1.
Cardiff Bay
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Cardiff Bay is the area of water created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It is also the name given to the areas of the city surrounding the Bay. The creation of Cardiff Bay is now regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a 500-acre freshwater lake around the former dockland area south of the city centre. The Bay was formerly tidal, with access to the sea limited to a couple of each side of high water. Cardiff Bay played a part in Cardiff’s development by being the means of exporting coal from the South Wales Valleys to the rest of the world. The coal mining industry helped fund the building of Cardiff into the Capital city of Wales and helped the Third Marquis of Bute, after the Second World War most of the industry closed down and became derelict. But, in 1999, new life was injected into the area by the building of the Cardiff Bay Barrage, one of the most controversial building projects of the day but also one of the most successful. The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was created in 1987 to stimulate the redevelopment of 1,100 hectares of derelict land, the Development Corporation aimed to attract private capital by spending public money to improve the area. Despite opposition by environmentalists and wildlife organisations, the mudflats at the mouths of the River Taff and River Ely were inundated, the Barrage has created several new habitats for freshwater species with the wetlands to the south of the Hamadryad Park. When the Development Corporation was wound up in on 31 March 2000, the whole area was unrecognisable from ten years before. Much private land was now open to the public, particularly around the inner harbour, work is progressing to complete a 13 kilometre walkway around the Bay. In addition, the development has enabled land in the city centre to be redeveloped for higher-value uses, the development of something like 1,250 apartments a year however might cause future problems. As at 2008 up to one third were not occupied, critics such as Lorraine Barrett say, the flat complexes will not help to build up a community and too little attention has been paid to develop affordable housing. With the recent falls in property values, sales in the area have become problematic, therefore, landlords might be more willing to rent their places out to people who may not be suited to that type of living. Connecting the Bay area to the centre of Cardiff was a goal when plans to develop the docklands were first mooted. Original plans included a grand boulevard with high density commercial and residential units straddling both sides, on 30 January 2013 the award-winning planning consultant, Adrian Jones, stated that Cardiff Bay was a contender for the worst example of waterside regeneration in Britain. No, it is the lack of any coherent urban structure, of real streets, in other words, it is the dumb plan
2.
Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established
3.
BBC Cymru Wales
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BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC, and the national broadcaster for Wales. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is based in Cardiff and directly employs some 1,200 people to produce a range of programmes for television, radio, BBC Cymru Wales operates two TV channels and two radio stations. Wales raises some £182 million in licence fee resources, however, spend on local content by BBC Wales is £151 million, £31 million of which is for BBC-produced television productions. BBC Cymru Wales operates two services, BBC One Wales and BBC Two Wales, which can opt out of the main network feed of BBC One. In addition to two channels, BBC Cymru Wales is required to provide programmes in Welsh, which it supplies to the Welsh channel S4C free of charge using the BBC Cymru brand. These programmes include a Welsh news service Newyddion, covering Welsh, general UK and international news, and a soap opera Pobol y Cwm, BBC Cymru Wales operates two radio stations covering the entire country. BBC Radio Wales is the English language network, broadcasting local programmes for approximately 20 hours a day, while off air, Radio Cymru simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Lives overnight programme. BBC Cymru Wales operates its own mini-site on BBC Online as well as providing news, in addition, news stories are provided for the BBC Red Button interactive service. BBC Cymru Wales employs an orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The majority of the concerts are recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Wales. Since January 2009 the administrative base of the NOW has been the BBC Hoddinott Hall, in the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. The first broadcast in Wales was on 13 February 1923 from the radio station 5WA, later to become part of the BBC Regional Programme, during this time, the region was served from a variety of bases around Wales. During World War II, the services all ceased and broadcast the Home Service from London. The BBCs Bangor base played host to the BBC Variety Department during the war, the first television signals in Wales came on 15 August 1952 from the newly constructed Wenvoe transmitter. The transmitter itself broadcast the national BBC Television service, the launch of BBC Wales on 9 February 1964 provided a specific television service for the country. The new service was promoted with animated promos using the sound of Welsh choirs to explain about interference from the mountains. Two years later in 1966, BBC Cymru Wales new headquarters at Broadcasting House in Cardiff opened, following the end of the Second World War, the BBC Home Service continued its regional opt-outs, including an opt-out service for Wales. This opt-out continued after the change from the Home Service to Radio 4, prior to 1982, BBC Cymru Wales on television provided programmes in both English and Welsh, with the news programme Heddiw and the long-running serial Pobol y Cwm figuring among the key output
4.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
5.
