Penarth ghost sign: Windsor Nursery

Back in 2021, during renovation work, an old shop sign was uncovered on the front of number 86 Windsor Road, Penarth. It read ‘Windsor Nursery’. 

I’ve tried, during the intervening years, to get good photographs of the sign and its building but that has always proved tricky. For much of that time, a large campervan has been parked on the street in front of the building, limiting the possibilities for front-on shots. Also, for a long time, the exterior of the building was covered in scaffolding, though little building work seemed to take place. More recently, the front of the site has become overgrown with foliage. 

Though the word ‘Windsor’ is an obvious nod to the street name, I wondered, initially, about the name ‘Nursery’ – a child-care business, or something horticultural perhaps. Then, I found a post about the building on Twitter; this dates from March 2021 and was posted on the LovesTheDiff account:

An old shopfront sign was recently uncovered at 86 Windsor Road, Penarth. Windsor Nursery was a kind of convenience store of its time. Graham Hicks saw it and dug out this old photo belonging to his aunt. It shows the shop as it was more than 100 years ago.

I no longer use Twitter, and, for copyright reasons, cannot include the photo here but have added a link to the account name for those of you who can access it. I did, however, manage to find a couple of advertisements for goods being sold by the shop, published in the Evening Express, on 22 November 1909 and 31 December 1910 respectively. A sow and her piglets, a ladder, hot water pipes and a garden roller – it’s an intriguing combination of offerings. 

In a reply to the Twitter post referenced above, someone had added another old photograph with the comment: ‘And this is 86 Windsor Rd in 1920s/30s after the Price family took it on. Ernest Price pictured (my great grandad). My mum grew up there.’ Once again, I cannot show you that image, for copyright reasons, but here I had a piece of luck. 

I bumped in to a friend who was walking his dog in a local park and who lives near 86 Windsor Road. Somehow our conversation turned to the building and, by sheer coincidence, he told me he had an old photograph from the time when E.W. Price was the shopkeeper, which he was happy to send to me. The image quality is not great but I am still extremely grateful to my friend for letting me use this photo. 

The old photograph also showed how much the building has been altered in the intervening century; I’ve included a side-by-side comparison to show those changes. The most noticeable difference is the removal of the wonderful oriel window and its replacement with a modern rectangular window, which leaves the building devoid of its former character. I hope the ghost sign can in some way be retained and protected, as a piece of local history, but I somehow doubt that will happen. The building was recently put up for auction, though it appears there were no bids for it, so only time will tell what the future holds for the former ‘Windsor Nursery’.

Cardiff Bay: The Story Stone

Cardiff Bay has yet another piece of public art, this one to mark the 25th anniversary of the Barrage that closed off the once-tidal Bay and the natural outlets of the Rivers Taff and Ely to create a lake that now has water quality so poor that you definitely wouldn’t want to swim in it. But, hey, let’s celebrate the creation of the Cardiff Harbour Authority whose job it is to look after these murky waters. 

The artwork is the creation of sculptor Ben Dearnley, whose website says:

This project brings together the ancient world of standing stones with a modern twist. Within this huge piece of Welsh slate we have some of the stories of this wonderful regeneration of Cardiff Bay.

The mock standing stone is a 2.4-metre-tall piece of Welsh slate, with three stained-glass windows set into it. Each window shows different aspects of the Bay, pre- and post-Barrage, including the workforce that is now constantly required to clean up the rubbish that flows down the two rivers; some of the local wildlife: Salmon, Great crested grebes; and people walking, running, cycling and sailing in and around the Bay. If you’re interested in the artwork’s creation, the project page on Dearnley’s website includes many photos of the work in progress. 

If I sound cynical about the project, it’s because I am. There are two main reasons, neither of which is a reflection on Dearnley’s creation, which I actually quite like. The first reason is because, as I think I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about Cardiff Bay’s artworks, the Council (of which the Harbour Authority is a part) seems ever ready to commission and pay for new pieces but appears to allocate zero funds to maintaining them, with the result that many have now literally crumbled away or are eyesores. 

The second has to do with the area where this new piece is located, its surrounding ‘garden’ incorporating what was once a small and very necessary pond for small birds, until the machinery which operated its hydraulic system stopped working. Even then, the pond held a small amount of water and native plants until, under the pretext of ‘health and safety’ – that small amount of water was deemed a hazard even though the large unfenced lake a few metres away wasn’t – the Harbour Authority dumped a large quantity of stones and boulders in the pond to make it ‘safe’, which, of course, rendered it unusable by birdlife. 

What could have happened was a repair, even an enlargement of the former pond, and the installation of an artwork that encompassed or surrounded the water in such a way as to allow birds in but prevented access to dogs and their humans, thus rendering it safe. Something like an inverted hemisphere-shaped stainless-steel net, for example (this is not a product endorsement but a quick google found the website of a company called Creative Pond Covers Ltd which manufactures bespoke pond covers, exactly the sort of thing I’m envisioning). With a little imagination, this could have been a win for art and creativity, as well as benefitting the natural environment … but it isn’t.

Sign: Village Green no 41

This sign has intrigued me for some years, partly because the signposted area seems small to be designated a village green, also because I didn’t realise village greens were numbered, and I also wondered about the Inclosure Act, in particular the Section 12 that was mentioned. So, I decided to investigate. 

Village Green 41 is a small public green space that sits in front of the stone boundary wall of St Dochdwy's Church in Llandough, in the Vale of Glamorgan, in Wales. According to the Llandough Community Council website, the Council owns the green and is responsible for its maintenance. The green is home to a commemorative Millennium Stone, and has benches for people to sit and enjoy the trees and seasonal flower displays.

The number 41 relates to a Register of Town or Village Greens maintained by the Vale of Glamorgan Council, which, according to their website,

holds the registers compiled by the two former counties of South Glamorgan and Mid Glamorgan.

The registers were compiled, under the Commons Registration Act 1965, between 1967 and 1970 and contain information about all the registered common land and village greens in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Every area of registered land is listed in the registers under a unique Unit (CL or VG) Number. The registers also show if there are any rights of common over the land and record details of claims to ownership.

 

Next, the Inclosure Act 1857, for which I located this excellent summary on the LexisNexis website:

This Act was implemented to address the impact of the widespread enclosure of common lands in England and Wales. It sought to regulate and protect certain remaining public areas from further enclosure, ensuring that they remained accessible for public use. The legislation specifically extended protections to ancient or customary common lands, providing a legal remedy to curtail the loss of public open spaces. It also incorporated measures to uphold public rights of way, ensuring community access and recreational use while recognising the need for continued lawful agricultural operations on enclosed lands. 

As indicated on the Village Green 41 sign, Section 12 of the Inclosure Act relates to ‘Protecting from nuisances town and village greens and allotments for exercise and recreation.’ The details of the Act on the UK Government’s Legislation website explain those nuisances might include ‘wilfully and without lawful authority lead[ing] or driv[ing] any cattle or animal thereon’, or ‘wilfully lay[ing] any manure, soil, ashes, or rubbish, or other matter or thing thereon’, acts for which ‘any churchwarden or overseer of the parish in which such town or village green or land is situate’ might fine the offender, both for the offence itself and for the cost of remedying the effects of the offence. You have been warned!