The Cardiff Book of Days (37 page)

1871:
‘Arising from a suspicion that a ship bound for Cardiff might be carrying a case or cases of cholera from the East, it is hoped to combat the disease, if it should arrive, by every means possible. It is well-known that germs are undoubtedly carried on the wind and scattered wherever local influences or circumstances favour their dissemination. The disease has hit Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil in the past and readers are advised to give special heed to sanitation and cleanliness in all matters if the community is to escape a further attack.' (
Cardiff Times
)

1884:
‘The usual meeting of the Lighting Committee was held at the Town Hall. Alderman Duncan presided. It was decided that St Mary Street, by way of experiment, should be lighted by electricity by the Great Western Elecrtric Light Company.' (
Western Mail
)

1645:
Cardiff Castle surrendered to Parliamentarian forces. The city walls were slighted (reduced in height so that they no longer performed any defensive function). (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)

1890:
The Duke of Clarence and Avondale officially opened the swing bridge named after him which spanned the River Taff at Grangetown. Measuring 464ft in length, with a swinging portion of 190ft, it was described as ‘an engineering marvel'. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

1966:
The last ever cricket match was played at the Arms Park was held: Cardiff Athletic Club
v
. Glamorgan Nomads. After the game, which ended in a draw, a ceremonial burning of the stumps took place, along with the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne' and ‘Now is the Hour'. The following day the bulldozers moved in and construction work began on the new rugby ground. (Andrew Hignell,
From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff
, The History Press, 2008)

1991:
Shops in Cardiff were allowed to open on Sundays for the first time, a move that had been bitterly opposed by church groups and trade unions. (
Western Mail
)

1997:
In a Devolution Referendum Cardiff voters voted against the setting up of a National Assembly for Wales but over the whole of the country the proposal was approved by a mere 6,712 votes. There had been a great deal of apathy over the issue and only about half of the electorate bothered to vote. The opponents of Welsh devolution were in the lead until the very last result, that of the Carmarthen constituency, was declared. That Carmarthen should decide things for devolution was perhaps appropriate since it was for Carmarthen that Gwynor Evans, Plaid Cymru's first Member of Parliament was elected at a by-election in 1966. In 1998 the Government of Wales Act, establishing the Welsh Assembly, was passed by Parliament at Westminster. There was then something of a row about where the new assembly should meet, City Hall in Cardiff being rejected in favour of a site at Cardiff Bay.

Simon Jenkins, in his book
Wales: Churches, Houses, Castles
, describes this decision as unfortunate: ‘it must play second fiddle to the City Centre and turns its back on its city and its country.' In March 2011 another referendum supported the granting to the Assembly of far wider powers. (
Western Mail
)

1888:
‘Dr Lewis took me to see Cogan Church. It has been entirely neglected and cattle used to shelter themselves in it. Much ivy had overgrown it, working its way into the walls and destroying them. At the present time it is undergoing restoration at the cost of the Marquis of Bute.' (Notes by David Jones of Wallington quoted in E. Alwyn Benjamin,
Penarth 1841-71, A Glimpse of the Past
, D. Brown & Sons, 1980)

1980:
The former Broadway Methodist Church in Roath, a landmark for over seventy years, was destroyed by fire. Closed in the early 1950s, it had become first a BBC television studio and then a mosque. (Stewart Williams,
Cardiff Yesterday
)

2010:
Llandaff Cathedral took part in the Open Buildings Weekend that had been run by the Civic Trust Wales for many years. For the first time the Friends of the Cathedral, the Llandaff Society and the BBC were all involved. As well as the cathedral itself, modern buildings in the area, such as the UWIC Management School and the WJEC building on Western Avenue (where the architect showed people round) were open to visitors. (
Croeso
, The Llandaff diocesan magazine)

1859:
Lady Sophia Bute, recently returned from a lengthy stay in Switzerland, made her first visit to the gardens named in her honour. She suggested that a fountain should be erected in the ornamental lake. This was agreed by the trustees but sadly Lady Bute never saw it operating. She fell ill and died at Christmas. The park had been her own idea, inspired by the public gardens she had visited on her continental travels. The site chosen was on fields on the west bank of the Taff that the marquis had purchased some years before from the Homfray family. Work began in 1854 and the garden layout was designed by the Bute Estate's architect, Colonel Alexander Ross. An offer to have a Field Gun, captured during the Crimean War, was rejected in favour of an ornamental lake. The gardens were formally opened in 1858. (Andrew Hignell,
From Sophia to Swalec: A History of Cricket in Cardiff
, The History Press, 2008)

1979:
Four men were killed when a construction cradle fell 100ft at South Gate House, Wood Street. (
Western Mail
)

1639:
The Royal Council had complained that the amount of Ship Money sent to the Exchequer by the authorities in Glamorgan was £23 short and the sheriff was rebuked for his ‘neglect'. He was not to blame. The £23 was the amount owed by the town of Cardiff rather than the shire and was therefore the responsibility of the Bailiff rather than the sheriff. It was duly paid on this date. (Lloyd Bowen,
The Politics of the Principality
, University of Wales Press, 2007)