Topping out
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In building construction, topping out is a builders rite traditionally held when the last beam is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlayed into an event for public relations purposes. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, a tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal, in masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick. In some cases a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, in New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a roof shout, where workers are treated to cake and beer. The tradition of pannenbier is popular in the Netherlands and Flanders and it stays in place until the buildings owner provides free beer to the workers, after which it is lowered. It is considered if it remains flown for more than a few days. The topping out traditions of the high-steel ironworkers, Topping Off. at the Wayback Machine. Http, //www. stp. uh. edu/vol68/160/news/news4. html Tree symbolizes campus growth, The Daily Cougar, Volume 68, Issue 160, Monday,28 July 2003, Topping Off at the Wayback Machine. National Review, December 23,2003 Richtfest. info A German language site about the topping out ceremonies, Topping out Roberts Pavilion Topping out the new athletic building at Claremont McKenna College
6.
William Burges
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William Burges ARA was an English architect and designer. Burges stands within the tradition of the Gothic Revival, his works echoing those of the Pre-Raphaelites and his architectural output was small but varied. Working with a team of craftsmen, he built churches, a cathedral, a warehouse, a university. Burgess most notable works are Cardiff Castle, constructed between 1866 and 1928, and Castell Coch, both of which were built for John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. Other significant buildings include Gayhurst House, Buckinghamshire, Knightshayes Court, the Church of Christ the Consoler, St Marys, Studley Royal, in Yorkshire, many of his designs were never executed or were subsequently demolished or altered. His competition entries for cathedrals at Lille, Adelaide, Colombo, Brisbane, Edinburgh and he lost out to George Edmund Street in the competition for the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand. His plans for the redecoration of the interior of St Pauls Cathedral were abandoned, skilbecks Warehouse was demolished in the 1970s, and work at Salisbury Cathedral, at Worcester College, Oxford, and at Knightshayes Court had been lost in the decades before. Beyond architecture, Burges designed metalwork, sculpture, jewellery, furniture, for most of the century following his death, Victorian architecture was neither the subject of intensive study nor sympathetic attention and Burgess work was largely ignored. However the revival of interest in Victorian art, architecture, and design in the twentieth century has led to a renewed appreciation of Burges. Burges was born on 2 December 1827, the son of Alfred Burges, Alfred made a considerable fortune, some £113,000 at his death, enabling his son to devote his life to the study and practice of architecture without requiring that he actually earn a living. Burges entered Kings College School, London, in 1839 to study engineering, his contemporaries there including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and he left in 1844 to join the office of Edward Blore, surveyor to Westminster Abbey. Blore was an architect, having worked for both William IV and Queen Victoria, and had made his reputation as a proponent of the Gothic Revival. In 1848 or 1849, Burges moved to the offices of Matthew Digby Wyatt, Wyatt was as prominent an architect as Blore, evidenced by his leading role in the direction of The Great Exhibition in 1851. Burgess work with Wyatt, particularly on the Medieval Court for this exhibition, was influential on the subsequent course of his career. During this period, he worked on drawings of medieval metalwork for Wyatts book, Metalwork, published in 1852. Of equal importance to Burgess subsequent career was his travelling, Burges believed that all architects should travel, remarking that it was absolutely necessary to see how various art problems have been resolved in different ages by different men. Enabled by his income, Burges moved through England, then France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece. In total, he spent some 18 months abroad developing his skills, what he saw and drew provided a repository of influences and ideas that he used and re-used for the whole of his career
7.
