 1839 and See also:measures (with its basin) 192 acres. The opening of the Taff Vale railway in 184o and of the South Wales railway to Cardiff in 185o necessitated further See also:accommodation, and the trustees of the marquess (who died in 1848) began in 1851 and opened in 1855 the See also:East Bute dock and basin measuring 464 acres.

The Rhymney railway to Cardiff was completed in 1858 and the See also:

trade of the port so vastly increased that the shipment of coal and See also:coke went up from 4562 tons in 1839 to 1,796,000 tons in 186o. In 1864 the Bute trustees unsuccessfully sought powers for constructing three additional docks to cost two millions See also:sterling, butunder the more limited powers granted in 1866, the Roath basin (12 acres) was opened in 1874, and (under a substituted act of 1882) the Roath dock (33 acres) was opened in 1887. All these docks were constructed by the Bute See also:family at a cost approaching three millions sterling. Still they See also:fell far See also:short of the requirements of the district. for in 1865 the Taff Vale Railway Company opened a dock of 26 acres under the headland at Penarth, while in 1884 a group of colliery owners, dissatisfied with their treatment at Cardiff, obtained powers to construct docks at Barry which are now 114 acres in extent. The Bute trustees in 1885 acquired the Glamorgan canal and its dock, and in the following See also:year obtained an act for vesting their various docks and the canal in a company now known as the Cardiff Railway Company. The South Bute dock of 502 acres, authorized in 1894 and capable of accommodating the largest vessels afloat, was opened in 1907, bringing the whole dock area of Cardiff (including See also:timber ponds) to about 210 acres. There are also ten private graving and floating docks and one public graving dock. There is ample equipment of fixed and movable staiths and See also:cranes of various sizes up to 70 tons, the See also:Lewis-See also:Hunter patent cranes being largely used for shipping coal owing to their minimizing the breakage of coal and securing its even See also:distribution. The landing of See also:foreign See also:cattle is permitted by the See also:Board of Trade, and there are cattle lairs and abattoirs near the Cardiff See also:wharf. The total exports of the Cardiff docks in 1906 amounted to 8,767,502 tons, of which 8, 433, 629 tons were coal, coke and patent See also:fuel, 151,912 were iron and See also:steel and their manufactures, and 181,076 tons of See also:general merchandise. What Cardiff lacks is a corresponding import trade, for its imports in 1906 amounted to only 2,108,133 tons, of which the chief items were iron ore (895,610 tons), See also:pit-See also:wood (303,407), See also:grain and See also:flour (298,197). Taking " the port of Cardiff " in its technical sense as including Barry and Penarth, it is the first port in the kingdom for shipping cleared to foreign countries and See also:British possessions, second in the kingdom for its timber imports, and first in the See also:world for shipment of coal.

The east See also:

moors, stretching towards the outlet of the Rhymney river, have become an important metallurgical quarter. See also:Copper See also:works were established here in 1866, followed long after by See also:tin-stamping and See also:enamel works. In 1888 the Dowlais Iron Company (now Messrs See also:Guest, Keen & Nettlefold, Ltd.) acquired here some ninety acres on which were built four blast furnaces and six See also:Siemens' smelting furnaces. There are also in the city several large grain See also:mills and breweries, a See also:biscuit factory, See also:wire and See also:hemp roperies, fuel works, general foundries and engineering works. At See also:Ely, 32 M. out of Cardiff, there are also breweries, a small tin works and large See also:paper works. The See also:newspapers of Cardiff include two weeklies, the Cardiff Times and Weekly See also:Mail, founded in 1857 and 187o respectively, two See also:morning dailies, the South Wales Daily See also:News and Western Mail, established in 1872 and 1869 respectively, and two evening dailies. See also:History and Historic Buildings.—In documents of the first See also:half of the 12th century the name is variously spelt as Kairdif, Cairti and Kardid. The Welsh See also:form of the name, Caerdydd (pronounced Caerdeeth, with the See also:accent on the second syllable) suggests that the name means " the fort of (Aulus ?) Didius," rather than Caer See also:Daf (" the fortress on the Taff "), which is nowhere found (except in See also:Leland), though Caer Dyv once existed as a variant. No traces have been found of any pre-See also:Roman See also:settlement at Cardiff. Excavations carried out by the marquess of Bute from 1889 onward furnished for the first time conclusive See also:proof that Cardiff had been a Roman station, and also revealed the sequence of changes which it had subsequently undergone. There was first, on the site occupied by the present castle, a See also:camp of about ten acres, probably constructed after the See also:conquest of the See also:Silures A.D. 75–77, so as to command the passage of the Taff, which was here crossed by the Via Maritima See also:running from See also:Gloucester to St See also:David's.

