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Cardiff (; ) is the
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
and
largest city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metrop ...
of
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 ...
. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a
principal area {{Short description, Formal legal term for a county in England and Wales In England and Wales local government legislation, a principal area is one of the sub-national areas established for control by a principal council. They include most of the a ...
officially known as the City and County of Cardiff (). The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the
Cardiff Capital Region The Cardiff Capital Region (CCR; ) is a City region (Wales), city region in Wales, centred on the capital city of Wales, Cardiff, in the southeast of the country. It is a partnership between the ten Local authorities of Wales, local authorities ...
, Cardiff is the
county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...
of the historic county of
Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...
and in 1974–1996 of
South Glamorgan South Glamorgan () is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales. It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area. It consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the south ...
. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. The Cardiff urban area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of
Dinas Powys Dinas Powys (; also spelt "Dinas Powis" in English) is a town and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Its name means "fort of the provincial place" and refers to the Dinas Powys hillfort, Iron Age hillfort which ...
and
Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...
. Cardiff is the main commercial centre of Wales as well as the base for 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, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
, the Welsh Parliament. At the 2021 census, the unitary authority area population was put at 362,400. The population of the wider urban area in 2011 was 479,000. In 2011, it ranked sixth in the world in a ''National Geographic'' magazine list of alternative tourist destinations. It is the most popular destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017. Cardiff is a major centre for television and film production (such as the 2005 revival of ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'', ''
Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect i ...
'' and '' Sherlock'') and is the Welsh base for the main national broadcasters.
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
contains 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 the Wales Millennium Centre arts complex. Work continues at Cardiff Bay and in the centre on projects such as Cardiff International Sports Village,
BBC drama village The BBC Drama Village is a television production facility run by the BBC. It is operated by their BBC Birmingham branch and based largely at the Selly Oak campus of the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England. The centre consists of f ...
, and a new business district.


Toponymy

(the Welsh name of the city) derives from the
Middle Welsh Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...
. The change from to shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh ''f'' and ''dd'' and was perhaps also driven by
folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...
. This
sound change In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...
probably first occurred in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
; both forms were current in the
Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...
. has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning "the fort of the Taff". The
fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
probably refers to that established by the Romans. is Welsh for ''fort'' and is in effect a form of (Taff), the river which flows by Cardiff Castle, with the showing
consonant mutation Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological or syntactic environment. Mutation occurs in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of al ...
to and the vowel showing
affection Affection or fondness is a "disposition or state of mind or body" commonly linked to a feeling or type of love. It has led to multiple branches in philosophy and psychology that discuss emotion, disease, influence, and state of being. Often, " ...
as a result of a (lost)
genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...
ending.Hywel Wyn Owen and Richard Morgan, ''Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales''. University of Wales Press, 2007, , p. 70. The
anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
''Cardiff'' is derived from , with the Welsh ''f'' borrowed as ''ff'' , as also happens in ''Taff'' (from Welsh ) and ''
Llandaff Llandaff (; ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bisho ...
'' (from Welsh ). The antiquarian
William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...
(1551–1623) suggested that the name Cardiff may derive from * ("the Fort of Didius"), a name supposedly given in honour of , governor of a nearby province at the time when the Roman fort was established. Although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Pierce.


History


Origins

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
evidence from sites in and around Cardiff show that people had settled in the area by at least around 6000 BC, during the early Neolithic: about 1,500 years before either
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
or the
Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. Built , over a period of about 26 years ...
was completed. These include the
St Lythans burial chamber The St Lythans burial chamber () is a single stone megalithic dolmen, built around 4000 BC as part of a chambered long barrow, during the mid Neolithic period, in what is now known as the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies about half a mile (1& ...
near Wenvoe, (approximately west of Cardiff city centre); the Tinkinswood burial chamber, near St. Nicholas (about west of Cardiff city centre), the Cae'rarfau
Chambered Tomb A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic, consisting of a sizeable (usually stone) chamber around and over which a cairn of stones was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also pas ...
, Creigiau (about northwest of Cardiff city centre) and the Gwern y Cleppa
long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...
, near Coedkernew, Newport (about northeast of Cardiff city centre). A group of five
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
is at the summit of the Garth, within the county's northern boundary. Four
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
and
enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
sites have been identified within Cardiff's county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of . Until the
Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...
, Cardiff was part of the territory of the
Silures The Silures ( , ) were a powerful and warlike tribe or tribal confederation of ancient Britain, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Do ...
– a Celtic British tribe that flourished in the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
– whose territory included the areas that would become known as
Breconshire Brecknockshire ( or ), also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was created in 1536 under the Laws in Wales ...
,
Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...
and Glamorgan. The
fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
established by the Romans near the mouth of the River Taff in AD 75, in what would become the north western boundary of the centre of Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement that had been established by the Romans in the 50s AD. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with (
Caerleon Caerleon ( ; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable ...
) that acted as border defences. The fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a civilian settlement, or , was established. It was likely made up of traders who made a living from the fort, ex-soldiers and their families. A
Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...
has been discovered at Ely. Contemporary with the
Saxon Shore forts The Saxon Shore () was a military command of the Later Roman Empire, Late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the English Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Sa ...
of the 3rd and 4th centuries, a stone fortress was established at Cardiff. Similar to the shore forts, the fortress was built to protect
Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...
from raiders. Coins from the reign of
Gratian Gratian (; ; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian was raised to the rank of ''Augustus'' as a child and inherited the West after his father's death in ...
indicate that Cardiff was inhabited until at least the 4th century; the fort was abandoned towards the end of the 4th century, as the last Roman legions left the province of Britannia with
Magnus Maximus Magnus Maximus (; died 28 August 388) was Roman emperor in the West from 383 to 388. He usurped the throne from emperor Gratian. Born in Gallaecia, he served as an officer in Britain under Theodosius the Elder during the Great Conspiracy ...
. Little is known of the fort and civilian settlement in the period between the Roman departure from Britain and the Norman Conquest. The settlement probably shrank in size and may even have been abandoned. In the absence of Roman rule, Wales was divided into small kingdoms; early on, Meurig ap Tewdrig emerged as the local king in
Glywysing Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg. Name ...
(which later became
Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...
). The area passed through his family until the advent of the Normans in the 11th century.


Norman occupation and Middle Ages

In 1081 William I, King of England visited Cardiff as part of an armed pilgrimage across South Wales and ordered work to begin on the castle keep within the walls of the old Roman fort. Cardiff Castle has been at the heart of the city ever since. The castle was substantially altered and extended during the Victorian period 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 ...
, and the architect
William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...
. Original Roman work can, however, still be distinguished in the wall facings. A town grew up under the castle, consisting mainly of settlers from England. Cardiff had a population of between 1,500 and 2,000 in the Middle Ages – a normal size for a Welsh town in the period. It was the centre of the Norman Marcher Lordship of Glamorgan. By the end of the 13th century, Cardiff was the only town in Wales with a population exceeding 2,000, although it remained relatively small compared with notable towns in England and continued to be contained within its walls, which were begun as a wooden
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
in the early 12th century. It was of sufficient size and importance to receive a series of charters, notably in 1331 from William La Zouche, Lord of Glamorgan through marriage with the
de Clare The House of Clare was a prominent Anglo-Norman noble house that ruled the Earldoms of Pembroke, Hertford and Gloucester in England and Wales throughout its history, playing a prominent role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. They were desce ...
family,
Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
in 1359, then Henry IV in 1400, and later Henry VI. In 1404,
Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...
burned Cardiff and took possession of the Castle. As many of the buildings were made of timber and tightly packed within the town walls, much of Cardiff was destroyed. The settlement was soon rebuilt on the same street plan and began to flourish again. (Glyndŵr's statue was erected in Cardiff Town Hall in the early 20th century, reflecting the complex, often conflicting cultural identity of Cardiff as capital of Wales.) Besides serving an important political role in the governance of the fertile south Glamorgan coastal plain, Cardiff was a busy port in the Middle Ages and declared a staple port in 1327.


County town of Glamorganshire

In 1536, the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 () or the Acts of Union (), were acts of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII of England, causing Wales to be incorporated into the realm of the Kingdom of England. The legal system of England ...
led to the creation of Glamorganshire and Cardiff was made the
county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...
, it also became part of Kibbor
hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
, around the same time the Herberts became the most powerful family in the area. In 1538,
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
closed Cardiff's Dominican and
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
friaries, whose remains were used as building materials. A writer in this period noted: "The River Taff runs under the walls of his honours castle and from the north part of the town to the south part where there is a fair quay and a safe harbour for shipping." Cardiff became a
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
in 1542 and further
Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
s were granted to it by Elizabeth I in 1600 and James I in 1608. In 1573, it was made a head port for collection of customs duties.
Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...
historian George Owen described Cardiff in 1602 as "the fayrest towne in Wales yett not the welthiest". It gained a second Royal Charter in 1608. A disastrous flood in the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
on 30 January 1607 (now believed to have been a tidal wave) changed the course of the River Taff and ruined St Mary's Parish Church, which was replaced by a chapel of ease dedicated to St John the Baptist. During the
Second English Civil War The Second English Civil War took place between February and August 1648 in Kingdom of England, England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639–1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 164 ...
St Fagans St Fagans ( ; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in the west of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is home to the St Fagans National History Museum. History The name of the area invokes Saint Fagan (Saint), Fagan, according ...
, just to the west of the town, the Battle of St Fagans, between
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
rebels and a
New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...
detachment, was a decisive victory for the Parliamentarians that allowed
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
to conquer Wales. It was the last major battle in Wales, with about 200, mostly Royalist soldiers killed. Cardiff was at peace throughout the ensuing century. In 1766, John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute married into the Herbert family and was later created Baron Cardiff. In 1778, he began renovating Cardiff Castle. A racecourse,
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
, bank and
coffee house A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, Caffè americano, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually ...
opened in the 1790s and Cardiff gained a
stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
service to London. Despite these improvements, Cardiff's position in the Welsh
urban hierarchy The urban hierarchy ranks each city based on the size of population residing within the nationally defined statistical urban area. Because urban population depends on how governments define their metropolitan areas, urban hierarchies are convention ...
declined over the 18th century.
Iolo Morganwg Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg (; 10March 174718December 1826), was a Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector.Jones, Mary (2004)"Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg" From ''Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia''. R ...
called it "an obscure and inconsiderable place" and the 1801 census found a population of only 1,870, making it only the 25th largest town in Wales, well behind
Merthyr Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of Kin ...
and
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
.