Cardiff Castle
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Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. The castle was commissioned either by William the Conqueror or by Robert Fitzhamon, and formed the heart of the town of Cardiff. In the 12th century the castle began to be rebuilt in stone, probably by Robert of Gloucester, with a shell keep, further work was conducted by Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester in the second half of the 13th century. After being held by the de Clare and Despenser families for centuries the castle was acquired by Richard de Beauchamp in 1423. Richard conducted extensive work on the castle, founding the main range on the west side of the castle, following the Wars of the Roses, the status of the castle as a Marcher territory was revoked and its military significance began to decline. During the English Civil War Cardiff Castle was initially taken by a Parliamentary force, when fighting broke out again in 1648, a Royalist army attacked Cardiff in a bid to regain the castle, leading to the Battle of St Fagans just outside the city. Cardiff Castle escaped potential destruction by Parliament after the war and was instead garrisoned, in the mid-18th century, Cardiff Castle passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute. During the first half of the 19th century the family became wealthy as a result of the growth of the coal industry in Glamorgan. The third Marquess, John Crichton-Stuart, used this wealth to back an extensive programme of renovations under William Burges, Burges remodelled the castle in a Gothic revival style, lavishing money and attention on the main range. The resulting interior designs are considered to be amongst the most magnificent that the gothic revival ever achieved, the grounds were re-landscaped and, following the discovery of the old Roman remains, reconstructed walls and a gatehouse in a Roman style were incorporated into the castle design. Extensive landscaped parks were built around the outside of the castle, in the early 20th century the fourth Marquess inherited the castle and construction work continued into the 1920s. The Bute lands and commercial interests around Cardiff were sold off or nationalised until, by the time of the Second World War, during the war, extensive air raid shelters were built in the castle walls, they could hold up to 1,800 people. When the Marquess died in 1947, the castle was given to the city of Cardiff, today the castle is run as a tourist attraction, with the grounds housing the Firing Line regimental museum and interpretation centre. The castle has served as a venue for events, including musical performances. The future site of Cardiff Castle was first used by the Romans as a location for many years. The first fort was built about AD55 and occupied until AD80. It was a structure much larger than the current site
8.
Castell Coch
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Castell Coch is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the village of Tongwynlais in South Wales. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans after 1081, to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and this castle was likely destroyed in the native Welsh rebellion of 1314. In 1760, the ruins were acquired by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. John Crichton-Stuart, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, inherited the castle in 1848, Burges rebuilt the outside of the castle between 1875 and 1879, before turning to the interior, he died in 1881 and the work was finished by Burgess remaining team in 1891. Bute reintroduced commercial viticulture into Britain, planting a vineyard just below the castle, the Marquess made little use of his new retreat and in 1950 his grandson, the 5th Marquess of Bute, placed it into the care of the state. It is now controlled by the Welsh heritage agency Cadw, Castell Cochs external features and the High Victorian interiors led the historian David McLees to describe it as one of the greatest Victorian triumphs of architectural composition. The interiors were decorated, with specially designed furniture and fittings. The surrounding beech woods contain rare plant species and unusual features and are protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The first castle on the Castell Coch site was built after 1081. It formed one of a string of eight intended to defend the newly conquered town of Cardiff. It took the form of a raised, earth-work motte, about 35 metres across at the base and 25 metres on the top, the first castle was probably abandoned after 1093 when the Norman lordship of Glamorgan was created, changing the line of the frontier. In 1267, Gilbert de Clare, who held the Lordship of Glamorgan, Caerphilly Castle was built to control the new territory and Castell Coch—strategically located between Cardiff and Caerphilly—was reoccupied. A new castle was built in stone around the motte, comprising a shell-wall, a circular tower, a gatehouse. The north-west section of the walls was protected by a talus, further work followed between 1268 and 1277, which added two large towers, a turning-bridge for the gatehouse and further protection to the north-west walls. On Gilberts death, the passed to his widow Joan and around this time it was referred to as Castrum Rubeum, Latin for the Red Castle. Gilberts son, also named Gilbert, inherited the property in 1307 and he died at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, triggering an uprising of the native Welsh in the region. Castell Coch was probably destroyed by the rebels in July 1314, and possibly slighted to put it any further use, it was not rebuilt. Castell Coch remained derelict, the antiquarian John Leland, visiting around 1536, described it as all in ruin, no big thing but high
9.
