Grangetown, Cardiff

Grangetown (Welsh: usually Grangetown, also Trelluest) is a district and community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area. Adjacent to the city's Cardiff Bay area, Grangetown is benefitting from the nearby developments and is experiencing a period of gentrification and improvements in its infrastructure. Its population as of 2011 was 19,385 in 8,261 households. One of the "five towns of Cardiff", the others are Butetown, Crockherbtown, Newtown and Temperance Town.

For the ward, see Grangetown (Cardiff electoral ward).

Grangetown
Population19,385 (2011)
OS grid referenceST1774
Community
  • Grangetown
Principal area
Ceremonial county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCARDIFF
Postcode districtCF11
Dialling code029
PoliceSouth Wales
FireSouth Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
  • Cardiff South & Penarth
Channel View Flats, the tallest building in Grangetown

Grangetown is a diverse and multiracial district and has a significant population of Somali, Asian and mixed-race residents.[1] It is home to a Swaminarayan Temple[2] and various mosques.[3]

History and name

Until the mid-19th-century Grangetown was an area of marshy land used for farming. It appears to have been granted to the Cistercian abbey of Margam Abbey sometime at the end of the twelfth century. The monks established a monastic grange there which they held until they were expelled in around 1290 by Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. They were restored to their lands in 1329 and held them until the dissolution of the monasteries.[4]

The grange was named after the 'moor' or saltmarsh upon which it stood, giving rise to English forms such as 'More Grange' and 'Grangemoor' and French equivalents such as 'La Grange de Mora'.[5]

By the fifteenth century the grange was being farmed to laymen. The last farmer was a landowner called Lewis ap Richard who is also known as a patron of the Welsh-language poet Rhys Brychan.[6] After the dissolution, the grange remained in the hand of Lewis's descendants. Lewis's son, Edward Lewis, also a noted patron of Welsh poets, settled at the Van near Caerphilly. The grange remained in the hands of the Lewises of the Van when they moved to St Fagans Castle during the 1610s. The Lewis estates eventually passed through an heiress into the hands of Other Lewis Windsor (1731–1771), 4th Earl of Plymouth.[7] The grange was farmed by a succession of tenants into the twentieth century.

Grange Farm

The farmhouse, known as Grange Farm, still exists today but is now surrounded by streets of terraced brick houses, which were built to house the many workers who moved to Cardiff to work in the industrial boom of the 19th century, particularly centered on the docks. The farmhouse dates in part from the sixteenth century.[8]

The name Grangetown is also the usual form in Welsh. The variants Y Grange (dating back to the nineteenth century[9]) and Y Grênj[10] (equivalents of The Grange) are sometimes seen. Owen John Thomas has used the form Y Grange Mawr (literally, 'the great grange', though perhaps influenced by the English Grange Moor).[11] The names Trelluest[12] (Welsh tre 'town' + lluest 'lodge'), Trefaenor[13] (tre + maenor 'manor') and Trefynach[14] (tre + mynach 'monk') appear to be recent coinages. Gwyddoniadur Cymru, the Welsh-language version of the Encyclopaedia of Wales, uses Grangetown, but notes the existence of Trelluest.

Clark's Pies shop in Bromsgrove Street

Grangetown developed after 1850, the year Penarth Road and the bridges over the River Taff and River Ely were constructed, linking Cardiff with Penarth.[15] In 1857 Baroness Windsor (whose Plymouth Estate owned the land) obtained an Act of Parliament to build housing in the area, intending to call it The Grange.[16] Grangetown became a suburb of Cardiff in 1875.[15] The area was low lying and subject to flooding. In 1883 the sea flooded parts of Grangetown to a depth of five feet.[15]

Samuel Arthur Brain, the founder of Brains Brewery, was elected to Cardiff Council in 1885 to represent Grangetown.[17]

Grangetown's original public library on Redlaver Street was built 1900–1901 in the Tudor Gothic style.[18] It has now been sold to developers and converted into flats.

Cardiff's popular pastries, Clark's Pies, arrived in Grangetown in 1955 when Dennis Dutch (great-grandson of Mary and Arthur Clark) opened a shop in Bromsgrove Street.[19] The shop still trades today.

Government
Grangetown electoral ward of Cardiff

The community of Grangetown does not have a community council for the area. The Grangetown electoral ward returns three local councillors to Cardiff Council. Grangetown is part of the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency which returns one MP to the UK Parliament and one AM to the National Assembly for Wales.

Places of worship

Grangetown has at least ten Christian places of worship including Grangetown Baptist Church and the Salvation Army citadel as well as a Hindu temple on Merches Place, mosque called Masjid Abu Bakr on Clydach Street and newly built Masjid called Markaz At-Tawheed on Penarth road.

The church of St Paul, Paget Street, was built between 1889 and 1902, largely at the expense of Lord Windsor. It uses an "eccentric" palette of materials including pennant rubble, pink sandstone and Portland cement.[18] The architect was John Coates Carter, a distinguished Arts & Crafts designer.[20]

St Patrick's Church is the Roman Catholic place of worship for the neighbourhood.

