Roald Dahl Plass is a public

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

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

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. It is named after Cardiff-born author

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

, and is located on the coast along the south of the city centre. The square is home to 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 ...

housing the

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

, the Welsh parliament, and the

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre ( cy, Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 an ...

, a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

centre. The bowl-like shape of the space has made it a popular

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

for hosting open-air concerts. Formerly named the Oval Basin and known as the Bowl, the area was one of the docks for a thriving coal port during the latter half the 19th century and much of the 20th century. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the space entered a period of decay and dereliction until the 1980s, when the Cardiff Bay area was regenerated. The name is a nod to the writer's roots (both of Dahl's parents were from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

) and to the Norwegian seafarers' church which stands nearby. "Plass" is the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

of the English word "place;" in this context the word means

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

History

The area was originally all

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s owned by

John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, KT, FRS (10 August 1793 – 18 March 1848), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1794 and 1814, was a wealthy aristocrat and industrialist in Georgian and early Victorian Britain. He developed the coal ...

. He was persuaded to finance construction of the dock on his land at a cost of over £ 350,000. The dock opened under the name "West Bute Dock" on 8 October 1839, and was over 1400 yards (1280 m) long and 200 feet (60 m) wide, allowing 300 vessels to berth at any time. The dock was joined by four others: East Bute Dock, Roath Basin, Roath Dock and Queen Alexandra Dock. Cardiff had become the largest exporter of coal in the world; in 1913, Cardiff exported 10,700,000 tonnes of coal.Cardiff Bay
Urban75. Retrieved 24 October 2006 However, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Second World War and cheap foreign competition all caused massive damage to the Welsh coal mining industry, with the last coal export through the dock taking place in 1964. The dock was filled in to prevent collapse of the surrounding walls.

Design features

Oval Basin

What was known as the Oval Basin was designed by artist William Pye, in conjunction with Nicholas Hare Architects and it opened in April 2000. A plaque was unveiled 13 July 2002 to commemorate the rename of the Oval Basin to Roald Dahl Plass. Roald Dahl Plass is today an oval shaped open space surrounded by illuminated pillars and a gravel covering over the original dock area. The Plass was a central part of Cardiff's bid for European Capital of Culture status for 2008, although it ultimately lost the bid to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Water Tower

At the north end of the plass is the Water Tower, which stands at approximately high with an intermittent stream of water running down the metallic fountain. The tower was also designed by Nicholas Hare Architects in conjunction with the sculptor, William Pye. The tower has also become known as the "Torchwood Tower" (with postcards published using that name), because it marked the location and entrance of the fictitious Torchwood Hub of the BBC television ''Doctor Who'' spin-off series ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British 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 its growing ...

''.

''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood''

Roald Dahl Plass first appears in "

Boom Town A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

", an episode of the long running, sci-fi drama ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. In the show's universe, a "spatial-temporal" rift runs through Cardiff, a feature that the

ninth Doctor The Ninth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston during the first series of the show's revival in 2005. Within the seri ...

uses as a fueling station for his

TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior ap ...

. The plaza later appears in ''Doctor Whos spin-off series ''

''. The fictional

Torchwood Institute The Torchwood Institute, or simply Torchwood, is a fictional secret organisation from the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series ''Torchwood''. It was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria after the ...

has one of its headquarters,

Torchwood Three The Torchwood Institute, or simply Torchwood, is a fictional secret organisation from the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series ''Torchwood''. It was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria after the e ...

, based under the square, to monitor alien activity through the rift. The Water Tower has prominently featured in both of the BBC Wales flagship shows. The base of the fountain can be seen passing through the building, and one of the paving tiles in the square is a decoy which hides an " invisible lift" leading down to the base. This base was effectively destroyed in '' Torchwood: Children of Earth'' but the Plass was seen for a brief moment at the end of the first episode of ''Miracle Day''''.''

Festivals and events

Roald Dahl Plass is often used to host concerts and other cultural events, such as the Cardiff Food Festival. In August 2018 it was central to the 'no fence'

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. Competitors ...

, with stalls and an open-air music stage. The Gorsedd Ceremony took place in the square on the Monday and the Friday.

References

External links

*
Roald Dahl Plass on Google Maps
{{Culture in Cardiff 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom Squares in Cardiff Redevelopment projects in Cardiff

Plass The Plass was an American vehicle manufactured in 1895 by Reuben H Plass. Background Reuben Hopkins Plass was born in Hudson, New York around the year 1840. At the beginning of the Civil War on 26 April 1861, he was a Lieutenant in Company A o ...