Dalek
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The Daleks /ˈdɑːlɛks/ are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The Daleks were conceived by science-fiction writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 Doctor Who serial The Daleks and their catchphrase, Exterminate. is a well-recognised reference in British popular culture. Within the programmes narrative, the Daleks were engineered by the scientist Davros during the years of a thousand-year war between his people, the Kaleds, and their enemies the Thals. His creations soon came to view themselves as the race in the universe. Collectively they are the greatest enemies of Doctor Whos protagonist, the Time Lord known as The Doctor and they are among the shows most popular villains and their various returns to the series over the years have typically been widely reported in the television press. The Daleks were created by writer Terry Nation and designed by BBC designer Raymond Cusick and they were introduced in December 1963 in the second Doctor Who serial, colloquially known as The Daleks. They became an immediate and huge hit with viewers, featuring in many subsequent serials and they have become as synonymous with Doctor Who as the Doctor himself, and their behaviour and catchphrases are now part of British popular culture. In 1999 a Dalek photographed by Lord Snowdon appeared on a stamp celebrating British popular culture. As early as one year after first appearing on Doctor Who, the word Dalek has entered major dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines Dalek as a type of robot appearing in Dr. Who, a B. B. C. Television science-fiction programme, hence used allusively, but English-speakers sometimes use the term metaphorically to describe people, usually authority figures, who act like robots unable to break from their programming. Daleks have been known to use their plungers to interface with technology, crush a skull by suction, measure the intelligence of a subject. Dalek casings are made of a bonded polycarbide material dubbed dalekanium by a member of the resistance in The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The lower half of a Daleks shell is covered with hemispherical protrusions, or Dalek bumps and their armour has a forcefield that evaporates most bullets and resists most types of energy weapons. The forcefield seems to be concentrated around the Daleks midsection, as normally ineffective firepower can be concentrated on the eyestalk to blind a Dalek. Daleks have a limited visual field, with no peripheral sight at all. Their own energy weapons are capable of destroying them and their weapons fire a beam that has electrical tendencies, is capable of propagating through water, and may be a form of plasma. The eyepiece is a Daleks most vulnerable spot, impairing its vision often leads to a blind, panicked firing of its weapon while exclaiming My vision is impaired, I cannot see. Russell T Davies subverted the catchphrase in his 2008 episode The Stolen Earth, the creature inside the mechanical casing is soft and repulsive in appearance and vicious in temperament
10.
Newport, Wales
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Newport is a cathedral and university city and unitary authority area in south east Wales. It is located on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, at the 2011 census it is the third largest city in Wales, with a city population of 145,700 and an urban population of 306,844. The city forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area with a population of 1,097,000, Newport has been a port since medieval times, when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream and it grew significantly in the 19th century, when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern valleys of South Wales. Until the rise of Cardiff from the 1850s, Newport was Wales largest coal-exporting port and it was the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839 led by the Chartists. During the 20th century, when the docks declined in importance and it was granted city status in 2002. Newport hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010, the city was the venue for the 2014 NATO summit. It is the largest urban area within the county boundaries of Monmouthshire. The City of Newport, which includes surrounding rural areas as well as the built up area, is governed by Newport City Council. Bronze Age fishermen settled around the estuary of the River Usk. In AD75, on the edge of their empire. According to legend, in the late 5th century Saint Woolos church was founded by Saint Gwynllyw, the church was certainly in existence by the 9th century and today has become Newport Cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of Monmouth. The Normans arrived from around 1088–1093 to build the first Newport Castle and river crossing downstream from Caerleon, the settlement of Newport is first mentioned as novo burgus established by Robert, Earl of Gloucester in 1126. The name was derived from the original Latin name Novus Burgus, the city can sometimes be found labelled as Newport-on-Usk on old maps. The original Welsh language name for the city, Casnewydd-ar-Wysg means New castle-on-Usk, the original Newport Castle was a small motte-and-bailey castle in the park opposite Newport Cathedral. It was buried in rubble excavated from the Hillfield railway tunnels that were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s and no part of it is currently visible. Around the settlement, the new town grew to become Newport, obtaining its first charter in 1314 and was granted a second one, by Hugh Stafford, in the 14th century friars came to Newport where they built an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. After its closure the hospital lived on in the place name Spitty Fields, austin Friars also remains a street name in the city
11.