In later Roman times there were added a See also:

series of polygonal bastions, of the type found at Caerwent. To this See also:period also belongs the massive rampart, over 10 ft. thick, and the north gateway, one of the most perfect Roman gateways in Great See also:Britain. After the departure of the See also:Romans the walls became ruinous or were partly pulled down, perhaps by See also:sea rovers from the north. In this period of anarchy the native princes of Glamorgan had their See also:principal See also:demesne, not at the camp but a mile to the north at Llystalybont, now merely a thatched farmhouse, while some Saxon invaders threw up within the camp a large moated See also:mound on which the See also:Normans about the beginning of the 12th century built the great See also:shell-keep which is practically all that remains of their See also:original castle. Its builder was probably See also:Robert, See also:earl of Gloucester, who also built Bristol castle. Then or possibly even earlier the old rampart was for two-thirds of its See also:circuit buried under enormous earthworks, the See also:remainder being rebuilt. It was in the keep, and not, as tradition says, in the much later " See also:Black See also:Tower " (also called " See also:Duke Robert's Tower "), that Robert, duke of See also:Normandy, was imprisoned by See also:order of his See also:brother See also:Henry I. from 11o8 until his See also:death in 1134. Considerable additions of later date, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, are due to the Despensers and to See also:Beauchamp, earl of See also:Warwick, while the present residential part is of various See also:dates ranging from the 15th century down to the last half of the 19th, when a thorough restoration, including the addition of a superbly ornamented See also:clock-tower, was carried out. The original ditch, about 20 yds. wide, still exists on three sides, but it is now converted into a " feeder " for the docks and canal. See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth was at one time See also:chaplain of the castle, where he probably wrote some of his works. The See also:scene of the " See also:sparrow-See also:hawk " See also:tournament, described in Geraint and Enid, one of the Arthurian romances, is laid at Cardiff. On the conquest of the district by the Normans under Fitz See also:Hamon, Cardiff became the caput of the seigniory of Glamorgan, and the castle the See also:residence of its lords.

The castle and lordship descended by heirship, male and See also:

female, through the families of De See also:Clare, See also:Despenser, Beauchamp and See also:Neville to See also:Richard III., on whose fall they escheated to the See also:Crown, and were granted later, first to See also:Jasper Tudor, and finally by See also:Edward VI. in 1550 to Sir William See also:Herbert, afterwards created See also:Baron Herbert of Cardiff and earl of See also:Pembroke. Through the daughter and See also:grand-daughter of the 7th earl the castle and estates became the See also:property of the 1st marquess of Bute (who was created Baron Cardiff in 1776), to whose See also:direct descendant they now belong. The town received its earliest known See also:grant of municipal privileges sometime before 1147 from Fitz Hamon's successor and son-in-See also:law Robert, earl of Gloucester. In 1284 the inhabit-ants petitioned the burgesses of See also:Hereford for a certified copy of the customs of the latter town, and these furnished a See also:model for the later demands of the growing community at Cardiff from its lords, while Cardiff in turn furnished the model for the Glamorgan towns such as See also:Neath and Kenfig. In 1324 Edward II. granted a number of exemptions to Cardiff and other towns in South Wales, and this grant was confirmed by Edward III. in 1359, Henry IV. in 1400, Henry VI. in 1452, and Edward IV. in 1465. Its most important See also:early charter was that granted in 1340 by See also:Hugh le Despenser, whereby the burgesses acquired the right to nominate persons from whom the See also:constable of the castle should select a See also:bailiff and other See also:officers, two ancient fairs, held on the 29th of See also:June and 19th of See also:September, were confirmed, and extensive trading privileges were granted, including the right to form a See also:merchant gild. A charter granted in 1421 by Richard de Beauchamp provided that the town should be governed by twelve elected aldermen, but that the constable of the castle should be mayor. In 1581 See also:Queen Elizabeth granted a confirmatory charter to the mayor and bailiffs direct without reference to the lord of the castle. The town was treated as a borough by See also:prescription until ,6o8, when James I. confirmed its status by See also:express See also:incorporation, adding also to its rights of self-government, and granting it a third See also:fair (on the 3oth of See also:November). In 1687 the town surrendered this charter to James II., who in a substituted one, which, however, was never acted upon, reserved to the Crown the right of removing any member of the corporation from See also:office. The first step towards the modern improvement of the town was taken in 1774, when a See also:special actwas obtained for the purpose. Nineteen private acts and provisional orders were obtained during the ,9th century.

