| Cathays | |
| Welsh: Cathays | |
Cathays Library, a Carnegie library built in 1906 |
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Cathays
Cathays shown within Cardiff |
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| Population | 13,751 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | ST181780 |
| Community | Cathays |
| Principal area | Cardiff |
| Ceremonial county | South Glamorgan |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CARDIFF |
| Postcode district | CF24 |
| Dialling code | 029 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Cardiff Central |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Cardiff | |
Cathays ( /kəˈteɪz/ kə-tayz; Welsh: Cathays, sometimes Y Waun Ddyfal meaning "The Diligent Moor") is a district in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contains many older terraced houses giving it a Victorian era atmosphere. The area falls into the Cathays ward.
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The name Cathays derives from Old English (ge)hæg (hedge), which came to be applied to land lying north-east of the original borough of Cardiff.[1] Many of the roads in the area are named after farms that existed there before urbanisation, Allensbank and Wedal are two examples.
Originally farmland outside the old Cardiff Castle, the northern limit of mediaeval Cardiff was marked by the cross where Fairoak Road and Crwys Road now meet.
After John Stuart, 1st Marquis of Bute married The Hon. Charlotte Hickman-Windsor (daughter of Herbert Hickman-Windsor, 2nd Viscount Windsor) on 12 November 1766, he inherited lands in Cathays that lay to the north of his existing Bute Estate. He then purchased other properties and farms to extended his land further north and east, including Cathays Park. There he built Cathays House at a cost of £40,000 and at further cost landscaped Cathays Park. But after John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute took over the title, he preferred to use Cardiff Castle as his residence, so choose to demolished the house in 1815 and turned Cathays Park into an enclosed parkland.
Following the 2nd Marquis development of Cardiff Docks, and the resultant number of new workers flocking to Cardiff, in 1875 the then rural Cathays became a suburb of Cardiff. At that time, a few streets led off Woodville Road and Cathays Terrace, but by 1900, the urbanisation of Cathays was virtually completed. Only Allensbank and Wedal farms survived, but, by 1914, even they became no more than local place names.[2]
Established as a new and clean overflow area from Butetown for workers in Cardiff and going to the docks, in 1860 the United Kingdom's first mosque was recorded by the Register of Religious Sites (now maintained by the Office of National Statistics), at 2 Glynrhondda Street as a registered place of worship, founded by Yemeni sailors on their trips between Aden and Cardiff.[3][4][5][6] It is still a registered and working mosque today under the title of the Al-Manar Islamic & Cultural Centre.
Maindy Barracks was opened in 1871, and with United States Army troops temporarily stationed in transit in Cardiff during both World War I and World War II, the footpath between Gelligaer Street and New Zealand Road resultantly became known as "BURMA Road" (Be Undressed and Ready My Angel), as they came to meet prostitutes.[2]
In 1898, John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute sold a large piece of land to Cardiff Council for the building of a new City Hall, imposing strict conditions regarding what purpose and where development could take place. As a result the city hall was built as far south in the purchased block of land as was possible, and the residual area to its north used for civic, cultural and educational purposes only. City Hall was completed in 1905 at a cost of £129,000, in time for Cardiff to be gain city status.
In 1875 Nazareth House was opened, to provide accommodation for orphans and elderly people. A popular local charity, one of many benefactors was the boxer Jim Driscoll, who after burial in Cathays cemetery in 1925 has had his grave tended to this day by the nuns of Nazareth House.
The land purchased by the council to the north of the city hall has since become one of the finest civic centres in the world, and now houses:
Maindy Pool was a clay pit that had gradually filled with water. After the death by drowning of 10 children and adults, it was filled in by using it as a rubbish tip. In 1948 the building of Maindy Stadium began on the same site, completed in 1951, which held cycling races in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. When the stadium was closed and replaced with a leisure centre, part of the site became a swimming pool.
Cathays Library is a Carnegie library built in 1906 and refurbished in 2009-10.
The area of Cathays is probably best known today by locals for the disproportionately high number of students living in the locality, given its proximity to most of Cardiff University's teaching sites and University Hospital of Wales. Cathays railway station is sited next to the Students' Union building, with the approach tracks running underneath the building itself, and right behind the neighbouring Sherman Theatre. With the student demand, the proximity to the city centre and major roads in and out of Cardiff, demand for housing is extremely high.
Despite the urbanisation of Cathays, many acres of parkland still exist around the civic centre, including Gorsedd Gardens, Queen Alexandra Gardens, Bute Park and Blackweir.
The area is served by Cathays railway station in the east of the area with frequent services south to Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Central or north to Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil or Treherbert via Pontypridd. Cardiff Bus provides many services in the area. The following bus services run along North Road (in the west) going to Cardiff central bus station in the reverse direction:
Likewise, the following services run north along Crwys Road and/or Whitchurch Road (in the east):
The area is close to the busy Gabalfa Interchange, connecting it with the A48 and the M4 motorway.
| NW | Heath | Roath Park |
| Pontcanna | Cathays | Roath |
| Riverside | City centre | Adamsdown |
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