Fun facts you might not know about our capital’s history
HERE are 50 fun historic facts about Cardiff that you may not know...
■ Cardiff was granted its Charter of Incorporation by James 1 in 1616.
■ The population of Cardiff in 1801 was 1,870.
■ In 1910, 300 men were employed at the Great Western Railway Station.
■ There were 358 vessels registered at Cardiff on December 31, 1909.
■ The City Hall and Law Courts were built at a cost of £276,317.
■ Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show visited Cardiff in 1891, 1903 and 1904. ■ The last public execution in Cardiff took place on July 25, 1857.
■ Perforated postage stamps were first used in Cardiff in 1853.
■ The statue of John Batchelor (Friend of Freedom) was erected in Cardiff on The Hayes in 1886.
■ The celebrated General Tom Thumb – “the smallest man alive” – visited Cardiff in 1857.
■ The River Taff once flowed through Westgate Street.
■ The 1896 Cardiff Fine Art, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition attracted one million visitors.
■ Cardiff’s Ely Racecourse officially opened on May 30, 1855 and closed on April 27, 1939.
■ The Cardiff Police Force dates back to 1836.
■ The area of land known as Wood Street was once called Temperance Town. ■ In 1950, the last Cardiff tram made its final journey.
■ Between 1850 and 1875 some 92 licensed premises could be found in the central area of Cardiff alone.
■ The first Mansion House was at 21 The Walk.
■ Ivor Novello was born at 95 Cowbridge Road East, in 1893. His real name was David Ivor Davies.
■ The New Theatre celebrated its centenary in 2006.
■ Helen Evans CBE became Cardiff’s first Lady Lord Mayor in 1959.
■ The first Cardiff pillar box was erected in Crockherbtown (Queen Street) in 1855.
■ The first town clerk of Cardiff was William Thomas, appointed in 1690.
■ The Hansom Cab made its first appearance in Cardiff in 1859.
■ The first cargo of coal was exported from Cardiff in 1595.
■ In 1887, Cardiff Corporation appointed a mole-catcher.
■ The first Taff Swim was held in 1924 in the River Taff and later at Roath Park.
■ In 1791, Catherine Griffiths, of St Fagans, was the last woman to be hanged on what was known as the “Heath Oak’.’
■ On October 12, 1858, and for several nights afterwards a large and very brilliant comet was seen over Cardiff. ■ The Cardiff Continental Waxworks at 90 St Mary Street closed in 1946. ■ In 1936, Ira Stevens, of Dogo Street, left Cardiff for Hollywood and became legendary child star Shirley Temple’s double and stand-in.
■ In 1948, Winston Churchill was given the Freedom of the City.
■ The legendary greyhound Mick The
Miller set a world record of 29.56 for 525 yards when competing in the 1930 Welsh Greyhound Derby at the Welsh White City Stadium in Sloper Road.
■ The 1874 Epsom Derby winner George Frederick was bred at Ely Farm, Cardiff, and owned by William Sherward Cartwright.
■ The first Lord Mayor of Cardiff was Sir Robert Hughes.
■ Hugh Cudlipp, the legendary Fleet Street editor, was born in Cardiff. The family lived in Lisvane Street.
■ The Glamorganshire Canal which ran from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff Docks was completed in 1794.
■ In 1855, there were seven breweries in the centre of Cardiff.
■ St Mary Street is named after the ancient church damaged in the great flood of 1607. ■ During the Civil War, Charles I visited Cardiff.
■ The last mail coach left Cardiff on August 2, 1850.
■ In 1903, the famed Irish writer William Butler Yeats gave a lecture at the Cory Hall in Station Terrace.
■ Author Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff in 1916.
■ The Wales Empire Pool, built for the 1958 Empire and Commonwealth Games, was closed in 1998 and later demolished.
■ In 1831, Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn, was hanged in Cardiff for his alleged part in the Merthyr Riots.
■ The Westgate Street Fire Station was demolished in 1973 to make way for a multi-storey car park.
■ There were only three Catholics in Cardiff in 1820.
■ The parish church of St John the Baptist is the oldest church in Cardiff. ■ When the Bute East Dock was opened in 1855 the population of Cardiff was 24,200.
■ The Royal Infirmary was established in 1837.
There will be another 50 Cardiff facts next week.
■ Send your stories and pictures to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or e-mail to brianlee4@virginmedia.com, including a telephone number as I can’t reply by letter.