Building the docks

In 1793,
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, Knight of the Thistle, KT, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (10 August 1793 – 18 March 1848), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1794 and 1814, was a wealthy Scottish aristocrat and industrialist in Ge ...
was born. He spent his life building the Cardiff docks and was later hailed as "the creator of modern Cardiff". A twice-weekly boat service between Cardiff and
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
opened in 1815, and in 1821, the Cardiff Gas Works was established. After the Napoleonic Wars Cardiff suffered some social and industrial unrest, starting with the trial and hanging of Dic Penderyn in 1831. The town grew rapidly from the 1830s onwards, when the
Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart was the member of a family that ...
built a
dock The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engl ...
, which eventually linked to the
Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...
. Cardiff became the main port for coal exports from the Cynon,
Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (, 'large') and t ...
, and
Rhymney Rhymney (; ) is a town and a community (Wales), community in the county borough of Caerphilly (county borough), Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshir ...
valleys, and grew in population at a rate of nearly 80 per cent per decade between 1840 and 1870. Much of this was due to migration from within and outside Wales: in 1841, a quarter of Cardiff's population were English-born and more than 10 per cent born in Ireland. By the 1881 census, Cardiff had overtaken Merthyr and Swansea to become the largest town in Wales. Cardiff's status as the premier town in South Wales was confirmed when it was chosen as the site for the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in 1883. A permanent military presence was established with the completion of Maindy Barracks in 1877. Cardiff faced a challenge in the 1880s when David Davies of Llandinam and the
Barry Railway Company The Barry Railway Company was a railway and docks company in South Wales, first incorporated as the ''Barry Dock and Railway Company'' in 1884. It arose out of frustration among Rhondda coal owners at congestion and high charges at Cardiff Doc ...
promoted rival docks at Barry. These had the advantage of being accessible in all
tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
s: David Davies claimed his venture would cause "grass to grow in the streets of Cardiff". From 1901 coal exports from Barry surpassed those from Cardiff, but the administration of the coal trade remained centred on Cardiff, in particular its Coal Exchange, where the price of coal on the British market was determined and the first million-pound deal was struck in 1907. The city also strengthened its industrial base when the owners of the
Dowlais Ironworks The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer ...
in Merthyr (who would later form part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds) built a
steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...
close to the docks at East Moors, which Lord Bute opened on 4 February 1891.


County Borough of Cardiff

Cardiff became a county borough on 1 April 1889 under the
Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...
. The town had grown rapidly and had a population of over 123,000. It retained its county borough status until 1974.


City and capital city status

King
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
granted Cardiff
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...
on 28 October 1905. It acquired a Roman Catholic cathedral in 1916. Later, more national institutions came to the city, including the
National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
, the Welsh National War Memorial, and the
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
Registry Building, but it was denied the
National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...
, partly because the library's founder, Sir John Williams, considered Cardiff to have "a non-Welsh population". After a brief post-war boom, Cardiff docks entered a prolonged decline in the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
. By 1936, trade was at less than half its value in 1913, reflecting the slump in demand for Welsh coal. Bomb damage in the Cardiff Blitz of World War II included the devastation of Llandaff Cathedral, and in the immediate postwar years, the city's link with the Bute family came to an end. The city was recognised as the capital city of Wales on 20 December 1955, in a written reply by the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
, Gwilym Lloyd George.
Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...
had also vied for the title. Welsh local authorities had been divided: only 76 out of 161 chose Cardiff in a 1924 poll organised by the ''South Wales Daily News''. The subject was not debated again until 1950, and meanwhile Cardiff took steps to promote its "Welshness". The stalemate between Cardiff and cities such as Caernarfon and Aberystwyth was not broken until Cardiganshire County Council decided to support Cardiff; and in a new local authority vote, 134 out of 161 voted for Cardiff. Cardiff therefore celebrated two important
anniversaries An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...
in 2005. The ''Encyclopedia of Wales'' notes that the decision to recognise the city as the capital of Wales "had more to do with the fact that it contained marginal
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
constituencies than any reasoned view of what functions a Welsh capital should have." Although the city hosted the
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...
in 1958, Cardiff became a centre of national administration only with the establishment of the
Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...
in 1964, which later prompted the creation of various other public bodies such as the
Arts Council of Wales The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; ) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council (), its English name w ...
and the
Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...
, most of which were based in Cardiff. The East Moors Steelworks closed in 1978 and Cardiff lost population in the 1980s, consistent with a wider pattern of counter-urbanisation in Britain. However, it recovered to become one of the few cities outside London where population grew in the 1990s. During this period the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was promoting the
redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include ...
of south Cardiff; an evaluation of the regeneration of Cardiff Bay published in 2004 concluded that the project had "reinforced the competitive position of Cardiff" and "contributed to a massive improvement in the quality of the built environment, although it had "failed "to attract the major inward investors originally anticipated". In the
1997 Welsh devolution referendum The 1997 Welsh devolution referendum was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendu ...
, Cardiff voters rejected the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales by 55.4% to 44.2% on a 47% turnout, which Denis Balsom partly ascribed to a general preference in Cardiff and some other parts of Wales for a British rather than exclusively Welsh identity. The relative lack of local support for the Assembly and difficulties between the Welsh Office and Cardiff Council in acquiring the originally preferred venue, Cardiff City Hall, encouraged other local authorities to bid to house the Assembly. However, the Assembly was eventually located at
Tŷ Hywel is a building in Cardiff, Wales, used by the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ; formerly the National Assembly for Wales). It is named after the medieval king (''Howell the Good''), King of Deheubarth in South West Wales. The building was previousl ...
in Cardiff Bay in 1999. In 2005, a new debating chamber on an adjacent site, designed by
Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + ...
, was opened.


Government

The Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ) has been based in Cardiff Bay since its formation in 1999 as the "National Assembly for Wales". The Senedd building was opened on 1 March 2006 by The Queen. The Members of the Senedd (MSs), the Senedd Commission and ministerial support staff are based in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff elects four constituency Members of the Senedd to the Senedd; the constituencies for the Senedd are the same as for the UK Parliament. All of the city's electors have an extra vote for the South Wales Central regional members; this system increases proportionality to the Senedd. The most recent Senedd general election was held on 6 May 2021. In the Senedd, Cardiff is represented by Jenny Rathbone (Labour) in Cardiff Central,
Julie Morgan Julie Morgan (née Edwards; 2 November 1944) is a Welsh Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of the Senedd for Cardiff North seat in the Senedd since the 2011 election. She was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff No ...
(Labour) in Cardiff North, former First Minister
Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford (born 19 September 1954) is a Welsh politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance since September 2024, having previously held the position from 2016 to 2018. He previously served as First Minister of Wales and L ...
(Labour) in Cardiff West and former First Minister
Vaughan Gething Humphrey Vaughan ap David Gething (born 15 March 1974) is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician who served as First Minister of Wales from March to August 2024, and served as leader of Welsh Labour from March to July 2024, making him the first blac ...
(Labour) in Cardiff South and Penarth. At Westminster, Cardiff is represented by four constituencies: Cardiff East, Cardiff North, Cardiff South and Penarth, and Cardiff West. The
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
is headquartered in Cardiff's
Cathays Park Cathays Park () or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the Cardiff City Centre, city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It ...
, where most of its civil servants are based, with smaller numbers in other central locations: Cathays, Canton, and
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
. There are other Welsh Government offices in other parts of Wales, such as Llandudno and Aberystwyth, and there are international offices.


