Newtown | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 51°28′38″N3°10′08″W / 51.4772°N 3.1690°W | |
Country | Wales |
City | Cardiff |
Established | 1840s |
Newtown was a residential area of Cardiff, Wales that was also known as 'Little Ireland' because of its population of Irish families. Its six streets and 200 houses existed from the mid-nineteenth century until they were demolished in 1970. It was known as one of the "5 towns of Cardiff", the others being Butetown, Crockherbtown, Grangetown and Temperance Town.
The areas later known as Newtown and Adamsdown were the first significant areas of housing that developed outside of Cardiff's old town boundaries in the early nineteenth century, clearly evident by the 1830s. [1] In the years following the Great Famine of Ireland of 1845 hundreds of Irish families began to arrive in Cardiff, often travelling as 'ballast' in ships from Cork and Waterford. [2] They were generally housed in Newtown, which had been purposely expanded by the Marquess of Bute to house construction workers for Cardiff's new docks. [3] In 1850 the South Wales Railway (from Swansea to Chepstow) had been opened, [4] separating Adamsdown from Newtown. Newtown came to consist of six streets – Ellen Street, North Williams Street, Pendoylan Street and Pendoylan Place, Roland Street, Rosemary Street – immediately south of the railway and north of Tyndall Street. A footbridge gave access over the railway. [5]
Newtown became known as 'Little Ireland'. [2]
Cardiff's first race riot occurred in Newtown in 1848. A Welshman, Thomas Lewis, had been stabbed to death by an Irishman, John Connors. Welsh mobs took the law into their own hands and headed to Newtown to find the culprit. At Lewis's funeral Irishmen with pick axes had to stand guard to ward off any further trouble. [6]
By the 1930s, Newtown had already deteriorated to slum conditions. [7]
Eventually, in 1966 the houses were compulsorily purchased in anticipation of the redevelopment of the old dock areas. In 1970 the houses were demolished. [3]
The site became a trading estate. In 2010 this in turn had been demolished. It was anticipated the area would be redeveloped for mixed-use, with new housing and offices. [7]
One of the last original remnants of Newtown, The Vulcan public house on Adam Street (originally Whitmore Lane, Newtown), [8] was demolished in 2012 with plans to rebuild it at St Fagans National History Museum. [9]
On the 11th of may 2024 the Vulcan reopened. [10]
In 1999 Cardiff Bay Development Corporation gave £10,000 toward the cost of a memorial to commemorate the Newtown community. The Newtown Memorial Garden was created, opened on 20 March 2005. It contains a large stone 'knotwork' sculpture by local artist David Mackie. [11]
Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 362,310 in 2021 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff. The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. Cardiff Built-up Area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.
Tonypandy is a town, community and electoral ward located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, the town was the scene of the 1910 Tonypandy riots.
Roath is a district and community to the north-east of the city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The area is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdown in the south to Roath Park in the north.
Splott is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. Splott is characterised by its once vast steelworks and rows of tightly knit terraced houses. The suburb of Splott falls into the Splott electoral ward.
Cathays is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is densely populated and contains many Victorian terraced houses. The area falls into the Cathays ward. It is the third most populous community in Cardiff, having a population of 18,002 in 2011.
Butetown is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by the 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose title the area was named.
Adamsdown is an inner city area and community in the south of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Adamsdown is generally located between Newport Road, to the north and the mainline railway to the south. The area includes Cardiff Prison, Cardiff Magistrates' Court, Cardiff Royal Infirmary, a University of South Wales campus, and many streets of residential housing. There are two primary schools in the area Adamsdown Primary School and Tredegarville Primary School.
Atlantic Wharf is a southern area of the city of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily an area of new houses and apartments located on the west side of the disused Bute East Dock and to the east of Lloyd George Avenue. It also includes a number of refurbished dock warehouses, modern hotels, the Red Dragon Centre and Cardiff Council's County Hall. Atlantic Wharf lies in the Butetown electoral division of Cardiff and the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency for the UK Parliament and the Senedd.
St Fagans National Museum of History, commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Welsh people. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.
Canton is an inner-city district and community in the west of Cardiff, capital of Wales, lying 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the city's civic centre. It is located adjacent to Pontcanna. Canton is one of the most ethnically diverse of Cardiff's suburbs, with a significant Pakistani and Indian population. The total population of Canton increased to 14,304 at the 2011 census. It is also the most Welsh-speaking district of central Cardiff, with 19.1% of the population speaking Welsh.
Grangetown is a district and community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area. Adjacent to the city's Cardiff Bay area, Grangetown is experiencing a period of gentrification and improvements in its infrastructure. Its population as of 2011 was 19,385 in 8,261 households. One of the "five towns of Cardiff", the others are Butetown, Crockherbtown, Newtown and Temperance Town.
Trealaw is a long village, also a community and electoral ward in the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It stretches over two miles from the junction of Cemetery Road and Brithweunydd Road in the east, to the junction of Ynyscynon Road and Partridge Road to the northwest.
The River Ely is in South Wales flowing generally southeast, from Tonyrefail to Cardiff.
The timeline of Cardiff history shows the significant events in the history of Cardiff which transformed it from a small Roman fort into the modern capital city of Wales.
Rail transport in Cardiff has developed to provide connections to many other major cities in the United Kingdom, and to provide an urban rail network for the city and its commuter towns in southeast Wales. Today, there are three train operating companies in Cardiff: Great Western Railway, CrossCountry and Transport for Wales.
The Vulcan Hotel is a historic hotel and public house, that was located in Adamsdown suburb of Cardiff, South Wales. Scheduled for demolition in 2009, after a long public campaign to preserve what had become one of Cardiff's oldest working public houses, in 2012 it was donated to the National History Museum at St Fagans. A decade-long reconstruction saw the pub reopen on 11 May 2024.
The Royal Oak is a Grade II listed public house on Newport Road in the Adamsdown/Roath area of Cardiff, Wales.
David Montgomery Vaughan (c.1810–c.1892) was a Welsh architect, surveyor, land agent and diarist.
Cardiff Rural District was a second tier local government district of Glamorgan, Wales, until 1974. It covered the more rural areas to the west and north of the city of Cardiff.