Cardiff : St Mary’s Church

Even in the short time I have been in Wales – not yet five years, I have seen massive change in Cardiff and not, in my opinion, for the better. Rather than valuing the city’s history with projects that conserve and restore life to the heritage buildings, the city council seems intent on letting developers swamp Cardiff’s lovely old buildings with tall and ugly tower blocks. And don’t even get me started on the (surely now) outdated trend of façadism – there are at least two such construction projects underway in the central city as I write this – such lazy architectural design!

The reason for today’s rant is that I almost missed seeing what remains of St Mary’s Church because of yet another inner city construction project. The church itself is long gone – and I do mean long – due to the severe damage it suffered in the Great Flood of 1607, the church was abandoned in 1701. But the ghost of the church remains as an outline of pale stones on the side of the building that now stands where it once stood.

John Speed's 1610 map of Cardiff, Wikimedia Commons;
St Mary's is at bottom right

St Mary’s began life as a Benedictine priory way back in 1107, but its riverside location (prior to the River Taff being diverted in 1850) meant it was always susceptible to flooding and, apparently, bodies were frequently washed out of its graveyard.

In 1878, the site of St Mary’s was used for the construction of a theatre, the NewTheatre Royal, but that once grand building has seen many subsequent reincarnations, even for a time being a cinema showing pornographic films – I can’t imagine what the Benedictines would have thought of that. The building is currently a Wetherspoon’s pub, the Prince of Wales.    

I don’t know how visible the outline of St Mary’s will be once the current construction project, part of the Central Square development, is finished but, if the wide expanses of bland concrete underfoot and the wind-tunnel-creating skyscrapers overhead are anything to go by, I doubt the developers would have even considered a nod to Cardiff’s historic past, so I’m glad I managed to pay homage to the old St Mary’s Church before it disappears.

Cardiff : Cambrian Buildings

I often forget that it always pays to look up!

I was meandering around the streets of Cardiff one day last week, gathering images for future blogs, and had almost reached Cardiff Bay station to catch the train home, when I felt the need to look skywards – and this is what I saw. 

This was only one of thirteen, each unique, that adorn a building of two names, the Cambrian Buildings which face on to Mount Stuart Square and, around the corner, the Cymric Buildings on West Bute Street. Built between 1907 and 1911 to the design of local architect Henry Budgen, this is a large imposing Grade II-listed structure of four main storeys, with a basement beneath and an attic level above. If you want to read a precise description of the architectural design, you can do so on the British Listed Buildings website, but for me it was all about the sculptural embellishments.

Running along the top of the fourth floor, they are a spectacular mix of the marine, with walruses, dolphin-type creatures, sea monsters and, rather incongruously, what looks like a lion, all underscored with nautical paraphernalia, like anchors, ropes, compasses, and chains. I’ve not uncovered any details of the sculptor, or sculptors, whose superb craftsmanship this is but they were obviously masters of their craft. The Cambrian Buildings have five of these Ionic-style capitals (shown above in order from the left of the building to the right, where it turns the corner into West Bute Street), and the Cymric Buildings have eight (shown below, again in order from left to right).

As well as these lavish sculptures at the top of the three-storey-high pilasters, there is a series of individual sea monsters on each side of the bases of the pilasters, between the windows of the first floor. These are described as dolphins in the official building description, though they’re not like any dolphins I’ve ever seen – perhaps the sculptors had only their imaginations to go on when carving these designs. The ‘dolphin’ closest to the neighbouring building has been rather squeezed into his position, but the others are more elegantly arranged. These are my particular favourites because of the amazing expressions on their faces.

On the ground floor, each of the two facades of these buildings has a central grand entrance, with the buildings’ names above.

And on each side of these entrances are more pilasters, these topped with sculptures of sailing ships and more nautical-themed details.

This area of Cardiff was immediately adjacent to the port, an extremely busy place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and most of the commercial buildings in this area were built to house the major shipping and mining magnates, and the importing and exporting companies. The Cambrian Buildings were built to house the offices of the Cambrian Coal Combine, the most powerful mining group in south Wales’s Rhondda coal-mining valleys.

Now that I’ve realised what treasures there are amongst the historic buildings in the older parts of Cardiff, I’ll be looking up (and down and around) much more often.

Cardiff: Gabalfa Lodge

The Grade II-listed Gabalfa Lodge (sometimes known as Park Lodge) was built in the early 1870s and sits alongside the Taff Trail at the northern entrance to Bute Park. Designed by estate architect Charles Rigg, it was intended as the north lodge for the 3rd Marquess of Bute’s Cardiff Castle Park, though, these days, it is privately owned. It’s a pretty building, perfectly sited beside the River Taff and at the end of a tall avenue of lime trees, so it looks lovely whatever the season. My photos here were taken last week, in late spring, and mid summer.

Cardiff lights: Glamorgan Building

We had a broad look at Cardiff University’s Glamorgan Building earlier this month but I wanted to show you one particular feature of its Edwardian architecture that I really love. 

These two impressive sets of lights stand either side of the main entrance steps. Lion heads were very popular in 19th and early 20th century architectural decoration: the king of the beasts stood as a symbol of the might of Britain and its extensive empire, and represented, amongst other qualities, strength, gravitas and valour, so lions were often added to the decoration of important buildings like banks, county halls and other civic buildings.

Cardiff University: Main Building

Though it was almost literally freezing when I left work this afternoon, I took one look at the sky and just had to find something to photograph against those delicate pinks. Luckily, Cardiff University is nearby, and this, its oldest building, was perfectly sited. This imposing building now has the most bland name ever to grace such a lovely edifice, Main Building, but, when it was officially opened by the Earl of Plymouth on 14 October 1909, it was considered one of the jewels in Cardiff’s crown. You can read more about its history here.

From the Evening Express newspaper, 14 October 1909

Cardiff: Aberdare Hall

I’ve often admired this beautiful 1893-built Gothic-revival Grade II-listed building en route to, or on my way home from, a walk in Bute Park but I didn’t realise until today that it’s actually a female-only Hall of Residence for 132 students of Cardiff University. 

Ah, but how times have changed since I was at university: the university website advises aspiring residents that ‘although Aberdare Hall is a female-only hall of residence, male visitors are permitted to visit and stay overnight’! In my day, there was more sneakery involved! You can find out more about the building here.