Local government

Between 1889 and 1974 Cardiff was a county borough governed by
Cardiff County Borough Council Cardiff County Borough Council, known as Cardiff City Council after Cardiff achieved city status in 1905, was the elected local authority that administered the town (later city) and county borough of Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales between 1889 and ...
(known as Cardiff City Council after 1905). Between 1974 and 1996, Cardiff was governed by
Cardiff City Council Cardiff City Council was the local government district authority that administered the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the Cardiff County Borough Council, pre-1974 county borough council. ...
, a district council of
South Glamorgan South Glamorgan () is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales. It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area. It consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the south ...
. Since local government reorganisation in 1996, Cardiff has been governed by the City and County Council of Cardiff, based at County Hall in Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff Bay. Voters elect 75 councillors every four years. Between the 2004 and 2012 local elections, no individual political party held a majority on Cardiff County Council. The Liberal Democrats held the largest number of seats and Cllr Rodney Berman was Leader of the council. The Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru formed a partnership administration. In the 2012 elections the Labour Party achieved an outright majority, after gaining an additional 33 seats across the city. Cardiff is divided into communities, several with their own
community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...
and the rest governed directly by Cardiff City Council. Elections are held every five years. The last contested elections would have been held at the same time as the 2017 Cardiff Council election had there been more candidates standing than available seats. Those with community councils are: *Lisvane (10 seats) *Old St. Mellons (9 seats) *Pentyrch (13 seats) *Radyr & Morganstown (13 seats) *Tongwynlais (9 seats) *St Fagans (9 seats)


Geography

The centre of Cardiff is relatively flat and bounded by hills to the east, north and west. Its location influenced its development as the world's largest coal port, notably its proximity and easy access to the coalfields of the
South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...
. The highest point in the local authority area is Garth Hill,
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
. Cardiff is built on reclaimed marshland on a bed of
Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
stones. This reclaimed marshland stretches from
Chepstow Chepstow () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western end of the ...
to the Ely Estuary, which is the natural boundary of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Triassic landscapes of this part of the world are usually shallow and low-lying, consistent with the flatness of the centre of Cardiff. The classic Triassic
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...
,
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
and conglomerate rocks are used predominantly throughout Cardiff as building materials. Many of these Triassic rocks are purplish, especially the coastal marl found near Penarth. One of the Triassic rocks used in Cardiff is "Radyr Stone", a freestone which as its name suggests is quarried in the Radyr district. Cardiff has also imported some materials for buildings:
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
sandstones (the
Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...
) from the
Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...
has been used. Most famously, the buildings of
Cathays Park Cathays Park () or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the Cardiff City Centre, city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It ...
, the civic centre in the centre of the city, are built of
Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...
from Dorset. A widely used building stone in Cardiff is the yellow-grey Liassic
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rock of the Vale of Glamorgan, including the rare "Sutton Stone", a conglomerate of lias limestone and
carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
limestone. Cardiff is bordered to the west by the rural district of the Vale of Glamorgan, also known as the Garden of Cardiff, to the east by the city of Newport; to the north by the
South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...
, and to the south by the
Severn Estuary The Severn Estuary () is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England (from North Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire) and South Wales (from Cardiff, Newport to Monmouthshire). Its very h ...
and
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
. The River Taff winds through the city centre and together with the River Ely flows into the freshwater Cardiff Bay. A third river, the
Rhymney Rhymney (; ) is a town and a community (Wales), community in the county borough of Caerphilly (county borough), Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshir ...
, flows through the east of the city directly into the Severn Estuary. Cardiff lies near the
Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...
Heritage Coast A heritage coast is a strip of coastline in England and Wales, the extent of which is defined by agreement between the relevant statutory national agency and the relevant local authority. Such areas are recognised for their natural beauty, wildlife ...
, stretching westward from Penarth and Barry –
commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
s of Cardiff – with striped yellow-blue
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...
limestone cliffs. The Glamorgan coast is the only part of the
Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland bounded to the north by St George's Channel, Saint George's Channel; other limits include the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and the Bay of Biscay, as wel ...
with exposed Jurassic (
blue lias The Blue Lias is a formation (stratigraphy), geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest ...
) geology. This stretch of coast with its reefs, sandbanks and serrated cliffs was a
ship graveyard A ship graveyard, ship cemetery or breaking yard is a location where the hulls of scrapped ships are left to decay and disintegrate, or left in reserve. Such a practice is now less common due to waste regulations and so some dry docks wh ...
; many ships sailing to Cardiff during the industrial era were wrecked on this hostile coastline during west/south-westerly gales. Smuggling, deliberate shipwrecking and attacks on ships were also common.


Cityscape

"Inner Cardiff" consists of the wards of Plasnewydd, Gabalfa,
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 ...
, Cathays, Adamsdown and
Splott Splott () is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. S ...
ward on the north and east of the city centre, and
Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', ) is a district and community (Wales), community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marqu ...
, Grangetown, Riverside and Canton to the south and west. The inner-city areas to the south of the A4161 road, known as the "Southern Arc", are with the exception of Cardiff Bay some of the poorest districts of Wales, with low levels of economic activity. On the other hand, Gabalfa, Plasnewydd and Cathays north of the 'arc' have large student populations, and Pontcanna (north of Riverside and alongside Canton) is a favourite for students and young professionals.
Penylan Penylan is a district and Community (Wales), community in the east of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, known for its Edwardian era period houses and spacious tree lined roads and avenue (landscape), avenues. Situated to both the north and ...
, to the north east of Roath Park, is an affluent area popular with older parents and the retired. To the west lie Ely and Caerau, which have some of the largest housing estates in the United Kingdom. With the exception of some outlying privately built estates at Michaelston-super-Ely, this is an economically disadvantaged area with high numbers of unemployed households.
Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross () is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the Community (Wales), community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 m ...
is a more affluent western area of the city. Fairwater,
Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
, Birchgrove, Gabalfa, Mynachdy, Llandaff North,
Llandaff Llandaff (; ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bisho ...
, Llanishen, Radyr, Whitchurch & Tongwynlais, Rhiwbina, Thornhill, Lisvane and Cyncoed lie in an arc from the north-west to the north-east of the centre. Lisvane, Cyncoed, Radyr and Rhiwbina contain some of the most expensive housing in Wales. Further east lie the wards of Pontprennau and Old St Mellons, Rumney, Pentwyn, Llanrumney, Llanedeyrn and
Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...
. The last four are largely public housing stock, although much new private housing is being built in Trowbridge. Pontprennau is the newest "suburb" of Cardiff, while Old St Mellons has a history going back to the 11th-century
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
. The region that may be called "Rural Cardiff" contains the villages of
St Fagans St Fagans ( ; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in the west of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is home to the St Fagans National History Museum. History The name of the area invokes Saint Fagan (Saint), Fagan, according ...
, Creigiau, Pentyrch, Tongwynlais and Gwaelod-y-garth. In 2017, plans were approved for a new suburb of 7,000 homes between Radyr and
St Fagans St Fagans ( ; ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in the west of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is home to the St Fagans National History Museum. History The name of the area invokes Saint Fagan (Saint), Fagan, according ...
, known as Plasdŵr. St Fagans, home to the Museum of Welsh Life, is protected from further development. Since 2000, there has been a marked change of scale and building height in Cardiff, with the development of the
city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
's first purpose-built high-rise apartments. Tall buildings have been built in the city centre and Cardiff Bay, and more are planned.


Climate

Cardiff, in the north temperate zone, has a
maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: Cfb) marked by mild weather that is often cloudy, wet and windy. Cardiff is one of the warmest and wettest cities in the UK, with an average annual temperature and rainfall of approximately 11°C and 1200mm respectively. Summers tend to be warm and sunny, with average maxima between . Winters are fairly wet, but excessive rainfall as well as frost are rare. Spring and autumn feel similar, with mild temperatures averaging around 15°C as daytime maxima. Rain is unpredictable at any time of year, although showers tend to be shorter in summer. The northern part of the county, being higher and inland, tends to be cooler and wetter than the city centre. Cardiff's maximum and minimum monthly temperatures average (July) and (February).
For Wales, the temperatures average (July) and (February). Cardiff has 1,518 hours of sunshine in an average year (Wales 1,388.7 hours). Cardiff is sunniest in July, with an average 203.4 hours during the month (Wales 183.3 hours), and least sunny in December with 44.6 hours (Wales 38.5 hours). Cardiff experiences less rainfall than average for Wales. It falls on 146 days in an average year, with total annual rainfall of . Monthly rainfall patterns show that from October to January, average monthly rainfall in Cardiff exceeds each month, the wettest month being December with and the driest from April to June, with average monthly rainfall fairly consistent between .


Demography

After a period of decline in the 1970s and 1980s, Cardiff's population is growing again. It reached 362,400 in the 2021 census, compared to a 2011 census figure of 346,100. Between mid-2007 and mid-2008, Cardiff was the fastest-growing local authority in Wales, with growth of 1.2%. According to 2001 census data, Cardiff was the 21st largest
urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
in the United Kingdom. The Cardiff
Larger Urban Zone The functional urban area (FUA), previously known as larger urban zone (LUZ), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zo ...
(a
Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...
definition including the Vale of Glamorgan and a number of local authorities in the Valleys) has 841,600 people, the 10th largest LUZ in the UK. The Cardiff and South Wales Valleys metropolitan area has a population of nearly 1.1 million. Official census estimates of the city's total population have been disputed. The city council published two articles arguing that the 2001 census seriously under-reported the population of Cardiff, and in particular the ethnic minority population of some inner city areas. The Welsh Government's official mid-year estimate of the population of the Cardiff local authority area in 2019 was 366,903. At the 2011, census the official population of the Cardiff Built Up Area (BUA) was put at 447,287. The BUA is not contiguous with the local authority boundary and aggregates data at a lower level; for Cardiff this includes the urban part of Cardiff, Penarth/Dinas Powys, Caerphilly and Pontypridd. Cardiff has an ethnically diverse population due to past trading connections, post-war
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
and large numbers of foreign students who attend university in the city. The ethnic make-up of Cardiff's population at the 2011 census was: 84.7% White, 1.6% mixed White and Black African/Caribbean, 0.7% mixed White and Asian, 0.6% mixed other, 8.1% Asian, 2.4% Black, 1.4% Arab and 0.6% other ethnic groups. This means almost 53,000 people from a non-white ethnic group reside in the city. This diversity, especially that of the city's long-established African and Arab communities, has been recorded in cultural exhibitions and events, along with books published on this subject.


