Brian’s blast from the past – Frederick Street
SOME Cardiffians, and I am one of them, will remember Frederick Street in the centre of our beloved city and the Cardiff Street Directory for 1855 informs us that some of its residents were John Dodds, a cow keeper and milkman; William Hume, Deputy Governor of Cardiff Prison; Rowland Harris, a veterinary surgeon; and John Palmer, an undertaker.
In those days Frederick Street was little more than a country road and the big houses that were built there were much-sought after residences.
Later on these houses made way for other premises and little cottage type houses.
The Queen Street end of Frederick Street had a number of warehouses, the first of any size being built in 1908 for the Leicester Hosiery Company.
It was in Frederick Street in January 1917 that Cardiff saw its greatest-ever fire when the fivefloor Glamorgan Insurance Building was burned to the ground.
Frederick Street also had its share of public houses.
There was the Burnham Inn (1897); Bute Castle Hotel (1863); Castle Brewery (1855); Manchester Unity Tavern ( 1856); Marchioness of Bute Inn (1855) which some
Cardiffians may remember; King’s Head Tavern (1858); Stag and Hounds (1897); and Pembroke Castle Inn.
The pubs in Little Frederick Street were the Shamrock and Leek Tavern (1858); Joiners Arms (1858); Dublin Arms (1897) and some Cardiffians will remember The Lifeboat (1897).
My maternal grandparents Patrick and Sarah Donovan lived at
59 Frederick Street opposite Canada House and how they managed to bring up eight children in that two bedroomed house I will never know.
Please send your stories and pictures to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or email brianlee4@virginmedia.com. Please include a telephone number as I cannot reply by letter.