THE HISTORY OF CARDIFF'S SUBURBS

GRANGETOWN
Incorporating Leckwith

clarenceroadbridge — Demolition of Clarence Road Bridge - 1975
© Matthew Witty

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Ancient Farmland

The suburb of Grangetown is named after the stretch of land between the Taff and Ely rivers. As with many districts in Cardiff, a solitary farm, the Grange, worked the lands right up until the early 2th century.

Unlike the farmsteads in Ely and Adamsdown which even in the age of conservation, have both been demolished since 2012, the Grange is one of the few in the city that has escaped the same fate.

Located on the junction with Stockland Street and Clive Street, some parts of the building is estimated to be over 800 years old.

MAGNIFY — Map of Grangetown in 1901.
Source: OS

mapofgrangetown_1901 — Map of Grangetown in 1901.
Source: OS

Since the 13th Century, the Grange has been leased to various tenants until it passed to the Plymouth Estate in 1730.

Farming in the district continued as normal, but once Penarth Road and the bridges across the Taff and Ely were constructed in the mid 1850's, the area slowly began to lose its centuries old rural characteristics.

When Grangetown became a suburb of Cardiff in 1875, the entire area had rapidly become urbanised.

Clarence Road Bridge

Links with Butetown were established when the Clarence Road swing bridge was completed in 1890. Named after the Duke of Clarence, it crosses the River Taff parallel to the Wood Street bridge less than a mile away.

The opening of the new Clarence Road Bridge attracted national coverage on television as James Callaghan, (MP for Cardiff South at the time), cut the tape while making his first public appearance as Prime Minister.

The old bridge was demolished in 1975, and replaced in 1976; resulting in the bland and poorly maintained throughfare it is today.

Industry and Retail Developments

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Grangetown attracted large businesses such as an ironworks and the Cardiff Gas and Coke Company.

The old gas storage chambers could still be seen until the mid 1990's, when the Cardiff Bay retail park came along and the distictive towers were demolished to make way for a new Ikea store, the first in Wales.

In 1885, Ephraim Turner established his builders business in Havelock Place, and went on to to build the City Hall and Law Courts, to name but a few magnificent buildings.

Hancock’s Brewery and the world-famous S.A. Brain, both based in the area, were once great rivals until S.A. Brain bought out Hancock's in 1999.

The Marl and Penarth Road

Grange Gardens is an attractive park, and there is also a playing field at Sevenoaks Park in Sloper Road. The famous recreational area - The Marl - which contains sporting facilities, is also home to Grange Albion Baseball Club, which celebrated it's centenary in 2007.

Penarth Road has gradually been filled with car showrooms, warehouses and fast food outlets. The regional Royal Mail sorting office is based here, as is a large antiques dealer.

Leckwith and Cardiff City Football Club

The area of Leckwith has been a manor of its own for hundreds of years and like Grangetown, was exclusively farmland.

The suburb has easily definable borders; Leckwith Road to the North, Sloper Road to the East, Penarth Road to the South, while the Leckwith Woods to the West are made inaccessable by the Grangetown Link Road and steep terrain.

Similarly to its neighbouring suburb, Leckwith soon became the long-time home to many businesses and sporting facilities.

Hadfield Road are well known throughout South Wales as the centre for trade of automotive and engineering components, with many markets being held every weekend in Bessemer Road.

Ninian Park Statudium was built in the 1920's for Cardiff City Football Club. The stands were in situ for some 80 years until they were demolished in 2009 to make way for a retail park.

The new stadium, shared by Cardiff Blues Rugby Team who had moved from the historic Arms Park, was built on the site of Leckwith Athetics Stadium and opened in 2009.

International Sports Village

Ferry Road and Windsor Quay have been redeveloped with attractive homes and a prosperous retail park.

The new Cardiff International Swimming Pool opened in 2008, and the remainder of the Sports Village is nearing completion, including Wales' first Olympic standard canoe slalom and white water rafting centre which opened in 2010.