Cardiff - Illustrated Throughout From Original Pencil Sketches

THE CITY OF CARDIFF.

IN 1801 Cardiff comprised 327 houses with a population of 1,018. In 1936 the population was estimated at a little over 220,000. Those figures reflect in a sense the industrial history of South Wales, for it is to the expansion of the coal export trade that Cardiff owes its abnormally rapid growth, and indirectly its claim to be recognised as the capital of Wales.

Improvements in the methods of transport have marked Cardiff’s increasing importance. In 1790 the completion of the Glamorgan Canal (still to be seen to the east of the Castle and elsewhere) heralded a tremendous advance over the pack-horse which had previously been the only means of bringing the coal down to the sea. To cope with the expanding exports, the first dock was built in 1839 by the second Marquis of Bute. The Canal was superseded by the Taff Vale Railway opened in 1841. Since then additional docks have been constructed until they now cover 165 acres with 37,600 feet of quayage, making Cardiff the third port in the kingdom.

It is in Cathays Park with its magnificent civic buildings that the centre of the modern city exists. Here are the City Hall, County Hall, Law Courts, National Museum, University College, University of Wales Registry, Technical College, Welsh Board of Health, and a new building which is to provide accommodation for the Welsh