Roath Park
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Roath Park ()
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, is one of Cardiff's most popular parks, owned by Cardiff County Council and managed by the Parks Section. It retains a classic
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
atmosphere and has many facilities. The park has recently been awarded the
Green Flag award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...
to recognise its high quality and its importance to Cardiff. Roath Park has widely diverse environments across the park. The park was built on of reformed
bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...
land, known then as a
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
l bog, and includes a lake, 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 many
water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...
s. The main park includes a large playground, floral displays, the glasshouse conservatory and recreational areas. Roath park occupies a long strip of land stretching from
Cyncoed Cyncoed ( ) is a community in the northeast of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. With many properties in the area fetching over £1 million, Cyncoed is considered to have some of the highest property prices in the country. Cyncoed overlooks the city ...
in the north to
Roath Roath () is a district and Community (Wales), community to the north-east of the Cardiff city centre, city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The area is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdown in the so ...
towards the southeast. The park is divided into several parts along the Roath Brook (, or ). 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

A new park in the area, with a lake, was proposed in 1886, on land owned by
Lord Tredegar Baron Tredegar, of Tredegar in the County of Monmouth, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 April 1859 for the Welsh politician Sir Charles Morgan, 3rd Baronet, who had earlier represented Brecon in Parliamen ...
. The land was covered with
clay pit A clay pit is a quarry or Mining, mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickwor ...
s and also had a
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
which would need removing. The land for Roath Park was donated to the city in 1887, primarily by
John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, (12 September 1847 – 9 October 1900) was a Scottish landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist, and architectural patron. When Bute succeeded to the marq ...
. The design was partly the work of Bute's head gardener,
Andrew Pettigrew Andrew Marshall Pettigrew (born 11 June 1944) is Professor of Strategy and Organisation at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. A British professor, he was formerly dean of the University of Bath School of Management. He receiv ...
, but mainly of his son,
William Wallace Sir William Wallace (, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of St ...
, in conjunction with the corporation's chief engineer, William Harpur. 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 a
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...
was constructed in the lake containing a scale model of the '' Terra Nova'' ship to commemorate
Captain Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the ''Terra Nova'' expedition of 1910–13. ...
's ill-fated voyage to the
Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...
from Cardiff in 1910. The park's atmosphere today still retains a
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
and
Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
character; 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 is
Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
on the
Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...
. Waterloo Gardens, Roath Mill Gardens and Roath Brook Gardens have a separate listing at Grade II. In 2003, the park was used for filming for an episode of the TV series of '' The Story of Tracy Beaker''. In 2019 the BBC reported that the lake had been polluted for several years by unauthorised sewage discharges. In 2024, the path along the southern edge of the park was widened to accommodate a cycle path.


Nature

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, including
mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...
,
cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...
s and
heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...
s. Four islands within the lake, which are inaccessible to the public, are safe nesting sites. The lake has a population of about 100
swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
s and a number of
geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...
. 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 a
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...
garden included in the park where the area is managed to encourage wildlife and native species.


Trees

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: # '' Quercus bicolor'' (Swamp white oak) # ''
Ginkgo biloba ''Ginkgo biloba'', commonly known as ginkgo or gingko ( ), also known as the maidenhair tree, is a species of gymnosperm tree native to East Asia. It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million year ...
'' 'Pendula', (Weeping maidenhair) # ''
Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...
'' 'Sapporo autumn gold' (Sapporo elm) # ''
Pterostyrax ''Pterostyrax'', the epaulette tree, is a small genus of four species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae, native to eastern Asia in China and Japan. They grow tall, with alternate, simple ovate leaves long and b ...
corymbosa'' # '' Ilex macrocarpa'' # ''
Laurus nobilis ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...
'' 'Aurea', (Golden bay) # ''
Meliosma ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...
parviflora'' # '' Emmenopterys henryi'' # ''
Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
× andegavennis'' # ''
Quercus pyrenaica ''Quercus pyrenaica'', also known as Pyrenean oak, or Spanish oak is a tree native to southwestern Europe and northwestern North Africa. Despite its common name, it is rarely found in the Pyrenees Mountains and is more abundant in northern Portu ...
'', (Pyrenean oak) # ''
Malus ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 32–57 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples (sometimes known in North America as crabapples) and wild apples. The genus i ...
'Magdeburgensis'', (Magdeburg apple) # ''
Pyrus calleryana ''Pyrus calleryana'', also known as the Callery pear, is a species of pear tree native to East Asia in the family Rosaceae. Its cultivar Bradford pear, known for its offensive odor, is widely planted throughout the United States and increasingly ...
'' 'Chanticleer' (Callery pear) # ''
Maclura pomifera ''Maclura pomifera'', commonly known as the Osage orange ( ), is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, native to the south-central United States. It typically grows about tall. The distinctive fruit, a multiple fruit that resembles an immatur ...
'', (Osage orange) Two oak trees predate the establishment of the park and have been calculated to be about years old.


Recreation

Roath Park Recreation Ground, towards the southern end of the park, contains sports pitches available for many different activities such as
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
,
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
and
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
. High quality
bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
s and tennis courts are provided in the central section of the park, the Pleasure Gardens. There are also
rowing boat Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically att ...
s which can be hired out and used on the lake. The lake is also home to a local radio-controlled boat society and is used for
coarse fishing Coarse fishing (, ) is a phrase commonly used in United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland. It refers to the angling for rough fish, which are fish species considered undesirable as food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids, parti ...
throughout 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. The Taff Swim, the Long 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

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


Conservatory

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 tree A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them f ...
s and
orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...
s. A pond and waterfall form a central feature, containing fish,
terrapin Terrapins are a group of several species of small turtle (order Testudines) living in freshwater, fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydid ...
s and
whistling duck The whistling ducks or tree ducks are a subfamily, Dendrocygninae, of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomic schemes, they are considered a separate family, Dendrocygnidae. Some taxonomists list only one genus, ...
s. Swan and duck food is on sale for feeding the birds on the lake.


Ornamental gardens

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


Facilities

*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.


Nearby

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 a
green corridor A wildlife corridor, also known as a habitat corridor, or green corridor, is a designated area habitat (ecology), that connects wildlife populations that have been separated by human activities or structures, such as development, roads, or land ...
out to the open countryside. *
Cathays Cemetery The Cathays Cemetery is one of the main cemeteries of Cardiff, Wales. It is in the Cathays district of the city, about north of Cardiff city centre Cardiff city centre () is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wal ...
. 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

* List of gardens in Wales


References


External links

https://www.outdoorcardiff.com/parks/roath-park/ {{Culture in Cardiff Tourist attractions in Cardiff Parks in Cardiff Gardens in Wales Rose gardens in Wales Roath Registered historic parks and gardens in Cardiff 1894 establishments in Wales