Under my feet : Mt Stuart Ship Repairing Yard marker

Under my feet today is a marker I walked over many times before, after deciding to pay more attention to what was ‘under my feet’, I stopped to read what it said and take photographs.

The plaque reads, in English and Welsh: ‘The granite setts show the line of the dockwall and the entrance to the former Mount Stuart Ship Repairing Yard : Mae’r sets ithfaen yn dangos llinell mur y doc a’r fynedfa i hen Iard Trwsio Llongau Mount Stuart’.

Cardiff had long been a port but it wasn’t until the early 19th century that it grew dramatically when the coal and iron trades increased rapidly to service the needs of the industrial revolution. Huge docks were constructed, starting with the Bute West Dock in 1839 and running right through to the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. And, though Cardiff never developed into an important shipbuilding location, it did become a major hub for ship repairing companies. 

In 1843, the Batchelor brothers, John and Sidney, moved from Newport to Cardiff to set up a ship repair yard. From their initial location on the banks of the River Taff, they moved six years later to the West Dock and then, several years after that, they opened the Mount Stuart Graving Dock. After the Batchelors’ operation went into liquidation in 1873, their business was eventually sold to Sir John Gunn, and the company became the Mount Stuart Ship Building, Graving Docks, and Engineering Company.

The 1882 sketch of the Mountstuart Dry Dock and Engineering Co’s Works, above left, is from William Turner’s publication The Port of Cardiff *. The photograph, above right, shows the three docks in use at a much later date, probably sometime in the mid 1900s (the image is not dated) **. Advertisements for the Mount Stuart company, dating from 1891-92 and 1895-6, can be seen on the Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History website.

 As you can see from the photograph above right, there are three docks, ranging in length from 430 feet (131 metres) to 543 feet (165 metres): Coflein, the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales, gives the exact measurements, and details of how these changed over time.    

After the Cardiff Bay Barrage was completed in 2001 and the bay changed from a tidal harbour to a freshwater lake, the three Mount Stuart docks were flooded. Two remain empty but dock number 3 contains pontoons, used to moor small boats. The photographs below show dock number one as it currently looks.

* Image from Wikimedia Commons: Dated 1882. Accession no: British Library HMNTS 10369.cc.8. Image extracted from page 110 of The Port of Cardiff, by TURNER, William - Author of Custom Houses, an out-of-copyright book. Original held and digitised by the British Library. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/TURNER%281882%29_MOUNTSTUART_Dry_Dock_and_Engineering_Co%C2%B4s._Work.jpg

** Image from Wikimedia Commons:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Mount_Stuart_dry_docks_%28451103725%29.jpg

 

Note re the term ‘graving’: I was not familiar with this word when I started researching the Mount Stuart plaque so was fascinated to learn its meaning. If you’re interested, there’s a short explanation on the Wikimapia entry for Mount Stuart Graving Dock 3.   

Under my feet : utility cover plates

During my lockdown exercise walks, as I seek to avoid other people’s germs wafting in my face, I’ve been spending a little more time than usual looking down and, in the process, especially during urban walks, I’ve been taking more notice of these ...

Now, I’m not entirely sure what to call them: utility cover plates? manhole covers (though not all are man-sized)? utility access points? inspection chamber covers? drain covers? drainage grates? 

I see many of those I have photographed have the word ‘ductile’ on their surfaces so has the industry that manufactures these cover plates adopted this word to identify their products? If so, it has done this in error as ductile is an adjective describing the pliability of metal. Perhaps they have conflated the two words ‘duct' and 'tile’?

I suppose these plates can actually have a variety of names, depending on their functions and whether they relate to storm water or other water drainage, sewers, electricity, gas or telecommunications. I have lumped together a wide variety of those I have found in this blog but, if I were to attempt a more detailed examination, I would need to separate them out in to their respective functions. I’m not sure I’m quite that motivated by these items but I am very impressed with some of their designs.

If you’re interested in learning more about these covers, Wikipedia has an interesting article. 