Among the many early English See also:

kings who visited or passed through Cardiff was Henry II., on whom in 1171, outside St Piran's See also:chapel (which has long since disappeared), was urged the See also:duty of See also:Sunday observance. About 1153, Ivor See also:Bach (or the Little), a neighbouring Welsh chieftain, seized the castle and for a time held William, earl of Gloucester, and the countess prisoners in the hills. In 1404 See also:Owen See also:Glendower burnt the town, except the quarters of the Friars Minors. In 1645, after the See also:battle of See also:Naseby, See also:Charles I. visited the town, which until then had been mainly Royalist, but about a See also:month later was taken by the Parliamentarians. In 1648, a See also:week after the Royalists had been decisively defeated by See also:Colonel See also:Horton at St Fagan's, 4 M. west of Cardiff, See also:Cromwell passed through the town on his way to Pembroke. Outside the north-west See also:angle of the castle, Richard de Clare in 1256 founded a Dominican priory, which was burnt by Glen-See also:dower in 1404. Though rebuilt, the building fell into decay after the See also:Dissolution. The site was excavated in 1887. Outside the north-east angle a Franciscan friary was founded in 1280 by See also:Gilbert de Clare,which at the Dissolution became the residence of a branch of the Herbert family. Its site was explored in 1896. The only other building of historic See also:interest is the See also:church of St John the Baptist, which is in the Perpendicular style, its fine tower having been built about 1443 by See also:Hart, who also built the towers of See also:Wrexham and St See also:Stephen's, Bristol. In the Herbert chapel is a fine See also:altar See also:tomb of two See also:brothers of the family.

A sculptured See also:

stone See also:reredos by W. Goscombe John was erected in 1896. The original church of St Mary's, at the mouth of the river, was swept away by a tidal See also:wave in 1607: See also:Wordsworth took this as a subject for a See also:sonnet. In 1555 Rawlins See also:White, a fisherman, was burnt at Cardiff for his Protestantism, and in 1679 two See also:Catholic priests were executed for recusancy. Cardiff was the birthplace of See also:Christopher Love (b. 1618), Puritan author, and of William Erbury, sometime See also:vicar of St Mary's in the town, who, with his See also:curate, See also:Walter See also:Cradock, were among the founders of Welsh See also:nonconformity. As to Roman Cardiff see articles by J. See also:Ward in the Archaeologia for 1901 (vol. ]vii.), and in Archaeologia Cambrensis for 1908. As to the castle and the Black and See also:Gray Friars see Archaeologia Cambrensis, 3rd series, viii. 251 (reprinted in See also:Clark's See also:Medieval Military See also:Architecture), 5th series, vi. 97; vii.

283; xvii. 55; 6th series, i. 69. The charters of Cardiff and " Materials for a History of the County Borough from the Earliest Times" were published by order of the corporation in Cardiff Records (5 vols., 1898, sqq.). See also a Handbook of Cardiff and District, prepared for the use of the British Association, 1891; Cardiff, an Illustrated Handbook, 1896; the See also:

Annual See also:Report of the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce; the Calendar of the University College. (D. LL.

End of Article: CARDIFF

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