Cardiff lies on the Bristol Channel and has been for thousands of years, a busy port.
As early as the Vikings, Cardiff was used for a raiding base, trading post and a port. The Viking origin is still around with some of the street names such as Dumballs Road and Womanby Street that is the oldest street in the city.
The name, Cardiff, is probably Welsh, meaning ‘the Fort on the River Taff’. Through the ages Cardiff has had several languages including Welsh, English, Latin and Norse.
The River Taff flows through the centre of the city and this and the River Ely flow into the freshwater lake at Cardiff Bay.
In 1850 twelve of the Anglican churches in the city had services in Welsh and only two had theirs in English.
Cardiff was a small town but changed when the demand for iron became prevalent. This was sent down by packhorse from Merthyr. The Ironmasters soon found this was expensive and applied to build a canal from Merthyr to the docks in Cardiff. It was around this time that coal was becoming an important commodity and soon more dockyards were built.
During the 19th century a large Irish population settled in Cardiff drawn by the amount of work on the building and engineering projects in the town. It was the Irish and those from the West Country, Midlands and North Wales that gave the flat vowel Cardiff accent.
For a while Tiger Bay, Cardiff’s Port, was the busiest in the world and the worlds most important coat port. It is reported that Cardiff Coal Exchange was the first to have business deal for £lm.
Cardiff became a city in 1905 and fifty years later was to become the capital city of Wales.
Some of the largest housing estates in the UK are in the areas around Cardiff City. Cycoed, Radyr, and Lisvance are areas that have the most expensive housing in Wales and this area is set to grow as the council are planning a further 4,000 houses in this part of Wales.
Cardiff is a very cosmopolitan city and has a large student population from Cardiff University.
There are an abundance of properties to rent in Cardiff with prices around £700 - £800pcm for a two bed flat, £900pcm for a 3 bed house and £950 - £1750 for a 4 bed house.
Cardiff has many historical places to visit such as Cardiff Castle that is situated in the centre of the city. It has been built on the same site as three previous Roman Forts. It was enlarged in the early 19th century but in 1838 a huge development of the castle began to take place to turn it into a medieval palace. The rebuilding began in 1869 and started with the clock tower.
It was sold for £1.00 to the City of Cardiff in 1947. It is now a popular tourist attraction and houses a regimental museum.
The grounds of the castle host many events, some of which include rock concerts, Cardiff University’s summer ball each year and Wales’ largest Mardi Gras every August.
Other places of interest include the National Museum and Gallery, Welsh Millennium Centre, Cathays Park, Cardiff Bay and the Coat Exchange.
The Big-Weekend Festival is held every July/August and includes theme park events through the city centre and attracts over 200,000 visitors.
Cardiff is due to hold the National Eisteddfod in 2008.
The city’s international status has grown substantially in the last ten years partly due to the regeneration of Cardiff Bay.
The former dockland area has now been given over to residential, retail, commercial and leisure developments.
Europe’s largest City Centre Waterfront has been built at Cardiff Bay Barrage at a cost of £220m.
Cardiff is home to S.A.Brain brewery which has had premises in the city since 1882.
Cardiff is fortunate to have several large parks all well kept and attracting a great many visitors.
The sports facilities are also very good and have amateur clubs for most sports and have professional teams in rugby, playing at Cardiff Arms Park. Cricket played at Sophia Gardens where improvements are being made for Test Match, part of the Ashes, in 2009.
Cardiff is well known for its Marathon held every October and was the host to the Commonwealth Games in 1958.
The city is reported to be the 8th best place in the UK for shopping with shops such as Kiro, Zara, Soraya’s Ladies Shop, Evans, Monsoon, La Roca and departmental store including Peacocks, Hypa Xtra, Marks and Spencer and Woolworths.
Cardiff is easily accessible by road with the M4 motorway junctions 29-34 being close and the A48(M) linking it to the city centre. It is 30-45 mins from the Severn Bridge and the A470 links Cardiff to Mid and North Wales.
The city has its own Metro system called Valley Lines. There are eight lines serving twenty-two stations in the city and towns in the South Wales Valleys. Cardiff Central Station is the largest station in Wales and runs trains to Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Cardiff Queen Street Station serves the Valleys.
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