Under my feet : walk markers

I’ve been looking down again, and this time I’ve been seeing the markers that are set in city pavements to guide people through various walking routes. I saw the first of these when I was in London last October, which alerted me to keep an eye out for others. I’ve since found two more and I’m sure there will be others in my future.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

I spotted this walk marker just outside the boundary fence of Buckingham Palace, one of ‘three palaces and two mansions which figured in the life of the Princess’ (the others being Kensington Palace, St James’s Palace, Clarence House and Spencer House), according to the information about the walk on the Royal Parks website.

The website explains that ‘The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk is a seven-mile-long walk, charted by 90 plaques set in the ground, that takes you within sight of famous buildings and locations associated with the Princess during her life.’ To be honest, the concept doesn’t particularly appeal to me, though I do like the idea that the walk takes you through ‘four of the eight Royal Parks ... St James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens’ and, if you were a tourist short on time to explore London, the walk is a nice mix of splendid architecture and refreshing green spaces.

The website also explains that ‘The plaques are the work of sculptor Alec Peever. They have a rose emblem at the centre and are etched in aluminium, which appears like a precious metal. The rose is heraldic in design, and while symbolising the Princess's enduring image, also symbolises Britain's traditions and heritage.’

2005 Cardiff Centenary Walk

Despite having pounded many a pavement in my four and a half years in south Wales (especially in Cardiff), I hadn’t noticed any of these walk markers until a few days ago (though I have seen/visited/walked past all the sites on the walk’s route).

The walk, covering an impressive 41 landmarks and sites of historic interest, was established 15 years ago in recognition of Cardiff’s 100 years as a city. 

Despite that long list of places to see, the walk is only 2.2 miles (3.6 kilometres) long, so it’s easily do-able for any visitor to the Welsh capital.

You can download a route map and a guide book from the Outdoor Cardiff website here.

Wales Coastal Path

You would expect the signage for a coastal path walk to be on wooden posts along the route, marking junctions perhaps or pointing the way forward – and it usually is – but, where that coastal path passes through built-up areas, markers can sometimes be found set into the concrete under your feet. Such is the case here in south Wales, in towns and cities like Penarth and Cardiff, where the markers can be found along the promenade and the barrage respectively.

I’ve only walked an infinitesimal part of the 870-mile-long Wales Coastal path and have no ambition to walk all of it, even if I had the time, energy and money – judging by the route through Cardiff, some sections are pretty dire – but the true coastal sections, which make up the majority of this trail, take in some spectacular, breath-taking scenery that rivals anything you might enjoy and experience anywhere in the world. You can see what I mean and check out the full details on the dedicated website here. 

Under my feet : Principality Stadium

Rugby fans around the world will, I’m sure, be familiar with Cardiff’s Millennium – now Principality Stadium. Built in the late 1990s, after Wales had won the right to stage the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the stadium was constructed in the central city, a rugby ball’s throw from Cardiff Castle, adjacent to the still-extant Cardiff Arms Park, and on the site of the old Empire swimming pool.

But this post is not about the stadium itself (you can read more about that on its website). The stadium sits alongside the River Taff, and there is a riverside walkway that takes the pedestrian past one of the stadium’s entrances. There, under your feet, you can see a series of mosaic panels representing the nations that took part in the 1999 World Cup. 

The main countries have their own panels, with one that lumps together the ‘other nations’ – I’m not sure which they were. The panels show the flags of the various nations, together with symbols of those nations. 

The New Zealand panel shown here includes a sheep, a kiwi and what is probably meant to be a tuatara (the lizard-type creature); a dolphin and a whale; a silver fern, red pohutukawa flowers and what’s probably meant to be a fern (as we do not have coconut palms in New Zealand); a sailing ship, a Maori canoe and, presumably, the ceremonial gateway into a Maori pa; a koru (unfurling fern frond) and one other item (top left), which I haven’t yet figured out. 

The mosaics themselves are crude but I like the idea behind them and, twenty years on, they are still in reasonably good condition.