Health

There are seven NHS hospitals in the city, the largest being the University Hospital of Wales, which is the third largest hospital in the UK and deals with most accidents and emergencies. The University Dental Hospital, which provides emergency treatment, is also located on this site. Llandough Hospital is located in the south of the city. St. David's Hospital, the city's newest hospital, built behind the former building, is located in Canton and provides services for the elderly and children. Cardiff Royal Infirmary is on Newport Road, near the city centre. The majority of this hospital was closed in 1999, but the west wing remained open for clinic services, genitourinary medicine and rehabilitation treatment. Rookwood Hospital and the Velindre Cancer Centre are also located within Cardiff. They are administered by the
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB; ) is the local health board of NHS Wales for Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan, in the South-east Wales, south-east of Wales. Formed on 1 October 2009 through the amalgamation of three NHS organisati ...
, with the exception of Velindre, which is run by a separate trust.
Spire Healthcare Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of Bup ...
, a private hospital, is in Pontprennau.


Language

Cardiff has a chequered linguistic history with Welsh, English,
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, Norse and
Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...
preponderant at different times. Welsh was the majority language in Cardiff from the 13th century until the city's explosive growth in the
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
. As late as 1850, five of the 12
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
churches within the current city boundaries conducted their services exclusively in Welsh, while only two worshipped exclusively in English. By 1891, the percentage of Welsh speakers had fallen to 27.9% and only Lisvane, Llanedeyrn and Creigiau remained as majority Welsh-speaking communities. The Welsh language became grouped around a small cluster of chapels and churches, the most notable of which is Tabernacl in the city centre, one of four UK churches chosen to hold official services to commemorate the new millennium. The city's first Welsh-language school (Ysgol Gymraeg Bryntaf) was established in the 1950s. Welsh has since regained ground. Aided by
Welsh-medium education Welsh-medium education () is a form of education in Wales in which pupils are taught primarily through the medium of Welsh. The aim of Welsh-medium education is to achieve fluency in both Welsh and English. All children over the age of seven ...
and migration from other parts of Wales, there are now many more Welsh speakers: their numbers doubled between the 1991 and 2011 censuses, from 18,071 (6.6%) to 36,735 (11.1%) residents aged three years and above. The LSOA (Lower Layer Super Output Area) with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in the city centre is found in Canton, at 25.5%. The LSOA with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in the whole of Cardiff is Whitchurch, at 26%.
Cardiff City Council Cardiff City Council was the local government district authority that administered the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district council replaced the Cardiff County Borough Council, pre-1974 county borough council. ...
adopted a five-year Welsh-language strategy in 2017, aimed at increasing the number of Welsh speakers (aged 3+) in Cardiff by 15.9%, from 36,735 in 2011 to 42,584 residents by the 2021 Census. The ONS estimated that in December 2020, 89,900 (24.8%) of Cardiff's population could speak Welsh. In addition to English and Welsh, the diversity of Cardiff's population (including foreign students) means that many other languages are spoken. One study has found that Cardiff has speakers of at least 94 languages, with Somali,
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
, Bengali and
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
being the most commonly spoken foreign ones. The modern Cardiff accent is distinct from that of nearby South Wales Valleys. It is marked primarily by: *Substitution of by *''here'' iːəpronounced as in the broader form *The vowel of ''start'' may be realised as or even , so that ''Cardiff'' is pronounced .


Language schools

Due to its diversity and large student population, more people now come to the city to learn English. Foreign students from Arab states and other European countries are a common sight on the streets of Cardiff. The
British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...
has an office in the city centre and there are six accredited schools in the area.


Religion

Since 1922, Cardiff has included
Llandaff Llandaff (; ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bisho ...
within its boundary, along with the
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Llandaff Cathedral, the parish church of Llandaff and the seat of the
Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's cathedra, seat is in the Llandaff Cathedral, Cathedral Chu ...
, head of the
Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...
and the Diocese of Llandaff. There is a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
in the city. Since 1916, Cardiff has been the seat of a Catholic archbishop, but there appears to have been a fall in the estimated Catholic population, with numbers in 2006 around 25,000 fewer than in 1980. Likewise, the Jewish population appears to have fallen – there are two synagogues in Cardiff, one in Cyncoed and one in Moira Terrace, as opposed to seven at the turn of the 20th century. There are several nonconformist chapels, an early 20th century Greek Orthodox church and 11 mosques. In the 2001 census, 66.9% of Cardiff's population described itself as Christian, a percentage point below the Welsh and UK averages. The oldest of the non-Christian communities in Wales is Judaism. Jews were not permitted to live in England and Wales between the 1290
Edict of Expulsion The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England that was issued by Edward I of England, Edward I on 18 July 1290; it was the first time a European state is known to have permanently banned their prese ...
and the 17th century. A Welsh Jewish community was re-established in the 18th century. There was once a fairly substantial Jewish population in South Wales, most of which has disappeared. The
Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...
community congregations are consolidated in the Cardiff United Synagogue in Cyncoed, which was dedicated by Chief Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks (8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As ...
in 2003. The Cardiff Reform Synagogue is in Adamsdown. Cardiff's Muslim population is much above the Welsh average and the longest established in the UK, being started by Yemeni and Somali sailors settling in the 19th century. Cardiff now has over 11,000 Muslims with various national affiliations – nearly 52 per cent of the Muslim population in Wales. The proportion of Cardiff residents declaring themselves Hindu, Sikh and Jewish were all considerably higher than the Welsh averages, but lower than the UK figures. The city has had a Hindu community since Indian immigrants settled in the 1950s and 1960s. The first Hindu temple in the city was opened in Grangetown on 6 April 1979 on the site of an abandoned synagogue. The 25th anniversary of the founding was celebrated in September 2007 with a parade of over 3,000 people through the city centre, including Hindus from across the United Kingdom and members of Cardiff's other religious communities. There are over 2,000 Hindus in Cardiff, worshipping at three temples. In the 2001 census 18.8% of the city's population stated they had no religion, while 8.6% did not state a religion.


Economy

As the capital city of Wales, Cardiff is the main engine of growth in the Welsh economy. Though the population of Cardiff is about 10% of the Welsh population, the economy of Cardiff makes up nearly 20% of Welsh GDP and 40% of the city's workforce are daily in-commuters from the surrounding South Wales area. Industry has played a major part in Cardiff's development for many centuries. The main catalyst for its transformation from a small town into a big city was the demand for coal required in making iron and later steel, brought to sea by
packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...
from
Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...
. This was first achieved by building a canal from Merthyr ( above sea level) to the Taff Estuary at Cardiff. Eventually the
Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...
replaced the canal barges and massive marshalling yards sprang up as new docks were developed in Cardiff – all prompted by the soaring worldwide demand for coal from the South Wales valleys. At its peak, Cardiff's port area, known as Tiger Bay, became the busiest port in the world and – for some time – the world's most important coal port. In the years leading up to the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, more than 10 million tonnes of coal was exported annually from
Cardiff Docks Cardiff Docks () is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost . Once the main port for the export of South Wales coalfield, South Wales coal, the Po ...
. In 1907, Cardiff's Coal Exchange was the first host to a business deal for a million
pounds Sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...
. The high demand for Welsh coal and specifically Welsh artificial fuel, named Patent Fuel, is shown by the numerous factories producing this fuel, with the same recipe, in the region of Cardiff. Most well known factories were the Star Patent fuel Co., the Crown Patent fuel, the Cardiff Patent fuel etc. After a period of decline, due to low demand on coal, Cardiff's port has started to grow again – over 3 million tonnes of cargo passed through the docks in 2007. Cardiff today is the main finance and business services centre in Wales, with strong representation of finance and business services in the local economy. This sector, combined with the public administration, education and health sectors, have accounted for about 75% of Cardiff's economic growth since 1991. The city was recently placed seventh overall in the top 50 European cities in the fDI 2008 Cities of the Future list published by the
fDi magazine ''fDi Intelligence'' is an English-language bi-monthly news and foreign direct investment (FDI) publication, providing an up-to-date review of global investment activity. The A4 glossy pages reach a circulation of 15,488 ABC audited, active corp ...
, and ranked seventh in terms of attracting foreign investment. Notable companies such as
Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...
, Admiral Insurance,
HBOS HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland plc, which ...
,
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
,
ING Direct ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banking, private ban ...
,
The AA AA Limited, trading as The AA, is a British motoring association. Founded in 1905, it provides vehicle insurance, Driver's education, driving lessons, breakdown cover, loans, motoring advice, road maps and other services. The association Demut ...
, Principality Building Society, 118118,
British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...
, Brains, SWALEC Energy and BT, all operate large national or regional headquarters and contact centres in the city, some of them based in Cardiff's office towers such as Capital Tower and Brunel House. Other major employers include
NHS Wales NHS Wales () is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service () in the United Kingdom. NHS Wales was formed as part of the public health system for England and Wales crea ...
and the Senedd. On 1 March 2004, Cardiff was granted Fairtrade City status. Cardiff is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United Kingdom, receiving 18.3 million visitors in 2010 and generating £852 million for the city's economy. One result is that one in five employees in Cardiff is based in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector, highlighting the growing retail and tourism industries in the city. The city has many hotels of varying sizes and standards, providing almost 9,000 available beds. Cardiff is home to the Welsh media and a large media sector with
BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...
,
S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...
and ITV Wales all having studios in the city. There is a large independent TV production industry sector of over 600 companies, employing around 6,000, with a turnover estimated at £350 million. Just to the north-west of the city, in Rhondda Cynon Taff, the first completely new film studios in the UK for 30 years are being built, to be named Valleywood. The studios are set to be the biggest in the UK. In 2011 the BBC completed the Roath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay to film dramas such as ''Casualty'', ''Doctor Who'', and ''Pobol y Cwm''. Cardiff has several regeneration projects, such as St David's 2 Centre and surrounding areas of the city centre, and the £1.4 billion International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay, which played a part in the
London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. It features the only Olympic-standard swimming pool in Wales, the Cardiff International Pool, which opened on 12 January 2008. According to the Welsh Rugby Union, the Principality Stadium contributed £1 billion to the Welsh economy in the ten years after it opened in 1999, with around 85% of that staying in the Cardiff area.


