Monday 3 January 2011

When Roath was Rural, 1886

This map of Roath in 1886 shows Albany Road (unnamed on this map) running through the middle (West to East, ending as it still does at Roath Court).

Wellfield road as yet does not exist, but where it will run is written "Fynnon Bren" (though the last name is unclear) - fynnon being 'well' in Welsh.

Roath brook runs to the north, almost parallel to, Albany Road, though the gardens that would eventually run along it aren't present (presumably put there once the roads to the north and south of the Brook were built (including Alma Road, where I grew up).

Oakfield Street and Partridge Road (where school friends lived) can be seen at the bottom of the map. Where the small dark word Roath is written, you can see Roath Court (now the site of the Roath Court Funeral Home) and just across the road is St Margaret's Church (recently rebuilt by the Marquis of Bute).

The original Norman-built St Margaret's Church was a daughter chapel of Tewkesbury Abbey and so would have been serviced by the Benedictine Monks until the monastery was dissolved in 1540.

The overwhelming picture of Roath from this map is the rural nature (Albany Road surrounded by fields!) but the creeping urbanisation of the large houses on and off the Newport and City Roads.

For more history visit: Penylan & Roath

For history on Tewkesbury Abbey visit: Tewkesbury Abbey

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