Tens of thousands of people walk through the Welsh capital everyday without seeing the hidden bits of history right in front of their eyes.
Cardiff is steeped in cool history, some of which is well know and obvious, others however are hiding in plain sight. To help you immerse yourself in these hidden gems WalesOnline has prepared a 20 minute walk that will allow you to take in some of these landmarks.
Read more: 37 fascinating things in Cardiff you may not have noticed
Starting point - Park Place
We will start out walk on Park Place next to the grade I listed Park House building. This was designed by the legendarily architect William Burges (who designed Castle Coch and the redesign of Cardiff Castle). At the time Park House was seen as "revolutionising Cardiff's domestic architecture," and Cadw considers the building "perhaps the most important 19th century house in Wales".
However the reason that it is on this little walk is because it actually contains one of the few mistakes the Bruges ever made. There is a major error of the interior because as soon as a visitor goes through the entrance they are confronted with the underside of a colossal staircase.
On to Queen Street
After the Park House you walk south to the iconic shopping area of Queen Street. Head towards Poundland you will see that on either side of the building there is an ornate letter M.
This stands for Marments, the iconic department store that used to be based in that building. In March 1986 the South Wales Echo revealed that Cardiff’s oldest department store had been sold and would close in September. The then chairman and managing director Arthur Marment told the Echo: “I feel very bad about it but I know it was the only right thing to do. It would be a mighty folly to carry on.”
As you continue to head towards the castle end of Queen Street you will see a Starbucks. Ignore the branding and marketing for and cast your eyes upwards. The building is made of Portland stone and there is and art deco style elephant head that was seen all across the UK on branches of Montague Burton in the 1930s.
Opposite the Castle
When you get to the end of Queen Street turn right at Pizza Hut, walk past HopBunker and you will see a really innocuous looking road to the right. Walk round there and you will see an old looking random piece of brick wall with the outline of a stone plaque on it.
Cardiff's town walls enclosed much of the present day city centre, measuring over two kilometres in length and up to three metre high. But there is little left today. The wall you can see in front of you is the largest remaining part of that wall.
Once you have seen this head out and go back the way you came where you will see Burger King on the corner as Castle Street and Queen Street meet.
What many of them won't know if you go upstairs, through a couple of doors and into an area marked "No Entry" you will find a room far removed from the fast food décor below. Known as the Mahogany Room it features deep mahogany panels, intricate mosaics and stained glass windows and makes the building a Grade II listed building.
The Mahogany Bar (as the room was once called) was first established in 1905 by wine importers Fulton Dunlop Company Limited but it’s believed a public house or inn had existed on the site since at least 1720. When the bar opened in 1905 beer was just a penny a pint, and a half pint of whisky could be bough for 1s 3d. The drinkers at the Green Dragon, and later the Mahogany Room, were ship owners, stockbrokers and members of Cardiff Borough Council.
Before you move past Burger King it is worth taking a second to look at the statue of Aneurin Bevan. What people don't know is that in the 18th century, this area was the city’s bullring. In 1773 a spectator was actually gored to death in that area while watching the bull baiting.
Down towards the Hays
As you head south from Burger King down towards The Hays it is worth popping into the iconic Howells department store that is now House of Fraser. There are a couple of great bits of history to look at in here.
The First is the large plaque on the wall dedicated to Rawlins White. Old Rawlins was a protestant preacher in the 1500s who was burnt at the stake in the Welsh capital.
The memorial reads:
Near this spotted suffered for the truth
March 30th 1555.
Rawlins White. A fisherman of this town.
Who was fisherman Rawlins White? The simple answer to that is an absolute maverick. If you want to read his story you can click the link here. It is well worth five minutes of your time.
While you are in there it is worth looking at the fact that a large chapel once sat in the spot long before the building we know as Howells existed. As Cardiff began to grow and expand, the Bethany Particular Baptist Chapel was eventually swallowed by the department story but you can still see some of the original building inside. You can read the full story of the chapel here.
As you leave Howells head back out towards the Hayes. You will see the Old Library there - an absolutely stunning building right? But have you every looked right up at the top?
Stand with your back to the new library and look up at the front of the building (you might need to manoeuvre a bit because of the trees in the way). You will be able to make out the bust of a woman who appears to be wearing a helmet. The is rumour locally that this head is Boudicca but this is not the case. The bust is that of the Greek goddess of wisdom Athena (because it was library...get it).
After this head south and you will notice some metal bollards that have little peep holes in them. If you look inside you can see pieces of art by artist Jane Edden and students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama called Post Secrets.
St Mary Street, Womanby Street and Westgate Street
After you are done with the Hays head now to the station end of St Mary Street. There you will see the Prince of Wales Wetherspoons pub. There was a church also bearing the name St Mary on the street but it was washed away in the Great Flood of 1607 which killed 2,000 people along the south Wales, Devon, Somerset and Gloucester coasts.
However the Spoons on the street carries a tribute to it. There's an outline of St Mary's on the side of the pub to show where it once stood.
As you make your way up St Mary Street towards the Castle keep an eye out for a lion. There is a massive stone lion on the top of the Sandringham Hotel. Built in the 1880s, The Sandringham Hotel was once known as The Black Lion and it was much frequented by the farmers of Glamorgan and Monmouth, especially on market days.
Turn left once you get to Church Street and you will find you way on to Womanby Street (known to some as Cardiff's alternative quarter). In the 19th century migrant workers who were coming to Cardiff lived in the slums of Jones Court off Womanby Street. The houses had just two rooms, no water supply or drainage and were poorly ventilated. You can still see the old fashioned looking buildings inside the court now - a stark contrast to the modern capital around them.
To finish you walk leave Womanby Street the way you came in and head over to Westgate Street. If you turn right you will reach the familiar sight of Cardiff Arms Park (home of Cardiff Blues). You may not however, have read the sign on the gates. They are named after the Welsh rugby player Gwyn Nicholls who captained Cardiff in the early 1900s.
He played 24 games for Wales including 10 matches as captain and was the only Welshman on the British Isles team tour of Australia in 1899. In 1923 he went on holiday to Weston-Super-Mare jumped into the sea fully clothed to rescue two young girls who had been swept out to sea. The girls survived but Gwyn never recovered fully from the ordeal. On Boxing Day 1949 the gates were officially opened at Cardiff Arms Park by his team mate Rhys Gabe.