Shopping

Most of Cardiff's shopping portfolio is in the
city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
around Queen Street, St Mary Street and High Street, with large suburban retail parks in Cardiff Bay,
Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross () is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the Community (Wales), community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 m ...
, Leckwith, Newport Road and Pontprennau, together with markets in the city centre and
Splott Splott () is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. S ...
. A £675 million regeneration programme for Cardiff's St. David's Centre was completed in 2009, providing a total of of shopping space, making it one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom. The centre was named the international shopping centre of the year in 2010 by Retail Leisure International (RLI). The Castle Quarter is a commercial area in the north of the city centre, which includes some of Cardiff's Victorian and Edwardian arcades: Castle Arcade, Morgan Arcade and Royal Arcade, and principal shopping streets: St Mary Street, High Street,
The Hayes The Hayes () is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location of the H ...
, and Queen Street. Morgan Arcade is home to
Spillers Records Spillers Records, established in 1894, is recognised as the worlds oldest record shop. History Spillers was founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller at its original location in Queens Arcade, where the shop specialised in the sale of phonographs, wax p ...
, the world's oldest record shop. Cardiff has a number of markets, including the vast Victorian indoor Cardiff Central Market and the newly established Riverside Community Market, which specialises in locally produced organic produce.


Transport


Rail

Cardiff Central railway station Cardiff Central () is a major station on the South Wales Main Line. It is located in the capital of Wales, Cardiff, down the line from London Paddington, via , and measured via . It is one of the city's two urban rail network hubs, along wi ...
is the largest railway station in Wales, with eight platforms coping with over 12.5 million passengers a year. It provides direct services to
Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...
and Newport, long-distance, cross-Wales services to
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
and
Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...
, and services to
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Cardiff Central Station is situated within the southern border of what was known Temperance Town, a former residential area within central Cardiff. Cardiff Queen Street railway station is the second busiest in Wales and the hub for the Valley Lines services that connect the
South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...
and the Cardiff suburbs with the city centre. It is located at the eastern end of the city centre and provides services to Cardiff Bay. Cardiff has a suburban rail system known as the Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes, operated by
Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...
. There are eight lines that serve 20 stations in the city, 26 in the wider urban area (including Taffs Well,
Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...
and Dinas Powys) and more than 60 in the South Wales valleys and the
Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...
.


Metro

The
South Wales Metro The South Wales Metro () is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network being developed in South East Wales around the hub of railway station.The development will also include the electrif ...
is an integrated public transport system under development in south-east Wales, centered on Cardiff. The project is to include the electrification of some of the existing railway lines and the creation of multiple
light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
and
light rapid transit A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...
lines. Four lines are under construction with a further three planned. The first lines will link
Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...
and
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
to , , and , with plans to also serve
Pontyclun Pontyclun (or Pont-y-clun) is a town and Community (Wales), community located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Pontyclun translates from the Welsh language as 'bridge verthe Afon Clun, River Clun', the Clun being a tributa ...
,
St Mellons St Mellons () is a district and suburb of eastern Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Prior to 1996 St Mellons was the name given to the community largely north of Newport Road (B4487) which included the old St Mellons village. After 1996 the o ...
and Porth Teigr. Alongside this, current commuter services will be improved with a near-tripling in capacity on some routes to and .


Air

Domestic and international air links to Cardiff and South & West Wales are provided from Cardiff Airport (CWL), the only international airport in Wales. The airport lies in the village of Rhoose, west of the city. There are regular bus services linking the airport with Cardiff city centre, and a train service from Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station to Cardiff Central.


Road and bus

The
M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...
connects Cardiff with
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
to the west and Newport and London to the east, with four junctions on the M4, including one with the A48(M). The
A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate th ...
provides an important link from the city to the Heads of the Valleys road. When completed, the A4232 – also known as the Peripheral Distributor Road – will form part of the Cardiff ring-road system, along with the M4 motorway between junctions 30 and 33. Cardiff has a comprehensive bus network, whose providers include the
municipal bus company A municipal bus company is an operator of bus services owned by the local government authority. This article lists all current municipal bus companies in the United Kingdom. Most municipal bus companies disappeared between 1968 and 1974 before (o ...
Cardiff Bus (routes within the city and to Newport, Barry and Penarth),
Adventure Travel Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in l ...
(cross-city and to
Cardiff Airport Cardiff Airport () is an airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan. It is the only airport offering commercial passenger services and cargo services in Wales. The airport is owned by the Welsh Government, operating it at arm's length as a commercia ...
), Stagecoach South Wales (to the
South Wales Valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...
) and
First Cymru First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. With its headquarters previously in Swansea, it is now part of the First Wales and West region which also covers Bristol, Bath, Somerset, Bath and ...
(to Cowbridge and Bridgend).
National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...
and Megabus provides direct services to major cities such as
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, London,
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...
and
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. Most bus services in the city use Cardiff Bus Interchange located next to Central Station, which opened in 2024 replacing an older structure on the same site, whilst intercity and coach services use the coach terminal located near
Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( ; ) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestig ...
in the north of the city centre.


Cycle

The
Taff Trail The Taff Trail () is a Walking in the United Kingdom, walking and cycle path that runs for between Cardiff Bay and Brecon in Wales. It is so named because it follows the course of the River Taff. Along much of its length, it follows the Natio ...
is a
walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an " inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults o ...
and
cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...
running for between Cardiff Bay and
Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...
in the
Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...
National Park. It runs through Bute Park,
Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( ; ) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestig ...
and many other green areas within Cardiff. It is possible to cycle the entire distance of the
Trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...
almost completely off-road, as it largely follows the River Taff and many of the disused railways of the Glamorganshire valleys. Nextbike previously operated a public bike-hire scheme in the city between March 2018 and January 2024, with the scheme allegedly being scrapped due to theft. Cardiff Council are seeking a replacement operator.


Water

The Aquabus water taxi runs every hour between the city centre (Taff Mead Embankment) and Cardiff Bay (Mermaid Quay), and between Cardiff Bay and Penarth Cardiff Bay Barrage. Throughout the year, Cardiff Waterbus sail between the Pierhead on The Waterfront and the Penarth end of the Cardiff Bay Barrage with short sightseeing cruises. Between March and October boats depart from Cardiff Bay for Flat Holm Island. The '' PS Waverley'' and '' MV Balmoral'' sail from Britannia Quay (in Roath Basin) to various destinations in the
Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...
. File:Cardiff Central station (26526139271).jpg,
Cardiff Central railway station Cardiff Central () is a major station on the South Wales Main Line. It is located in the capital of Wales, Cardiff, down the line from London Paddington, via , and measured via . It is one of the city's two urban rail network hubs, along wi ...
File:Gorsaf Heol y Frenhines, Caerdydd.JPG, Cardiff Queen Street railway station File:Depo Ffynnon Taf - TfW 398011 llaes 398010.JPG,
South Wales Metro The South Wales Metro () is an integrated heavy rail, light rail and bus-based public transport services and systems network being developed in South East Wales around the hub of railway station.The development will also include the electrif ...
tram-train A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but a ...
s File:Cardiff Airport (Oct 2010).jpg,
Cardiff Airport Cardiff Airport () is an airport in Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan. It is the only airport offering commercial passenger services and cargo services in Wales. The airport is owned by the Welsh Government, operating it at arm's length as a commercia ...
File:Bus Interchange Open (1).jpg, Cardiff Bus Interchange File:Cardiff Bus (Bws Caerdydd) YN17ONL.jpg, Cardiff Bus is the main bus operator in the Cardiff area File:Cycle lane in Excalibur Drive, Cardiff.jpg, Typical cycle lane in Cardiff File:Aquabushydro1.jpg, Aquabus


Telecommunications

029 is the current telephone dialling code for Cardiff, as well as for the neighbouring towns of Penarth, Dinas Powys and
Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...
. The dialling code is optional when dialling within the area: one can dial between any two phones within the 029 code using only the eight-digit local number. Prior to the
Big Number Change The Big Number Change addressed various issues with the telephone dialling plan in the United Kingdom, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the country was running short of new telephone numbers. Overview The first was an update to a s ...
on 22 April 2000 the area had shorter, six-digit local numbers with an area code of 01222. This was 0222 before May 1995, derived from 0 (indicating it was a trunk call), 22 (CA on a telephone pad, for CArdiff) and 2 (as 220 was used for CAmbridge and 221 for BAth). Before the introduction of automated trunk call dialling, non-local numbers were accessed through a system of manual telephone exchanges, in common with rest if the United Kingdom. There remains a common misconception that local numbers are still six digits long and that the code is 02920, even though there are newer Cardiff numbers in the ranges (029) 21xx xxxx and (029) 22xx xxxx.


