PGW(Gm)59(CDF)

Pontcanna Fields and Llandaff Fields  

II*  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Cardiff  

Pontcanna  

316550  

177797  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1879; 1899-1901  

Pontcanna Fields and Llandaff Fields are registered for their historic interest as a well-preserved central urban public park which, together with nearby Bute Park (PGW(Gm)22(CDF)) and Sophia Gardens (PGW(Gm)21(CDF)) form a huge tract of open space in the heart of Cardiff. The magnificent axial lime avenue forms a very striking feature of the parkland. Pontcanna Fields and Llandaff Fields, which adjoin each other, are situated on the west bank of the river Taff, to the east of Llandaff. The ground is mostly level, being part of the floodplain of the Taff, but rises gently on the western edge of Llandaff Fields. In 1860 the intention to extend the parkland northwards from Sophia Gardens was indicated, 'for the purpose of athletic exercises'. This extension, on to Pontcanna Fields, took place in 1879. The 1901 Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1898-99) shows Pontcanna Fields laid out as a public open space, with the great axial double avenue following field boundaries. At its north end, to the north of Mill Stream, was an étoile of avenues, the main one ending at the river. The etoile has mostly been lost to development, including the construction of Western Avenue, but the main axial avenue remains to the north, between the park and the river. The larger area, Pontcanna Fields, is a large, level open space, most of which is uninterrupted grass, and it survives almost intact. Its chief ornamental feature is a great north-south lime avenue and broad walk which runs the entire length of this part of the park. A second lime avenue, along the river, is aligned east-west on the cathedral. Pontcanna Fields is notable for its municipal chalet gardens at its north-west end, a row of eight small individual garden plots rented by the council as independent gardens for combined leisure and productive use. The chalet gardens were created in 1970-71. They were experimental and have their origins in the 1969 Report of the Thorpe Committee of Inquiry into Allotments. The Report advocated a move to a more continental model of leisure garden, rather than the purely productive allotment, for those with no gardens of their own. One of the earliest pioneering schemes, cited in the Report, was on Cardiff’s Allensbank Allotment Site. A photograph of this demonstration garden, opened in July 1967, shows much the same elements and layout as the Pontcanna gardens – a lawn, flowerbeds, wooden chalet, ornamental trees and shrubs and a screened off productive area. The gardens all originally had the same internal layout, which mostly remains, each plot sub-divided into an informal ornamental section and a productive section separated by an informal lawn surrounded by beds with a wooden chalet facing on to it on its north side. A 1971 article in The Gardener’s Chronicle reported on the Pontcanna gardens: ‘Six months ago the first tenants of the Cardiff chalet gardens scheme took over their plots. Each plot consists of about 450 sq yds, is fenced and provided with a chalet’. They proved instantly popular. In 1972 the Municipal Journal reported the scheme, with eight sites ‘putting the emphasis on flowers rather than food … five people applied for every garden on offer. It was a first sign of reversal of the dwindling interest in allotments’ (vol. 80, p. 975). However, since this early 1970s initiative interest in allotment gardening rapidly rose and the chalet garden idea was no longer pursued. The Pontcanna chalet gardens are therefore a rare survival of a very short-lived movement in horticultural and social history. To the west of the north end of Pontcanna Fields lies Llandaff Fields. Llandaff Fields, an area of 70 acres, was added in 1898, after a campaign by the South Wales Daily News to save it from development. After the Corporation acquired Llandaff Fields in 1898 the area was placed under the supervision of Mr W.W. Pettigrew, Superintendent of Parks. In 1899-1900 three cricket pitches and a hockey pitch were prepared, and in 1901 two tennis courts were added, although these were merely grass areas set aside for the game. Llandaff Fields is an area of open grass crossed by a network of tarmac walks and bounded on all but the east side by roads. It survives intact although it has lost some of its original features. The two are separated on the east side by a stone wall flanked by sycamores. The area is planted with deciduous trees flanking the walks. Along the east side, next to the wall, are various recreational facilities, including a children's playground, a bowling green and tennis courts. At the north end is an open-air swimming pool (now closed). Features recorded in the 1920s (Gardeners' Chronicle article of 3 March 1923) such as fountain, pool, rockery and fern dell, have all gone. Significant view: Along the tree-lined axial avenue Setting - forms part of the large area of open green space and public parks in the centre of Cardiff. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)59(CDF). Pettigrew, A., 'The public parks and recreation grounds of Cardiff' (1926), vol. 2, pp. 99-130: Cardiff Central Library. Ordnance Survey Second Edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan sheet XLIII.10 (1901). Secondary Gardeners' Chronicle, 3 March 1923, p. 119.