Jump to content

Roath Park

Coordinates:51°30′23″N3°10′30″W/ 51.5064°N 3.1751°W/51.5064; -3.1751
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

51°30′23″N3°10′30″W/ 51.5064°N 3.1751°W/51.5064; -3.1751

Roath Park Lake

Roath Park(Welsh:Parc y Rhath)Cardiff,Wales,is one of Cardiff's most popular parks, owned byCardiff County Counciland managed by the Parks Section. It retains a classicVictorianatmosphere and has many facilities. The park has recently been awarded the prestigiousGreen Flag awardto recognise its high quality and its importance to Cardiff. Roath Park has widely diverse environments across the park.

The park was built on 130 acres (0.53 km2) of reformedbogland,known then as amalarialbog, and includes a 30-acre (12 ha) lake, 1.3 miles (2.1 km) around, formed by the damming of the Nant Fawr stream. It is a popular facility for fishing and rowing. There are four islands within a conservation area, home to manywater birds.The main park includes a large playground, floral displays, theglasshouse conservatoryand recreational areas.

Roath park occupies a long strip of land stretching fromCyncoedin the north toRoathtowards the southeast. The park is divided into several parts along the Roath Brook (Welsh:Nant Fawr,Nant y LleuchiorNant y Derwen Deg). From north to south, these divisions are: Wild Gardens, Roath Park Lake, Botanical Gardens, Rose Gardens, Pleasure Gardens, Roath Park Recreation Ground, Roath Brook Gardens, Roath Mill Gardens, Waterloo Gardens and the Sandies Open Space.

Two volunteer ‘Friends’ groups work with Cardiff Council to cover the full extent of the historic Roath Park. The Friends of Roath Park serve the northern section of the park as far as Penylan Hill. The south-eastern section of the park is served by the Friends of Penylan’s Gardens.

History

[edit]
The Scott Memorial

A new park in the area, with a lake, was proposed in 1886, on land owned byLord Tredegar.The land was covered withclay pitsand also had awatermillwhich would need removing.[1]

The land for Roath Park was donated to the city in 1887, primarily byJohn Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute.[2]The design was partly the work of Bute's head gardener,Andrew Pettigrew,but mainly of his son,William Wallace,in conjunction with the corporation's chief engineer, William Harpur.[3]The first section of the park was officially opened to the public in 1894 and it continued to be opened in sections over the following two decades. Work initially focused on creating the lake from an area of marshland. In 1915 alighthousewas constructed in the lake containing a scale model of theTerra Novaship to commemorateCaptain Scott's ill-fated voyage to theAntarcticfrom Cardiff in 1910.[4]The park's atmosphere today still retains aVictorianandEdwardiancharacter; the park itself is locally listed, and the surrounding streets are designated across three Conservation Areas to ensure this quality will be conserved. The park itself isGrade I listedon theCadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.[5]Waterloo Gardens, Roath Mill Gardens and Roath Brook Gardens have a separate listing at Grade II.[6]

In 2003, the park was used for filming for an episode of the TV series ofThe Story of Tracy Beaker.[7]In 2019 the BBC reported that the lake had been polluted for several years by unauthorised sewage discharges.[8]

Nature

[edit]

There is a wide range of habitats in the park, which attracts a diverse variety of wildlife. The lake acts as an important habitat for over-wintering and breeding birds, includingmallard,cormorantsandherons.Four islands within the lake, which are inaccessible to the public, are safe nesting sites. The lake has a population of about 100swansand a number ofgeese.Many wild birds are scared off by the abundance of geese in the lake, and local conservationists actively take measures to control their numbers. There is awildflowergarden included in the park where the area is managed to encourage wildlife and native species.

Trees

[edit]
Autumn colours, Roath Park

The Tree Register of the British Isles,is an organisation which records and measures trees in the UK. The biggest and best of their kind are called Champion Trees; there are twelve of these in Roath Park.

