Fairwater () is a district and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in the west of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, capital 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 ...

. It is located a few miles from

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 ...

which connects Cardiff to 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 ...

. The population taken at the 2011 census was 12,981.

Etymologies

The original Welsh name Tyllgoed derives from "tyll" meaning "to hole" or "to burrow" and "coed" meaning "woods" or "trees". Tyllgoed is a name common to a number of streams in Wales that burrow through woods and it is likely this name would have originally applied to the stream that still runs through Fairwater today. The similarity of the first element to the Welsh word "tywyll" meaning "dark" led some later writers to derive the name as "dark woods". However, this derivation is now considered a

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 ...

, especially given that the name is first recorded under the spellings ''Tull Coit'' and ''Tollcoit in the land of Ystrad Ager'', in the 12th century

Book of Llandaff The Book of Llandaff (; , ', or '), is the cartulary of the cathedral of Llandaff, a 12th-century compilation of documents relating to the history of the diocese of Llandaff in Wales. It is written primarily in Latin but also contains a signific ...

. The entry states that the area was given to

Llandaff Cathedral Llandaff Cathedral () is a Church in Wales cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and ...

during the time of its fourteenth Bishop, Berthguin, in the early 8th century. The English name Fairwater may ultimately derive from the

Ecclesiastical Latin Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian theology, Christian thought in Late antiquity and used in Christianity, Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration ...

in this entry, as the term ''bella aqua'' (literally "fair water") is recorded in its

marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margin (typography), margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, gloss (annotation), glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminated manuscript, ...

. In later centuries, the area became the benefice of one of Llandaff's

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir ...

s, named as the "Prebend of Fairwell", or the "Prebend of Farewell" in the cathedral's own documents. Even today, one of the cathedral's historic canons' stalls is still named "Fairwater".

Amenities and landmarks

This leafy district is divided between the mainly privately owned 1930s

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...

housing developments at the southern end, and more 1950s public housing stock towards the northern end closer to neighbouring Pentrebane. It includes Fairwater Park (known locally as "the Dell"), Fairwater Leisure Centre, a

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...

and numerous playing fields. Fairwater has two

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s. The larger of the two, with over a thousand pupils, is the Welsh-medium

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr is a Welsh-medium comprehensive secondary school in Cardiff. It opened in September 1998 as the second school of its kind in Cardiff. Its buildings had formerly belonged to Waterhall Secondary Modern School and mor ...

. The other is

Cantonian High School Cantonian High School is an English-medium 11-18 community school maintained by Cardiff local authority. It is located in Fairwater and serves the surrounding area in the west of Cardiff, Wales. There are currently more than 1000 pupils on roll an ...

, which has nearly 700 pupils. Fairwater Library Cardiff

The building in which Plasmawr stands was originally opened in 1959 as Waterhall Secondary Modern School. Pupils at the school included

Martyn Woodroffe Martyn John Woodroffe (born 8 September 1950) is a Wales, Welsh swimming (sport), swimmer. Swimming career He won a silver medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, 1968 Olympic Games. Woodroffe was born in Cardiff, Wales. He represented Wales at the ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

swimming

Silver Medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

ist in

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is on the grounds of old Cantonian lower school, but in recent times has had many new developments built on the site. Peter Lea Primary and Fairwater Primary schools are in the area. Cantonian has produced several Welsh international

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

players. In recent times

Ryan Green Ryan Green (born 20 October 1980) is a Welsh footballer who plays as a defender for club Westfields. He earned two international caps for Wales in 1998, breaking Ryan Giggs's record as their youngest player, a record which has since been sur ...

(once Wales' youngest international), Jermaine Easter and

Joe Ledley Joseph Christopher Ledley (born 23 January 1987) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He started his career with then Championship side Cardiff City where he spent six years. He helped the club to the F ...

and, a little further back,

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

. Famous former pupils also include the model and

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

's wife Danielle Bux and director of the film

Human Traffic ''Human Traffic'' is a 1999 British independent coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Justin Kerrigan. A cult film of the Cool Cymru era of arts in Wales, it stars John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes, Danny Dyer, an ...