St Dyfrig and St Sampson, Pentre Gardens, dates from 1911.[18]

The Welsh language

The number of Grangetown residents over three years old who speak Welsh has grown from 1,217 (8.9%) in the 2001 UK Census to 1,867 (10.2%) in the 2011 UK Census.[21] This equates to over 15% of the total increase in Welsh speakers in Cardiff, despite Grangetown having only 5.6% of Cardiff's population.

Grangetown was the location of the first Welsh-medium primary school class in Cardiff and the former county of Glamorgan. This class opened in 1949 with 8 pupils in what is now Ninian Park Primary School, an event commemorated by a plaque in the school's foyer.[22] A Welsh-medium primary school, Ysgol Tan-yr-eos, was opened on the same site in 2006.[23] This school was closed in 2013 and children in Welsh-medium education will be schooled in either Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Coch or Ysgol Gymraeg Treganna, both in Canton. Plans for a new Welsh-medium school in Grangetown were withdrawn by Cardiff Council in July 2013.[24]

Amenities
The interior of Grangetown Library

Tramshed

A Cardiff music and entertainment venue that opened in October 2015. The Tramshed is housed in a converted tram depot, dating from 1902 and Grade II listed. The music venue has a capacity of 1000 people.[25]

Library

The Grangetown Library opened in 2007 on Havelock Place. This has since been renovated and turned into The Hub (Yr Hyb in Welsh), this essentially provides the same services as the library but also allows residents of the area access to more council services.

Leisure centres

Parks and gardens

Four public parks are in the district: Grange Gardens, Sevenoaks Park, the Marl and Grangemoor Park. Grangemoor Park was created on top of a rubbish tip and opened in 2000.[26]

Public houses and clubs

There are two public houses in the district, The Cornwall and The Grange, and a number of licensed social clubs.

Shopping

The district has three post offices. A reasonable number of small local shops are centred on Penarth Road and Corporation Road. In addition, the Cardiff Bay Retail Park is home to a number of superstores.

Education
  • Grangetown Nursery is a nursery school for children aged around 3. It is located in Avondale Road.
  • Grangetown Primary School is an old Victorian school, built in 1884.[27]
  • St Patrick's School is a Roman Catholic primary school with around 250 pupils and 13 teachers.
  • Ninian Park School has over 400 pupils and 25 teachers. It was built in 1899–1900, at which time it was the most expensive board school in Cardiff.[18]
  • St Paul's School is a Church in Wales primary school

Festivals and events
Grangetown Carnival 2008

Grangetown Festival take place for a week in June each year. It began in 1978 and is organised by Grangetown Community Action. The festival culminates in a parade through the streets, ending in Grange Gardens where a carnival takes place.[28]

The 'Roxe Jam' hip-hop and graffiti festival takes place annually in Sevenoaks Park, Grangetown, on the last weekend of July. The first festival was in July 2008. The event was set up in memory of a young graffiti writer, Bill Lockwood aka Roxe, who was killed in a road accident. The main highlight of the event is the legal painting of a 140 m long wall which runs parallel to the Cardiff to Penarth railway line.[29][30] The festival last took place in 2012.

Sport and leisure

Baseball

Grangetown was the home of Grange Albion and Grange Catholics, two of British baseball's most successful teams. Both played their home games at Sevenoaks Park. Grange Albion celebrated its centenary in 2007 but both clubs' teams were discontinued due to lack of players, with the Welsh Baseball League suspended in the summer of 2018 with only three teams left to compete.[31]

Cricket

Bay Dragons Cricket Club is based in Grangetown and play in South East Wales Cricket League.

Notable people

Transport

Grangetown railway station is located on the Vale of Glamorgan Line from Cardiff Central to Bridgend via Barry, Rhoose Cardiff International Airport and Llantwit Major, with branch lines serving Penarth and Barry Island.

Cardiff Bus operates the following services in the area:

  • 1 City Circle towards Canton
  • 2 City Circle towards Cardiff Bay
  • 8 (Central Stn-Roath-Heath-University Hospital Wales) or (Cardiff Bay)
  • 9/9A (Central Stn-Roath-Heath-University Hospital Wales) or (Cardiff International Sports Village) / (Channel View)
  • 92 from Penarth Road (Penarth)
  • 93/94 from Penarth Road (Penarth-Barry)

Penarth Road (A4160) is the main road running through the area northeastbound to Cardiff city centre and southwest bound to Llandough, Dinas Powys, Penarth and Barry. The Ferry Road Interchange on the Grangetown Link Road (A4232) links to the M4 J33 (Cardiff West).

