The history of the suburbs of Cathays and Maindy

View a map of Cathays from 1922

Cathays Park is the site of Cardiff's civic centre. The name Cathays may be a corruption of two words - "Cad Hayes" Cat possibly being a corruption of Cad, the Welsh for Battle and Hayes meaning 'open area'. Alternatively, it could mean 'Enclosure where wildcats are seen' because of the old English definitions of catt, meaning 'wildcat', and haga, meaning 'enclosure'. In 1766 the 1st Marquis of Bute inherited lands in Cathays through his marriage to Charlotte Windsor. He later purchased other properties in the district including Cathays Park. Cathays House, which he built at a cost of £40,000, was expensively landscaped, furnished and decorated. It was demolished by the 2nd Marquis in 1815 who preferred to use the castle as his Cardiff residence. He turned Cathays Park into an enclosed parkland. The northern limit of mediaeval Cardiff was marked by the cross where Fairoak Road and Crwys Road now meet.

Apart from the cemetery, which was opened in 1859, Cathays was almost entirely rural when it became a suburb of Cardiff in 1875. To the south lay the Bute Estate, while to the north were a number of scattered farms. There were just a few streets leading off Woodville Road and Cathays Terrace, but during the next 25 years the urbanisation of Cathays was virtually completed. Only Allensbank and Wedal farms survived, and by 1914 they also became no more than local place names.

In 1898, the 3rd Marquis of Bute sold a large piece of land to the Council for the building of a new town hall. He imposed strict conditions regarding the development of the site, and insisted that the area was to be used for civic, cultural and educational purposes only. The result was one of the finest civic centres in the world.

The 3rd Marquis contributed generously towards the building of Nazareth House, which was opened in 1875 to provide accommodation for orphans and elderly people. The home was a popular local charity and one of its most generous benefactors was Jim Driscoll, the famous boxer who passed away in 1925 and is buried at Cathays. To this day the nuns of Nazareth House tend his grave.

In 1905, the new council headquarters were almost completed - just in time for Cardiff to be granted City status. The City Hall was erected at a cost of only £129,000, and over the years other fine buildings were constructed. The University College moved from Newport Road to Cathays Park in 1909.

The National Museum of Wales was opened in 1927 and the Welsh National War Memorial was unveiled in 1928. The largest building in Cathays Park is the Welsh Office, which took over the Board of Health building in 1964.

Maindy Barracks was opened in 1871, and the footpath between Gelligaer Street and New Zealand Road soon became known as the 'BURMA Road' (Be Undressed and Ready My Angel) when American Troops met prostitutes there during the Second World War.

Maindy Pool was an old clay pit that had gradually filled with water. It took the death of over 10 children and adults when they fell in and drowned in the pit, before the area was filled in. In 1948 the building of Maindy Stadium began, and was completed in 1951.

The stadium held cycling races in the 1958 Empire Games. When the stadium was closed and replaced with a leisure centre, part of the site became a swimming pool.

Despite the urbanisation of Cathays, many acres of parkland still exist around the civic centre, including Gorsedd Gardens, Queen Alexandra Gardens, Bute Park and Blackweir.

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