, Justin Kerrigan. Fairwater Brook was a childhood haunt of

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

, who lived in

Radyr Radyr (; ) is an outer suburb of Cardiff, about northwest of Cardiff city centre. Radyr is part of Radyr and Morganstown Community, for which the 2011 Census recorded a population of 6,417. Morganstown is north of Radyr, on the other sid ...

and studied in nearby

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 ...

. Fairwater Park, known locally as "The Dell" is the site of one of Britain's first

artificial ski slopes A dry ski slope or artificial ski slope is a ski slope that mimics the attributes of snow using materials that are stable at room temperature, to enable people to ski, snowboard or snow tube in places where natural, snow-covered slopes are inco ...

, built in 1969. Fairwater Green is a local area of shops, supposedly named for the area of grass nearby. Fairwater Library opened in 1960, is a small branch library with a small book collection, public access computers and study space is open five days a week. Ty Bronna is a listed Grade II building on St Fagan's Road, built between 1903 and 1906. It is the only listed building in Wales designed by C. F. A. Voysey.

Electoral ward

Fairwater is both an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

, and a

of the

City of Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. There is no

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. ...

for the area. The

of Fairwater falls within the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff West. It is bounded by Creigiau & St. Fagans to the west;

to the east;

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

to the southeast; Ely to the south; and

to the north. Previously represented by the Labour Party it has since May 2008 been represented on

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

councillors.

Transport

Fairwater is well served by public transport with three

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

s - Fairwater in the heart of the area,

Danescourt Danescourt is an outer suburb of western Cardiff, just over northwest of Cardiff city centre. Danescourt is part of the Llandaff Community (Wales), Community. History Danescourt is built around Radyr's Church in Wales parish church of St John ...

in the north and Waun-Gron Park in the south. All 3 stations are on the

Cardiff City Line The Cardiff City Line is a suburban rail line in Cardiff that runs between and via . History The line was opened by the Taff Vale Railway in 1859, as part of its route from to the docks at Penarth. Subsequent construction by the TVR added ...

with services northbound to

and southbound to Cardiff Central via

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovatio ...

. Fairwater has bus services provided by

Cardiff Bus Cardiff Bus () is the main operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. The company is wholly owned by Cardiff Council and is one of the few municipal bus companies to remain in council ow ...

operating

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

service 61 through the area to Pentrebane and the infrequent 32 bus service through Fairwater to

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 ...

. The main road running through the east of the area is Western Avenue (

A48 A48 may refer to: * A48 motorway (France), a road connecting the A43 and Grenoble * A48 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Gloucester, England and Carmarthen, Wales * Autovía A-48, a motorway under construction connecting Cadiz and Algecira ...

) linking it to Ely Bridge, Ely,

and 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 ...

to the south and

Gabalfa Gabalfa (, ) is a district and community in the north of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is characterised by a four-lane flyover road at the Gabalfa Interchange, where the A48 road meets the A470 road (North Road) which leads from Car ...

, eastern districts and the M4 J30 Cardiff East to the north. St Fagans Road is a country road leading west out of Fairwater to St. Fagans, Ely,

and M4 J33 Cardiff West

Notable people from Fairwater

football player, former Welsh football manager, attended Cantonian High School. *

Patti Flynn Patti Flynn (born Patricia Maude Young, 1937 – 10 September 2020) was a Welsh jazz singer, author, model and social activist. She was a founder and patron of Black History Wales. In 2019 she was honoured with the Ethnic Minority Welsh Wom ...

jazz singer, author and founder of Black History Wales lived in Fairwater in later life. *

Terry Holmes Terence David Holmes (born 10 March 1957) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who won 25 caps for as a scrum-half, and later played rugby league for Bradford Northern. Holmes was a highly physical player and being taller ...

Wales and British Lions international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player *

Wales

international, who attended Cantonian High School. *

swimming silver medalist at the

* Justin Kerrigan, Welsh film maker who wrote and directed

, attended Cantonian High School. * Neil McEvoy political party leader, founder of the Propel Party. Also a Cardiff councillor for Fairwater.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Fairwater and surrounding area
{{Communities of Cardiff Communities in Cardiff