TV and Film

The parish church of St Paul, Paget Street, was used as the location for the BBC's 'Doctor Who' series episode entitled Father's Day. In the story the church is attacked by monsters called 'Reapers' while a wedding is about to commence. Filming took place on location in November 2004.[37]

Recent changes

North Grangetown Renewal Area (2005-2013) saw 500 homes refurbished in a rolling block programme with new roofs, windows and rendering. The £9m project run by Cardiff Council with Welsh Government funding was supposed to cover 858 homes over 10 years but was curtailed due to capital funding cutbacks. There were also delays due to weather and tendering and latter work was scaled back, much to local disappointment. Improvements included planting of trees and the creation of a new public open space, Gerddi Courtmead Gardens, parallel to Hereford Street.[38]

Cardiff University's Community Gateway scheme supports projects in Grangetown. Projects have included a youth forum, a local business/shop local project and the renovation of supporting of an old bowls pavilion at Grange Gardens.[39]

Location within Cardiff
Canton Riverside City centre
Grangetown Butetown
Leckwith Cardiff Bay
gollark: High efficiency apiarization protocols.
gollark: Presumably they worked out how to make it draw energy from arbitrary chemical... energy... or something like that.
gollark: Of course.
gollark: Asking nicely, of course.
gollark: I see.

See also

References
  1. Wightwick, Abbie (7 July 2019). "Inside one of Wales' most culturally diverse schools". walesonline. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  2. "SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR TEMPLE, GRANGETOWN | Coflein". coflein.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  3. "Google Mosque Map - UK Mosques Directory". mosques.muslimsinbritain.org. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  4. Glamorgan: Medieval Non-defensive Secular Monuments. Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments in Wales. p. 295. ISBN 0-11-701141-X.
  5. Grangetown History Society, Grangetown Online History.
  6. Nansi Ceridwen Jones, 'Rhys Brychan, c. 1500', Dictionary of Welsh Biography
  7. Henry John Randall, 'Lewis family of Van', Dictionary of Welsh Biography.
  8. GRANGE FARM, GRANGETOWN, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  9. For instance, 'ar y Morfa, mewn lle a elwir y Grange', Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, Thomas Rees and John Thomas (1871).
  10. For instance, Paul a'r Pethe, Vaughan Roderick, BBC (2010).
  11. Owen John Thomas, 'Yr Iaith Gymraeg yng Nghaerdydd c.1800–1914', pp. 191–3, in Geraint H. Jenkins (ed.), Iaith Carreg Fy Aelwyd (Caerdydd, 1998).
  12. For instance, Marwolaeth Caerdydd: Cyhuddo dyn, Golwg360 (2011).
  13. For instance, Tîm pêl fas gwaith nwy Trefaenor, Caerdydd, 1918 Archived 2013-07-03 at Archive.today, Casglu'r Tlysau.
  14. For instance, Rhagolwg 27, RhAG (February 2013).
  15. Morgan, Dennis 'The Illustrated History of Cardiff's Suburbs' Breedon Books (2003)
  16. John Newman (1995), The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan, University of Wales Press, p. 291, ISBN 0-14-071056-6
  17. Glover, Brian 'Cardiff Pubs and Breweries' Tempus Publishing Ltd (2005), p.29
  18. Newman, J. The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan University of Wales Press, 1995, pp 291–292
  19. Grangetown Local History Society 'Old Grangetown: Shops & Memories' (2009), p.37
  20. Thomas, Phil. "John Coates Carter: Building a Sense of Place". BuildingConservation.com. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  21. 'Welsh Language Commissioner: 2011 Census results by Community Archived 2013-10-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. 'Ninian Park Primary School: A History of the School' Archived 11 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  23. 'Estyn report on Ysgol Tan-yr-eos, 2012'
  24. Peter Law, 'Parents furious over plans to expand Cardiff Welsh school', Wales Online, 23 July 2013 (retrieved 2013-07-23).
  25. Kathryn Williams (23 October 2015) "5 gigs you shouldn't miss at Cardiff's new music venue Tramshed", Wales Online. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  26. Cardiff Council website This page helps you find out more about Grangemoor Park (Retrieved 2011-09-26)
  27. About the school Archived 6 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Grangetown Primary website
  28. Ed Walker Grangetown Festival returns for 33rd year, Wales Online, 10 June 2011 (retrieved 2011-07-31).
  29. Roxe Jam shows all the good of hip hop, Metro.co.uk, 23 July 2008 (retrieved 2014-11-06).
  30. Roxejam.co.uk About Archived 2011-09-13 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 2011-07-31).
  31. Grangetown News, Summer 2018
  32. Gwirionedd y Galon: Dr John Davies – Historian Dr John Davies speaks from the heart on S4C, S4C Factual (S4C.co.uk). Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  33. Contact Info Archived 2014-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, Elfynlewis.com. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  34. "Ring takes up Irish coaching test". 4 May 2006. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  35. Anthony Woolford, Whitcombe a Grangetown production line great, South Wales Echo, 20 March 2012 (retrieved 2012-04-08).
  36. "Terry Yorath's Cardiff pride ahead of Champions League final". 13 May 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  37. Dr Who Locations Guide http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/parishofstpauls (retrieved 2011-09-28)
  38. Cardiff Council website North Grangetown Renewal Area, last update 7 July 2011 (retrieved 2011-11-08).
  39. "Community Gateway". Cardiff University. Retrieved 31 July 2019.

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