Education

Cardiff is home to four major institutions of higher education:
Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...
,
Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...
,
University of South Wales The University of South Wales (USW) () is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport. The ...
and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Cardiff University was founded by a
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, is a member of the
Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governme ...
of leading research led universities, having most of its campus in Cathays and the city centre.
Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...
(formerly UWIC) has campuses in the Llandaff, Cyncoed and city centre areas, and is part of the confederal
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
. The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a
conservatoire A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...
established in 1949 and is based in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. The
University of South Wales The University of South Wales (USW) () is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport. The ...
's Cardiff campus, Atrium, is home to the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries and is located in the city centre. The total number of higher education students in the city is around 43,900. The city also has two
further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...
colleges: Cardiff and Vale College and St David's College. The former is the result of a merger, completed in August 2011, between Coleg Glan Hafren and Barry College. Further education is also offered at most high schools in the city. Cardiff has three state nursery schools (one bilingual), 98 state primary schools (two bilingual, fifteen
Welsh medium Welsh-medium education () is a form of education in Wales in which pupils are taught primarily through the medium of Welsh. The aim of Welsh-medium education is to achieve fluency in both Welsh and English. All children over the age of seven ...
), and 19 state secondary schools (three Welsh medium). There are also several independent schools in the city, including St John's College, Llandaff Cathedral School, Cardiff Sixth Form College, Kings Monkton School and Howell's School, a single-sex girls' school (until sixth form). In 2013 Cardiff Sixth Form College came top of the independent senior schools in the UK, which were based on the percentage of A* and A at Advanced Level. Also in the top 100 were St John's College and Howell's School. Notable schools include
Whitchurch High School Whitchurch High School () is a large, co-educational, comprehensive secondary school in the suburb of Whitchurch in Cardiff, Wales. Organisation and structure The school is currently the largest in Wales (according to the school's last Esty ...
(the largest secondary school in Wales), Fitzalan High School (one of the most multi-cultural state schools in the UK), and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf (the largest Welsh medium secondary school in Wales). As well as academic institutions, Cardiff is also home to other educational and learning organisations such as Techniquest, a hands-on science discovery centre that now has franchises throughout Wales, and is part of the Wales Gene Park in collaboration with Cardiff University,
NHS Wales NHS Wales () is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service () in the United Kingdom. NHS Wales was formed as part of the public health system for England and Wales crea ...
and the
Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...
(WDA). Cardiff is also home to a regional office of the
International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...
Organisation (IBO).


Landmarks and attractions

Cardiff has many landmark buildings such as the Principality Stadium,
Pierhead Building The Pierhead Building () is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), which also includes ...
, the Welsh National Museum and the Senedd building, the home of the Welsh Parliament. Cardiff is also known for Cardiff Castle, St David's Hall, St John the Baptist Church, Llandaff Cathedral and the Wales Millennium Centre.
Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () 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 of a 3rd-century Roma ...
is a major tourist attraction in the city and is situated in the heart of the
city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
. The National History Museum at St Fagans in Cardiff is a large open-air museum housing dozens of buildings from throughout Welsh history that have been moved to the site in Cardiff. The Civic Centre in
Cathays Park Cathays Park () or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the Cardiff City Centre, city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It ...
comprises a collection of
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 ...
buildings such as the
City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
, National Museum and Gallery of Wales, Cardiff Crown Court, and buildings forming part of Cardiff University, together with more modern civic buildings. These buildings are laid out around the Queen Alexandra Gardens, a formal park which contains the Welsh National War Memorial and a number of other, smaller memorials. In addition to Cardiff Castle, Castell Coch is a castle in Tongwynlais, in the north of the city. The current castle is an elaborately decorated Victorian
folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...
designed by
William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...
for the Marquess and built in the 1870s, as an occasional retreat. However, the Victorian castle stands on the footings of a much older medieval castle possibly built by Ifor Bach, a regional baron with links to Cardiff Castle also. The exterior has become a popular location for film and television productions. It rarely fulfilled its intended role as a retreat for the Butes, who seldom stayed there. For the Marquess, the pleasure had been in its creation, a pleasure lost following Burges's death in 1881. Cardiff claims the largest concentration of
castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...
of any city in the world. As well as Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch, there are the remains of two
motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...
s in Morganstown and Rhiwbina, known as Morganstown Castle Mound and Twmpath Castle or Twmpath Motte (also known as ) respectively. Twmpath being a Welsh word for a small mound), which along with a castle at Whitchurch (known as Treoda and destroyed by housing in the 1960s) formed an arc of fortifications which divided the Norman lordship from the Welsh lordship of Senghenydd. Further up the Cefn Cibwr ridge on the boundary with Caerphilly there is also another ruined castle, known as
Morgraig Castle Morgraig Castle () is a ruined castle, which lies close to the southern borders of the county borough of Caerphilly County Borough, Caerphilly, overlooking Cardiff in Wales. It was built in the 13th century, but there is some debate as to who ac ...
(). Archaeological evidence suggests this castle was never finished, and it is debated whether the fortification was of Norman or Welsh origin. The concentration of castles indicates the moveable nature of the border between the Norman lordship of Glamorgan, centred at Cardiff, and its Welsh neighbours to the north. There is also the ruined Llandaff Bishop's Palace, also known as Llandaff Castle, which was the home of the medieval bishops, which was destroyed about 1403–1404 by the Welsh leader
Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...
. Now only the ruined gatehouse remains. Not strictly a castle in the historical sense, Saint Fagans Castle is a preserved 17th-century manor house, once the seat of the Earls of Plymouth. Other major tourist attractions are the
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
regeneration sites, which include the recently opened Wales Millennium Centre and the Senedd building, and many other cultural and sites of interest, including the Cardiff Bay Barrage and the famous Coal Exchange. The New Theatre was founded in 1906 and refurbished in the 1980s. Until the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre in 2004, it was the premier venue in Wales for touring theatre and dance companies. Other venues popular for concerts and sporting events include
Cardiff International Arena Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and Motorpoint Arena Cardiff and currently, for sponsorship reasons, as Utilita Arena Cardiff) is an indoor exhibition centre and events arena locate ...
, St David's Hall and the Principality Stadium. Cardiff Story, a museum documenting the city's history, has been open to the public since the spring of 2011. Cardiff has over 1,000 listed buildings, ranging from the more prominent buildings such as the castles, to smaller buildings, houses and structures. Cathedral Road was developed by the 3rd Marquis of Bute and is lined by fine villas, some backing on to Sophia Gardens. Cardiff has walks of special interest for tourists and
ramblers The Ramblers' Association, branded simply as the Ramblers, is Great Britain's walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path network. T ...
alike, such as the Centenary Walk, which runs for within Cardiff city centre. This route passes through many of Cardiff's landmarks and historic buildings. The Animal Wall, designed by
William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...
in 1866, marks the south edge of Bute Park on Castle Street. It bears 15 carved animal statues.


Culture and recreation

Cardiff has many cultural sites varying from the historical Cardiff Castle and out of town Castell Coch to the more modern Wales Millennium Centre and Cardiff Bay. Cardiff was a finalist in the
European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...
2008. In recent years Cardiff has grown in stature as a tourist destination, with recent accolades including Cardiff being voted the eighth favourite UK city by readers of the ''Guardian''. The city was also listed as one of the top 10 destinations in the UK on the official British tourist boards website Visit Britain, and US travel guide Frommers have listed Cardiff as one of 13 top destinations worldwide for 2008. Annual events in Cardiff that have become regular appearances in Cardiff's calendar include Sparks in the Park, The Great British Cheese Festival, Pride Cymru (formerly Cardiff Mardi Gras), Cardiff Winter Wonderland, Cardiff Festival and Made in Roath.