Pontypridd
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Pontypridd is both a community and the county town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. Pontypridd is often abbreviated to Ponty by local residents, the town sits at the junction of the Rhondda and Taff/Cynon valleys, where the River Rhondda flows into the Taff immediately south of the town at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park. Pontypridd community had a population of approximately 32,700 according to figures gathered in 2011. While Pontypridd Town Ward itself was recorded as having a population of 2,919 also as of 2001, the town lies alongside the dual carriageway north-south A470, between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil. The A4054, running north and south of the town, was the main road. South of the town is the A473, for Llantrisant and Pencoed, to the west is the A4058, which follows the River Rhondda to Porth and the Rhondda Valley beyond. The name Pontypridd is from Pont-y-tŷ-pridd the Welsh for bridge by the earthen house, Pontypridd is noted for its Old Bridge, a stone construction across the River Taff built in 1756 by William Edwards. This was Edwards third attempt, and, at the time of construction, was the longest single-span stone arch bridge in the world. Rising 35 feet above the level of the river, the forms a perfect segment of a circle. Notable features are the three holes of differing diameters through each end of the bridge, the purpose of which is to reduce weight. On completion, questions were raised as to the utility of the bridge, with the steepness of the design making it difficult to get horses. As a result, a new bridge, the Victoria Bridge, Pontypridd was known as Newbridge from shortly after the construction of the Old Bridge until the 1860s. Because of its role in transporting cargo, its railway platform is thought to have once been the longest in the world during its heyday. Pontypridd was, in the half of the 19th century, a hive of industry. The Albion Colliery in the village of Cilfynydd in 1894 was the site of one of the worst explosions within the South Wales coalfield, the town is also home to a large hospital, Dewi Sant Hospital. Pontypridd Urban District Council was established in 1894, and operated until 1974, in turn, that authority was incorporated into the unitary Rhondda Cynon Taf Council in 1995. Pontypridd Town Council continues to function as a community council, labour is the dominant political force, and has been since the First World War. Pontypridd came into being because of transport, as it was on the route from the south Wales coast and the Bristol Channel, to Merthyr
12.
Cardiff Docks
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Cardiff Docks is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost 11 km. Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal, in 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking the then small town of Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting the canal to the sea. Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiffs foremost landowner, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, the dock design was by Admiral William Henry Smyth and the resident engineer was George Turnbull. Two years after the October 1839 dock opening, the Taff Vale Railway was opened, with the construction of the new East Bute Dock from 1855, designed by James Walker of Messrs. Frustration at the lack of development at Cardiff led to rival docks being opened at Penarth in 1865 and Barry and these developments eventually spurred Cardiff into action, with the opening of the Roath Dock in 1887, and the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. By then, coal exports from the South Wales Coalfield via Cardiff totalled nearly 9 million tons per annum, by 1913, this had risen to 10,700,000 tons, making Cardiff second only to Barry, Wales as the largest coal exporting dock in the world. Each day, the principals of these companies would meet to arrange cargoes of coal for their ships in the opulent Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square and this trade reached its pinnacle in 1913, when 10.7 million tons of coal were exported from the port. After the First World War, there was a boom in shipping in Cardiff, the boom proved short-lived, however, oil was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles soon flooded Europe with cheap German reparation coal. The Taff Vale Railway was built to transport coal from the South Wales Valleys to the docks and its headquarters were a currently derelict building in Cardiff Bay railway station. The building was turned into a heritage centre in 1979 by the Butetown Historic Railway Society. By 1994 the Society had started to run steam hauled passenger services up. From 1910 onwards capacity issues meant that the modern and less tidal Barry Docks took over as the largest volume export point of coal. Until the early 1920s, Cardiff docks continued to boom as a location for shipping companies, but the fall in demand for Welsh coal caused a dramatic fall in exports. By 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression which followed the General Strike in 1926, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tonnes, despite intense activity at the port during the Second World War, coal exports continued to decline, finally ceasing in 1964. In 1950, imports outstripped exports for the first time in the ports history, the 1970s saw a short-term import boom, and in the 1980s the port experienced a slight rise in traffic, while much of the former port area began to be regenerated into non-port uses. The port found a niche as an important local centre for cargo operations. Cardiff now has three operational docks capable of handling ships of up to 35,000 tons deadweight, Queen Alexandra Dock, Roath Dock, and Roath Basin
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Media related to Roath Lock at Wikimedia Commons
