Red letter day as popular park opens for the first time
AS A young lad in the early 1950s, I worked for Cardiff Corporation – as it was back then.
I was based at various places at different times such as the old Ely Racecourse, where I used to help the groundsman to mark out the soccer and rugby pitches, Thompson’s Park, with its famed Joyance boy with a butterfly statue, and Victoria Park.
Long before then, it was on a Wednesday – June 16, 1897 – that Victoria Park, in the Canton area of Cardiff, was first “thrown open to the public”.
A local paper reported: “As might have been expected, Canton was ‘en fete’ for it was a red letter day in the populous district.
“While the other districts of Cardiff have had open spaces provided for the delectation of the public, Canton has had to wait.
“Now, however, their turn has come. “A fine new park of 20 acres the portion of that old-time swamp known as Ely Common.
“It is a beautifully laid out piece of ground with smooth firm greenswards and broad laid paths, and delightful beds well furnished with flowers, shrubs and trees.
“There is a lake with two beautiful fountains in it, there is a substantial and yet artistic bandstand, a two-acre space of playground for the children.”
Fast forward to May 6, 1919, when the Parks Committee accepted a gift of a tank and it was decided to place it in Victoria Park on a spot adjoining Cowbridge Road.
The Lord Mayor, Councillor A C
Kirk, and Major E L Williams, Officer Commanding Welch Regiment, on behalf of the National War Savings Committee, asked the Lord Mayor to accept the tank as a permanent record
of the patriotism and self sacrifice of the people of Cardiff.
At one time, two captured German field artillery guns also went to Victoria Park.
Meanwhile, Cardiff Bridge – known to generations of Cardiffians as Canton Bridge – is one of the thousands of bridges throughout the land that is featured in An Encylopaedia Of British Bridges.
There were only timber bridges over the River Taff until the late 18th century when a builder called Perry built the first stone bridge.
This, we are told, was “swept away” and in 1859 a new 32ft-wide bridge of four stone arches, each with a skew span of about 47ft, was built a little downstream. This too proved to be inadequate and it was later widened in 1880 by cantilevering out footways on each side.
However, the bridge we know today was completely rebuilt in 1930 in reinforced concrete clad with masonry and topped by a stone balustrade and with a 70ft-wide deck.
Of the million or more bridges throughout Great Britain, the author David McFetrich selected those that are significant in terms of their design, construction or locations with people or events of history.
■ Meanwhile, railway buffs will want to get hold of a copy of A Pageant Of British Steam.
This book shows in fine colour photography the wonderful selection of locomotives and rolling stock on our preserved lines all across the country.
An Encylopaedia of British Bridges by David McFetrich is published by Pen-and-Sword at £60, and A Pageant of British Stream by Geoff Swaine is also published by Pen-and-Sword at £25.