Music and performing arts

A large number of concerts are held in the city, the larger ones at St David's Hall, Cardiff International Arena and occasionally the Principality Stadium. A number of festivals are also held in Cardiff, the largest being the Cardiff Big Weekend Festival, held annually in the city centre in the summer and playing host to free musical performances (from artists such as Ash,
Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...
, Cerys Matthews, the Fun Loving Criminals, Soul II Soul and the Magic Numbers), fairground rides and cultural events such as a Children's Festival that takes place in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. The annual festival claims to be the UK's largest free outdoor festival, attracting over 250,000 visitors in 2007. Cardiff hosted the
National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...
in 1883, 1899, 1938, 1960, 1978, 2008 and 2018. Cardiff is unique in Wales in having two permanent
stone circles A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being bu ...
used by the Gorsedd of
Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...
s during Eisteddfodau. The original circle stands in Gorsedd Gardens in front of the
National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...
while its 1978 replacement is situated in Bute Park. Since 1983, Cardiff has hosted the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a world-renowned event on the opera calendar which is held every two years. The city also hosts smaller events. The Wales Millennium Centre hosts performances of opera, ballet, dance, comedy, musicals and is home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. St David's Hall (which hosts the Singer of the World competition) has regular performances of classical music and ballet as well as music of other genres. The largest of Cardiff's theatres is the New Theatre, situated in the city centre just off Queen Street. Other such venues include the
Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre () is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College Cardiff (now Cardiff University). Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Thea ...
,
Chapter Arts Centre Chapter Arts Centre (often just referred to as Chapter) is an arts centre in Canton, Cardiff, Canton, Cardiff, Wales, opened in 1971. Description Chapter hosts films, Play (theatre), plays, performance art and live music, and includes a free ar ...
and the Gate Arts Centre. The Cardiff music scene is established and wide-ranging: home to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Welsh National Opera; has produced several leading acts; has acted as a springboard for Welsh bands to become famous. Acts hailing from Cardiff include Charlotte Church, Shirley Bassey, Iwan Rheon, the Oppressed, Kids In Glass Houses, Los Campesinos, the Hot Puppies, The School (UK), the School, We're No Heroes, Budgie (band), Budgie and Shakin' Stevens. Also, artists such as Stereophonics, the Automatic, Manic Street Preachers, Lostprophets, Underworld (band), Underworld, Super Furry Animals, Catatonia (band), Catatonia and Bullet for My Valentine have links with the city and are associated with the Cardiff music scene. In 2010, Cardiff was named the UK's second "most musical" city by PRS for Music.


Visual arts

Cardiff has held a photomarathon in the city each year since 2004, in which photographers compete to take the best 12 pictures of 12 previously unknown topics in 12 hours. An exhibition of winners and other entries is held in June/July each year.


Sporting venues

Cardiff's former municipal baths opened in 1862, as Turkish Baths, and were taken over by the City Council in 1873, before closing over a century later. Sporting venues include the Millennium Stadium, Principality Stadium – the national stadium and home of the Wales national rugby union team – Sophia Gardens (cricket ground), Sophia Gardens for Glamorgan County Cricket Club, Cardiff City Stadium for Cardiff City F.C. and the Wales national football team, Wales football team, Cardiff International Sports Stadium, home of Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club, Cardiff Arms Park for Cardiff Blues and Cardiff RFC rugby union teams, and Ice Arena Wales for Cardiff Devils ice hockey team. It hosted the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and was dubbed European City of Sport for its role in international sporting events in 2009 and again in 2014. The Principality Stadium hosted 11 football matches during the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event and the men's bronze medal match.


Recreation

Cardiff has strong nightlife. Most clubs and bars are situated in the city centre, especially St Mary Street. More recently Cardiff Bay has built up a strong night scene, with many modern bars and restaurants. The Brewery Quarter on St Mary Street is a recently developed venue for bars and restaurant with a central courtyard. Charles Street is also a popular part of the city. Cardiff is known for its extensive parks and other green spaces covering around 10% of the city's total area. Cardiff's main park, Bute Park (which was formerly the castle grounds) extends northwards from the top of one of Cardiff's main shopping street (Queen Street); when combined with the adjacent Llandaff Fields and Pontcanna Fields to the north-west it produces a massive open space skirting the River Taff. Other popular parks include Roath Park in the north, donated to the city by the John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, 3rd Marquess of Bute in 1887, which includes a popular boating lake; Victoria Park, Cardiff's first official park; and Thompson's Park, formerly home to an aviary removed in the 1970s. Wild open spaces include Howardian Local Nature Reserve, of the lower Rhymney valley in Penylan noted for its orchids, and Forest Farm Country Park, over along the River Taff in Whitchurch.


Media

Cardiff is the Welsh base for the main national broadcasters (
BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...
, ITV Wales and
S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...
). A locally based television station, ''Made in Cardiff'', is also based in the city centre. Major filming studios in Cardiff include the BBC's Roath Lock Studios and Pinewood Studios Wales. Several contemporary television programmes and films are filmed in and/or set in Cardiff such as ''Casualty (TV series), Casualty'', ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'', ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', ''
Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British-American science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect i ...
'', ''Merlin (TV series), Merlin'', ''Class (2016 TV series), Class'', ''The Valleys (TV series), The Valleys'', ''Upstairs Downstairs (2010 TV series), Upstairs Downstairs'', ''A Discovery of Witches (TV series), A Discovery of Witches'', ''His Dark Materials (TV series), His Dark Materials'', ''Being Human (British TV series), Being Human'', ''The Story of Tracy Beaker (TV series), The Story of Tracy Beaker'', ''Wizards vs Aliens'', ''Sex Education (TV series), Sex Education'' and '' Sherlock''. The main local newspaper is the ''South Wales Echo''; the national paper is the ''Western Mail (Wales), Western Mail''. Both are based in Park Street in the city centre. ''Capital Times'', ''Echo Extra'' and the South Wales edition of ''Metro (Associated Metro Limited), Metro'' are also based and distributed in the city. There are several magazines, including ''Primary Times'' and a monthly ''papur bro'', and a Welsh-language community newsletter called ''Y Dinesydd'' (The Citizen). Radio stations serving the city and based in Cardiff include 97.4 & 103.2 Capital FM South Wales, Capital South Wales, Heart South Wales, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, Nation Radio Wales, Radio Cardiff, Smooth Wales and Xpress Radio. The Principality Stadium was one of the first six British landmarks to be fully mapped on Google street view, Google Street View as a 360-degree virtual tour.


