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Published: January 5th 2016
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Woolly says – Having availed myself of the breakfast buffet I considered the day ahead and my decision in taking over the activities, mainly to avoid any more shopping and to ensure that we actually saw the inside of some places instead of closed doors! With the girls in tow and the rain pouring down I led my soggy group along the river bank and to my first stop. The Animal Wall was designed by William Burges in 1866, but was not built until 1890, after Burges's death. The original nine animal figures were sculptured by Thomas Nicholls, they were the hyena, wolf, apes, seal, bear, lioness, lynx, and 2 different lions, and sadly they had not thought to place a mammoth amongst these more common species. They were painted in naturalistic colours, although since then the paint work on the sculptures has been removed, even without their paint job they looked jolly good and as Jo snapped away I trotted on ahead to check that Cardiff Castle was really open. The wall was lovely and having read the information board I chuckled at the names that Dorothy Howard Rowlands, a local writer who had made them into characters for her books had called them…… William the seal, Priscilla the pelican, Martha and Oscar the monkeys, Larry the lynx and Romulus and Remus the two lions.
Woolly says – There should still have been a Woolly the Mammoth! With the castle gates welcoming us in I sent Jo and daughter Zoe off to purchase the tickets while I quickly planned my route around, first stop the battlement walls which would give us a chance to view the whole of the castle grounds and for my history lesson to start. Originally a Roman fort established at the end of the 50s AD, archaeological excavations indicate that this was the probably the first of four forts, each a different size, that occupied the present site. Following the Norman Conquest, the Castle’s keep was built, re-using the site of the Roman fort. The Castle passed through the hands of many noble families until in 1766 when it became the home of the Bute family by marriage. The 2nd Marquis of Bute was responsible for turning Cardiff into the world’s greatest coal exporting port and erecting the incredible house that now stood in the grounds below us. The Bute family retained the castle until 1947 when it was passed to the people of Cardiff. It has had many famous visitors in its time including Henry VIII and Nelson Mandela (not at the same time obviously) and of course ME!
Even in the rain the grounds looked pretty and as we wandered past the small turreted areas towards the North Gate we talked about the design that Capability Brown had used to reconstruct the outside area of the castle in 1770 which also included the filling of the moat. Woolly says – Arriving at the North Gate I was delighted to see that the original Norman Keep had in fact retained its smaller moat and leaving Jo sighing happily over the contrasting colours of brickwork, fern and grass I hurried down the stone steps and into the tunnels below. Unseen from the outside the whole of the battlement walls contained a passage way running from one end to the other which had been used as air raid shelters during the second world war for the residents of the city. It was dark and wet below and as Churchill’s voice boomed out I could hear the bombs dropping overhead and waited for the shudder of impact, with nothing appearing to happen we walked past benches and bunk beds that would have accommodated families during the destruction of the city. The canteen was small and didn’t seem to be serving snacks anymore, how they had provided for the thousands that would have used it during raids is anyone’s guess given the small amount of space. As the all clear sounded we found ourselves back outside in the drizzle feeling most lucky that we had never had to go through anything like that for real.
It was very atmospheric and certainly gave an amazing idea as to the living conditions that everyone would have had. Woolly says – The keep steps looked treacherous with a small waterfall flowing from each step, leaving Jo and Zoe to navigate the pools I took a short break from my duties of tour guide. Their return bought the news that while interesting there wasn’t a great deal inside the keep and as the bedraggled pair stood showing me the photos taken I took pity on them and suggested a snack. There is usually an ulterior motive with the mammoth and as he crammed two biscuits into his backpack and crunched on another he vanished from sight.
Woolly says – as I stood and crunched happily away there in front of me was 900 years of history, during renovation work this amazing piece of Roman wall had been discovered and although to many it is purely a wall, to me it represents my continued travels following the Romans throughout the world. As the girls caught up I suggested a trip round the museum commemorating over 300 years of proud and distinguished history of the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards and The Royal Welsh Guards including the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Rorke’s Drift against the Zulus in 1879 as well as recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. With lots of costumes and medals on show it proved most informative and with the rain now reduced to an odd drop I moved the party on towards the castle apartments. Wow, in fact double wow as I wandered through the Arab room and into the main dining room I could only gaze in wonder at the intricate decoration that the Bute family had adorned it’s home with, ceilings that would take hours to fully absorb, door frames with intricate designs to fascinate the eye and a library that would make anyone want to curl up and read in.
It was pretty stunning and no photos could really do it justice. Woolly says – having peeled our eyes away from the delights we ascended the stairs to the clock tower, one of the most recognisable buildings on the Cardiff landscape with its beautiful artwork. A trip inside appeared to be a nonstarter as the door was locked but the covered walkway taking us to and fro from it made us chuckle as we spied the elaborate drain covers which had obviously been taken from the idea of the animal wall outside. With the castle completed it seemed like a good time to break for lunch and a proper sit down. With tummies full and the fur ball apparently contented we continued on his rather good tour of Cardiff, passing the statue of Aneurin Bevan (1897 –1960), often known as Nye Bevan who was a Welsh Labour Party politician and founder of the modern National Health system.
Woolly says – our next stop was the Cardiff Museum of Life which has recently moved from its former home in St Fagin’s. Small but giving a great overview of how Cardiff had prospered through the export of coal and wool and the arrival of modern technology and business. Charting the social history information I was delighted to spot some material on Spillers, apparently the oldest record shop in the world, one for Dancing Dave. Founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller at its original location in the Queen’s Arcade, the shop specialised in the sale of phonographs, wax phonograph cylinders and shellac phonograph discs. In the early 1920s, Henry’s son Edward took over the running of the business and, with the aid of the popular accordionist and band leader, Joe Gregory, sold musical instruments alongside the pre-recorded music. With this gem of information stored I led my small party outside on the hunt for this most famous of stores. It certainly was a hunt as we consulted our own map and those around the city, diving into and out of arcades looking for the allusive shop front. Woolly says – many paw steps later and a sharp eyed Jo finally spotted our prey…… it wasn’t worth the effort but in the interests of saying that we had seen it Jo took the obligatory snap. With the clock hands moving quickly and a train to catch I scurried through the streets to the train station and as night fell and Cardiff became a distant view in I sat snuggly and warm on the return journey to my seaside perch in Aberystwyth.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Wow
Fantastic photo