The Pierhead Building ( cy, Adeilad y Pierhead) is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

building in

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay ( cy, Bae Caerdydd; historically Tiger Bay; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. One of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks, it was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...

(Welsh Parliament; ), which also includes the

Senedd building The Senedd building () in Cardiff houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; , formerly the National Assembly for Wales). The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006, Saint ...

and Tŷ Hywel. The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

" or the "Big Ben of Wales".

History

The building was built in 1897 and designed by the English architect

William Frame William Frame was an English architect. Life and works Frame was born at Melksham, Wiltshire in 1848. Training as an architect, he was articled firstly to William Smith of Trowbridge, he then became assistant to John Prichard of Llandaff. In 1 ...

. It was a replacement for the headquarters of the Bute Dock Company which burnt down in 1892. Frame's mentor was

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

, with whom he worked on the rebuilding of

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle ( cy, Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top ...

and

Castell Coch (; ) is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the village of in South Wales. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and control the route along the Taff G ...

until Burges's death in 1881. The Bute Dock Company was renamed the Cardiff Railway Company in 1897. A

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

on the building's façade bears the company's motto "" ("by water and fire"), encapsulating the elements creating the steam power which transformed Wales. The building became the administrative office for the Port of Cardiff in 1947. The 1897 clock mechanism, by William Potts & Sons of Leeds, was removed and replaced with an electronic motor, and auctioned off by British Rail and sold to an American collector in 1973. It was returned to Cardiff in 2005 and in 2011 was restored by

Smith of Derby Group Founded in 1856, the Smith of Derby Group are clockmakers based in Derby, England. Smith of Derby has been in operation continuously under five generations of the Smith family. History John Smith (21 December 1813 - 1886)Cardiff city centre Cardiff city centre ( cy, Canol Dinas Caerdydd) is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway st ...

.Simon Gaskel
''Pierhead clock mechanism returns to Cardiff''
South Wales Echo, 4 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-10.

Architecture

Incorporating a French-Gothic

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

theme, the Pierhead boasts details such as hexagonal chimneys, carved friezes,

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry wa ...

s, and a highly ornamental and distinctive clock tower. Its exterior is finished in glazed

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

blocks supplied at the end of the 19th century by J. C. Edwards & Co. of

Acrefair () is a village in the county borough of Wrexham, North East Wales, in the community of Cefn. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Ruabon, and is located between Wrexham and Llangollen. It is close to the villages of Trevor, Cefn Maw ...

, near

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the ...

; they were once described as one of the most successful producers of terracotta in the world. These features, along with the Pierhead's role in the development of the docks, Cardiff and industrial Wales, earned it the status of a Grade I listed building.

Re-opening

The building was re-opened in May 2010 as "The Assembly at the Pierhead", a visitor and education centre for the National Assembly for Wales. The exhibition provided visitors with information on the Assembly. On 1 March 2010 the building re-opened again to the public as a Welsh history museum and exhibition. It contains a number of films and exhibits exploring Welsh history as well as spaces for use as venues for public debate and Senedd-sponsored events, where people can express their views about what takes place in the nearby Senedd building itself. Artefacts on display include the original binnacle (the stand housing the ship's compass) from

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

's ship the ''Terra Nova'', and the Pennal Letter sent by

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...

, Prince of Wales, to

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...

in 1406. Another feature is an audio-visual display of Welsh heroes who have made significant contributions to Wales's cultural and political identity, such as the former prime minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

, the fashion designer Laura Ashley and the late rugby player and broadcaster

Ray Gravell Raymond William Robert Gravell (12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007) was a Welsh rugby union centre who played club rugby for Llanelli RFC. At international level, Gravell earned 23 caps for Wales and was selected for the 1980 British Lions t ...

. Films and exhibits explore the history of Cardiff Bay from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

era onwards and show how iron ore and coal exports made Cardiff one of the busiest ports in the world. They describe the impact of the coming of railways from 1841, which meant that goods could be transported as far in an hour as they would have been in a month using the canal system. They also illustrate how, following the crisis of a steep drop in demand for coal in the 1920s, and its decline as a port for container ships from the 1950s, Cardiff Bay entered a difficult period, ending with its regeneration at the century's close.

Gallery

References

External links

*
The Pierhead on the Pierhead Sessions website
* {{Coord, 51.463526, -3.163412, display=title Landmarks in Cardiff Government buildings in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Cardiff Gothic Revival architecture in Wales Senedd buildings History museums in Wales Museums in Cardiff Commercial buildings completed in 1897