Sport

Cardiff hosts many high-profile sporting events at local, national and international level and in recognition of the city's commitment to sport for all was awarded the title of European Capital of Sport 2014. Organised sports have been held in the city since the early 19th century. national home sporting fixtures are nearly always played in the city. All Wales' multi-sports agencies and many of the Countries of the United Kingdom, country's Governing bodies of sports in Wales, sports governing bodies have their headquarters in Cardiff and the city's many top quality venues have attracted world-famous sports events, sometimes unrelated to Cardiff or to Wales. In 2008/09, 61% of Cardiff residents regularly participated in sport and active recreation, the highest percentage in ll 22 local authorities in Wales. Rugby union fans around the world have long been familiar with the old National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park, and its successor the Principality Stadium, which hosted the FA Cup for six years (from 2001 to 2006) it took to rebuild Wembley Stadium. In 2009, Cardiff hosted the first Australian cricket team in England in 2009, Ashes cricket test between England and Australia to be held in Wales. Cardiff hosted eight football matches of the London 2012 Olympics. Cardiff City F.C. (founded 1899 as Riverside AFC) played their home games at Ninian Park from 1910 until the end of the 2008–09 season. The club's new home is the Cardiff City Stadium, which they initially rented to the Cardiff Blues, the city's professional rugby union team, the Blues returning to the Arms Park in 2012. Cardiff City have played in the English The Football League, Football League since the 1920–21 season, climbing to Division 1 after one season. Cardiff City are the only non-English team to have won the FA Cup, beating Arsenal F.C., Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup Final, 1927 final at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley Stadium. They were runners up to Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth in the 2008 FA Cup Final, 2008 final, losing 1–0 at the new Wembley Stadium. In the 2013/14 and 2018/19 seasons Cardiff City played in the English Premier League. Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C. of the Athletic Union of Cardiff Metropolitan University, based in Cyncoed, play in the Cymru Premier, having been promoted from Welsh League Division One in 2016. They were winners of the Welsh League Cup for the 2018–19 season. Cardiff has numerous smaller clubs including Bridgend Street A.F.C., Caerau (Ely) A.F.C., Cardiff Corinthians F.C., Cardiff Grange Harlequins A.F.C., and Ely Rangers A.F.C., which all play in the Welsh football league system. In addition to men's football teams Cardiff City Ladies F.C., Cardiff City Ladies of the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division are based in the city. Teams in the Welsh Premier Women's Football League are Cardiff Met. Ladies F.C., Cardiff Met. Ladies, Cyncoed Ladies F.C., Cyncoed Ladies and Cardiff City F.C. (women), Cardiff City. During the 1990s, London-based football club Wimbledon FC expressed interest in relocating to Cardiff, having been without a home of their own since exiting Plough Lane (1912–98), Plough Lane stadium in 1991 and sharing with Crystal Palace FC at Selhurst Park. The relocation of the club to Cardiff did not happen; in 2003, the club moved to Milton Keynes and a year later rebranded as Milton Keynes Dons FC, Milton Keynes Dons. Cardiff Arms Park (), in central Cardiff, is among the world's most famous venues—being the scene of three Welsh Grand Slam (rugby union), Grand Slams in the 1970s (1971 Five Nations Championship, 1971, 1976 Five Nations Championship, 1976 and 1978 Five Nations Championship, 1978) and six Six Nations Championship, Five Nations titles in nine years—and was the venue for Wales' games in the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The Arms Park has a sporting history dating back to at least the 1850s, when Cardiff Cricket Club (formed 1819) relocated to the site. The ground was donated to Cardiff CC in 1867 by the Marquess of Bute. Cardiff Cricket Club shared the ground with Cardiff Rugby Football Club (founded 1876) — forming Cardiff Athletic Club between them — until 1966, when the cricket section moved to Sophia Gardens. Cardiff Athletic Club and the Welsh Rugby Union established two stadia on the site—Cardiff RFC played at their stadium at the northern end of the site, and the Wales national rugby union team played international matches at the National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park, which opened in 1970. The National Stadium was replaced by the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium () in 1999—in time for the 1999 Rugby World Cup—and is home stadium to the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national rugby and Wales national football team, football teams for international matches. In addition to Wales' Six Nations Championship and other international games, the Principality Stadium held four matches in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and six FA Cup finals (from the 2001–02 FA Cup, 2001–02 to 2005–06 FA Cup, 2005–06 seasons) while Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt. Cardiff Cricket Club was formed in 1819 and Glamorgan CCC, Glamorgan County Cricket Club has competed as a first-class county since 1921. Its headquarters and ground is the SWALEC Stadium,
Sophia Gardens Sophia Gardens ( ; ) is a public park in Riverside, Cardiff, Wales, on the west bank of the River Taff. International test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestig ...
, since moving from Cardiff Arms Park in 1966. The Sophia Gardens stadium underwent multimillion-pound improvements since being selected to host the first England cricket team, "England" v Australia national cricket team, Australia Test cricket, Test match of the Australian cricket team in England in 2009, 2009 Ashes series. The Hundred (cricket), The Hundred franchise team Welsh Fire is also based at the stadium. Cardiff has a long association with boxing, from Jim Driscoll, 'Peerless' Jim Driscoll — born in Cardiff in 1880 — to more recent, high-profile fights staged in the city. These include the World Boxing Council, WBC Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno heavyweight championship fight at the Arms Park in 1993, and many of Joe Calzaghe's fights, between 2003 and 2007. Cardiff's professional ice hockey team, the Cardiff Devils, plays in the 3,000-seat Ice Arena Wales in the Cardiff International Sports Village. It plays in the 12-team professional Elite Ice Hockey League. Founded in 1986, it was one of the most successful British teams in the 1990s. Cardiff's only American-flag football team is the Hurricanes. It won the British Championship in 2014 after falling short by 2 points in a quarter-final to eventual winners, the London Rebels, the previous year. It is based at Roath Recreational Ground. The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1958 Commonwealth Games were hosted by Cardiff. These involved 1,130 athletes from 35 national teams competing in 94 events. One of the venues for those Games—The Wales Empire Swimming Pool—was demolished in 1998 to make way for the Principality Stadium. The GBP32m Cardiff International Pool in
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
, opened to the public on 12 January 2008 — part of the GBP1bn International Sports Village (ISV) — is the only Olympic-standard swimming pool in Wales. When complete, the ISV complex will provide Olympic standard facilities for sports including boxing and fencing, gymnastics, judo, white water events (including Whitewater canoeing, canoeing and Whitewater kayaking, kayaking) and wrestling as well as a Indoor skiing, snow dome with real snow for skiing and snowboarding, an Cardiff Arena, arena for public ice skating and ice hockey and a hotel. Some of the sports facilities at the ISV were to be used as training venues for the London 2012 Olympics. The Principality Stadium hosts motor-sport events such as the World Rally Championship, as part of Wales Rally GB. The first indoor special stages of the World Rally Championship were held at the Principality Stadium in September 2005 and have been an annual event since. The Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, British Speedway Grand Prix, one of the World Championship events, is held at the Principality Stadium. While the track—a temporary, purpose built, shale oval—is not universally loved, the venue is considered the best of the World Championship's 11 rounds. The Cardiff International Sports Stadium, opened 19 January 2009, replacing the Cardiff Athletics Stadium, demolished to make way for the Cardiff City Stadium. It has a 4,953 capacity as a multi sport/special event venue, offering certificated international track and field athletics facilities, including an international standard external throws area. The stadium houses the Headquarters of Welsh Athletics, the sport's governing body for Wales. The city's indoor track and field athletics sports venue is the National Indoor Athletics Centre, an international athletics and multi sports centre at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Campus, Cyncoed. The Cardiff Half Marathon takes place each October and is one of the largest road races in the United Kingdom, attracting over 20,000 participants and many overseas visitors annually. The event is organised by the not-for-profit social enterprise Run 4 Wales, and has grown considerably since its establishment in 2003. It has hosted the World (2016) Commonwealth (2018) British (2014/2015) and Welsh (Annually) Half Marathon Championships and has held a World Athletics Elite Road Race Label since 2017. The race is also a part of the SuperHalfs, a series of leading international half marathon races which also includes Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Valencia and Copenhagen.


Notable people

Many notable people have hailed from Cardiff, ranging from historical figures such as the 12th-century Welsh leader Ifor Bach to more recent figures such as Roald Dahl, Ken Follett, Griff Rhys Jones, Catrin Dafydd, and the former Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones. Notable actors include Ioan Gruffudd (''Fantastic 4 (2005 film), Fantastic 4''), Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) and Matthew Rhys (''The Americans).'' Also notable is Siân Grigg, BAFTA winner and Oscar nominated Hollywood make-up artist. The city has been the birthplace of sports stars such as Tanni Grey-Thompson and Colin Jackson, as well as many Premier League, The Football League, Football League and international footballers, such as Craig Bellamy, Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs, Joe Ledley, and former managers of the Wales national football team Terry Yorath and John Toshack. International rugby league players from Cardiff include Frank Whitcombe, Billy Boston, David Willicombe and Colin Dixon. International rugby union players include Sam Warburton, Jamie Roberts, Jamie Robinson (rugby union), Jamie Robinson, Nicky Robinson (rugby union), Nicky Robinson, Rhys Patchell, and baseball internationals include George Whitcombe and Ted Peterson. Saint Teilo ( – 9 February ) is the patron saint of Cardiff. He was a British Christian monk, bishop, and founder of monasteries and churches. Reputed to be a cousin, friend, and disciple of Saint David, he was Bishop of Llandaff and founder of the first church at Llandaff Cathedral, where his tomb is. His Saint's Day is 9 February. Cardiff is also well known for its musicians. Ivor Novello inspired the Ivor Novello Awards. Idloes Owen, founder of the Welsh National Opera, lived in Llandaff. Dame Shirley Bassey was born and raised in Cardiff. Charlotte Church is famous as a crossover classical/pop singer. Shakin' Stevens was one of the top-selling male artists in the UK during the 1980s. Tigertailz, a popular glam metal act in the 1980s, also hailed from Cardiff. A number of Cardiff-based bands, such as Catatonia (band), Catatonia and Super Furry Animals, were popular in the 1990s. Drum and bass artist Mr. Traumatik, born and raised in Cardiff, gained popularity in the 2010s.


Twinning

*Luhansk, Ukraine *Hordaland, Hordaland county, Norway *Sucre, Bolivia *Nantes, France *Stuttgart, Germany *Xiamen, China *Lima, Peru


Namesakes

In the United States both Cardiff-by-the-Sea in Encinitas, California and Cardiff, Alabama were named after Cardiff in Wales. In New Zealand Cardiff, New Zealand, Cardiff, Taranaki was also named after Cardiff in Wales.


Diplomatic presence

A total of 28 countries have a diplomatic presence in Cardiff. Many of these, such as Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, Thailand and the Czech Republic, are represented by consul (representative), honorary consulates. The United States Embassy to the UK operates a satellite office.


Freedom of the City

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Cardiff; they are listed with the date that they received the honour.


Individuals


Military units

*The Welch Regiment: 10 June 1944 *The Welsh Guards: 27 April 1957 *The Royal Regiment of Wales: 11 June 1969 *The Royal Welch Fusiliers: 7 November 1973 *The 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards: 29 July 1985 *HMS Cardiff (D108), HMS Cardiff, Royal Navy, RN: 3 February 1988 *The Merchant Navy (United Kingdom), Merchant Navy Association (Wales): 3 September 2001 *203 (Welsh) Field Hospital Army Reserve (United Kingdom), (Volunteers) Royal Army Medical Corps, RAMC: 21 April 2014 *HMS Dragon (D35), HMS Dragon, Royal Navy, RN: 18 May 2014


See also

*Cardiff music scene *List of cultural venues in Cardiff *List of parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan *List of places in Cardiff *List of places of worship in Cardiff *List of streets and squares in Cardiff


References


External links


Cardiff Council

Visit CardiffCardiff Records
the full text of the edition of historical records for Cardiff, edited by J. H. Matthews (1898–1905). Part of British History Online. {{Authority control Cardiff, Cardiff Capital cities in the United Kingdom Cities in Wales Populated coastal places in Wales Counties of Wales Glamorgan Port cities and towns in Wales Principal areas of Wales County towns in Wales Rally GB 50s establishments Populated places established in the 1st century