There is a trail with marker posts to identify the following trees:[9]

  1. Quercus bicolor(Swamp white oak)
  2. Ginkgo biloba'Pendula', (Weeping maidenhair)
  3. Ulmus'Sapporo autumn gold' (Sapporo elm)
  4. Pterostyraxcorymbosa
  5. Ilex macrocarpa
  6. Laurus nobilis'Aurea', (Golden bay)
  7. Meliosmaparviflora
  8. Emmenopterys henryi
  9. Quercus× andegavennis
  10. Quercus pyrenaica,(Pyrenean oak)
  11. Malus'Magdeburgensis,(Magdeburg apple)
  12. Pyrus calleryana'Chanticleer' (Callery pear)
  13. Maclura pomifera,(Osage orange)

Two oak trees predate the establishment of the park and have been calculated to be about 240 years old.[9]

Recreation

[edit]
Terra Nova Café, Roath Park Lake

Roath Park Recreation Ground, towards the southern end of the park, contains sports pitches available for many different activities such asfootball,baseballandrugby union.High qualitybowling greensand tennis courts are provided in the central section of the park, the Pleasure Gardens. There are alsorowing boatswhich can be hired out and used on the lake. The lake is also home to a localradio-controlled boatsociety and is used forcoarse fishingthroughout the year. There are also two well equipped playgrounds.

There was swimming on the lake from when the lake opened. Unfortunately, the public swim had to stop after concerns about impurity of the water were raised in 1949.[10]The Taff Swim,[11]theLong Distance Swimming Championship of Wales,continued until 1963. However there were water carnivals and water skiing still happening in the 1960s and 1970s.

Special events

[edit]

There are regular events within the park including guided walks, concerts, exhibitions etc.

Conservatory

[edit]
The Conservatory at Roath Park

There is a glasshouse in Roath Park which was built in the 1970s, replacing two earlier ones from the early 1900s. It contains many unusual species of plants and trees such as palms,banana treesandorchids.A pond and waterfall form a central feature, containing fish,terrapinsandwhistling ducks.Swan and duck food is on sale for feeding the birds on the lake.

Ornamental gardens

[edit]

The park boasts exceptional floral displays. These include the flowerbeds along the promenade and the famous rose garden, which included trial beds for theNational Rose Society.

Facilities

[edit]
  • A café adjacent to the lake is open most of the year and provides refreshments and light meals. A kiosk also serves refreshments
  • Toilets are provided within the park
  • The boat house hires rowing boats and other craft that use the lake.
  • A pavilion is provided for those using the bowling green and tennis courts.
  • Changing rooms are provided for the sports pitches.
Roath Park Lake, with the café and boat hire to the left and the dam and promenade on the right

Nearby

[edit]

Roath Park is a long, fairly narrow park stretching from Roath into Cyncoed. The nearest district centre is at the southern end of the park on Wellfield Road and Albany Road. Access is also good to other open spaces:

  • Nant Fawr Corridor. Lying to the North of the park and forming agreen corridorout to the open countryside.
  • Cathays Cemetery.Has a wealth of listed buildings and tombs.
  • Heath Park. Another large park, Heath provides numerous sports pitches for different types of sports and is home to several sporting teams.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"The Proposed Public Park in Cardiff".South Wales Echo.9 October 1886. p. 4.Retrieved9 September2022– viaWelsh Newspapers.
  2. ^"Roath Park – Historical Information".CardiffParks.org.uk.Retrieved20 April2015.
  3. ^Cadw."Roath Park (PGW(Gm)24(CDF))".National Historic Assets of Wales.Retrieved6 February2023.
  4. ^"Roath Park and Captain Scott".RoathCardiff.net.Retrieved31 July2012.
  5. ^Cadw."Roath Park (PGW(Gm)24(CDF))".National Historic Assets of Wales.Retrieved6 February2023.
  6. ^Cadw."Waterloo Gardens, Roath Mill Gardens and Roath Brook Gardens (PGW(Gm)29(CDF))".National Historic Assets of Wales.Retrieved6 February2023.
  7. ^Griffin, Susannah (4 May 2018)."The real Dumping Ground fromTracy Beakeris in Cardiff, and we visited it ".The Tab.
  8. ^"Roath Park Lake contains 'unauthorised sewage' say council emails".BBC News Online.23 June 2020.
  9. ^ab"Trees at Roath Park Botanic Garden".Cardiff Parks.Retrieved29 August2018.
  10. ^"Bathing at Roath Park Lake".RoathCardiff.net.Retrieved18 September2012.
  11. ^"The Taff Swim".CardiffParks.org.uk.Retrieved24 January2017.
[edit]

https://www.outdoorcardiff.com/parks/roath-park/

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRoath Park.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roath_Park&oldid=1230000303"