If
you go down to Thompson’s Park today (only as part of your exercise walk, of
course), you might be puzzled, as I was, by the many strange stones poking up amongst
the grass and wildflowers on the park’s verdant slopes. I had hoped to return
to get photos of the many other stones to be found around the park, but the
corona virus lockdown means I can no longer access this park, so the stones
pictured here are just a taster of what can be found with a little searching.
The
land that is now known as Thompson’s Park was once owned by Charles Thompson, a
senior partner in the well known Cardiff milling company, Spillers, and Thompson’s house,
Preswylfa, once adjoined the park on the eastern side (the house was demolished
in the late 1990s and the site is now occupied by a modern housing development).
The
land adjoining Preswylfa was then known as Sir David’s Field (in Welsh, Cae Syr
Dafydd), and Thompson opened up this property to the public in 1891. Later, in
1912, he gifted the park to Cardiff City Council, and the stones we see today
relate to that transfer of land from Thompson to the Council.
The
stones, all of which have Roman numerals inscribed on their sides, were
boundary markers. Originally, there were 17 such stones but only 10 are now
visible, and one of those has been turned on its side, so its number can no
longer be read.
When
I last visited Thompson’s Park, in February, I only found four stones but it
was a cold day with intermittent hail showers so I didn’t explore far. During
my subsequent research to uncover the story behind the stones, I discovered the
excellent information on the Cardiff Parks website, which also includes a map
of the locations of the additional stones. When I am finally able to return to
this lovely Cardiff park, I will try to find all the other stones and will add
their photos to this post.
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