Ironwork fence railings, 1

The Victorian-era houses of Penarth have some wonderful architectural details, both on the buildings themselves and on the fences that enclose them. Fortunately, the original makers of some of these adornments were not shy in labelling their products, and the stunning ironwork along the street boundary of this particular house in Victoria Road is clearly marked with the maker's details: W. A. Baker & Co Ltd, Newport, Mon[mouthshire].

According to the Lost Art website, W. A. Baker & Co Ltd was founded, as W. A. Bakers Foundry, in 1880, and the 1881 census confirms that William A. Baker, aged 34 and born in Devon, was 'an Ironmonger & Ironfounder employing 27 Men & Boys in Newport' (Census ref RG11/5261/110/1). The Lost Art site continues: 'Welsh foundries were responsible for producing both elaborate and decorative ironwork as well as the more everyday items that provided the bulk of the employment for iron workers' and, although W. A. Baker operated out of its Westgate Works, 'the company was also linked to an ironmongery shop in the city that sold many of its products, apparently stocking everything from bedsteads to ammunition'. You can see a photograph of the impressive foundry buildings as they were in 1905 on the Newport Past website.

Hungry tree, 10 years on

Back in December 2015, when I'd only been living in Wales a few months, I wrote a post for the daily Nature blog I had recently started (earthstar.blog) called Hungry trees. In that I wrote

I’ve only been in Cardiff a short while, but already I’ve discovered two hungry trees. One is slowly but surely wrapping itself around a post box in my street. And not just any post box – this tree has style. It’s consuming a Grade II-listed Victorian post box that was probably erected around 1900. Not surprisingly, the post box has now been decommissioned.

The post box is Grade II listed due to its age – not that many post boxes have survived from the Victorian era. According to the British Listed Buildings website, residential development occurred in this area of the Cardiff suburb of Roath between 1890 and 1914, with the houses on the south side of Roath Park Pleasure Gardens, where this box is located, being constructed between 1897 and 1907. It is likely that the post box was erected on the street during this time, probably prior to 1901. 

During the last week of 2025, I was in the Roath area and decided to walk past this wonderful old post box to see how it was faring. As you can see from my side-by-side photographs (the images on the left were taken in October 2015, on the right in December 2025), the tree – probably just a sapling when the post box was installed; now over 100 feet tall – has consumed quite a lot more of the post box in the past ten years.

Time goes by

 

Clock tower, Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay

The tower is known, unofficially, as 'Baby Big Ben' and the 'Big Ben of Wales', and is certainly an impressive culmination to the iconic edifice that is the Grade-I-listed Pierhead Building (more about the building itself in a future blog). Though the face of the tower clock is the original that was installed prior to the building's opening in 1897, the clock mechanism is not. That was replaced with an electronic motor sometime in the 1970s. The original mechanism, after some peregrinations, has recently been restored, and is now housed in a specially constructed glass case in Cardiff's St Mary Street (more on that in a forthcoming post). 

Happy New Year, everyone! For 2026, I've decided to return my focus to the subjects listed in this blog's header, namely 'sprinklings of history, a smidgeon of genealogy, a dash of art, a dusting of architecture', as well as the eccentric fascinations I continue to develop. Short posts like today's, with a single, often black-and-white photograph, will be mixed, when time allows, with longer, more detailed blogs with additional illustrations. Thanks for following along.