CARDIFF
Site Details
- NPRN
- 301223
- Map Reference
- ST17NE
- Grid Reference
- ST1575
- Unitary (Local) Authority
- Cardiff
- Old County
- Glamorgan
- Community
- Castle (Cardiff)
- Type of Site
- CITY
- Broad Class
- Civil
- Period
- Multiperiod
Site Description
The Romans occupied a fort in present-day Cardiff from c.55AD until the late fourth century. When the Normans arrived in Wales in the eleventh century Robert Fitz Hamon built a wooden castle within the walls of the Roman fort, and the town developed around it, surrounded by a protective wooden palisade. This was replaced by a stone curtain (NPRN 307774) in the thirteenth century, reflecting the town’s growing importance. Weekly markets were held in Cardiff, and from 1340 there were also two annual fairs. Despite having been burned by Owain Glyndwr in 1404, the town maintained a healthy maritime trade, which by the sixteenth century stretched to France and the Channel Islands as well as to other ports around Britain.
The Industrial Revolution transformed the face of Cardiff, which developed into the largest coal exporting city in the world, aided by the canal, completed in 1794, and sea basin in 1798. The following century saw the construction of a Market Hall (NPRN 31752), Town Hall (NPRN 168), Coal & Shipping Exchange (NPRN 31776), and Pier Head Building (NPRN 34241). City status was awarded to Cardiff in 1905, and in 1955 it became the official capital of Wales. Today the trading industry of Cardiff has declined, and it is largely driven by the service industries, including tourism, and is famed for such things as the Millennium Stadium (NPRN 309686) and the National Museum of Wales (NPRN 167).
Source: A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of South East Wales, AIA, 2003
K Steele, RCAHMW, 19 January 2009
