City of Layers: Monopoly to Metropolis

Cities shape people, and people shape cities.

Successive generations have contested the present and future shapes of Cardiff. In this walk we view today’s cityscape with fresh eyes discovering the stories behind the making of the Global Coal Metropolis.

Our waymarks include traces of the Medieval town, fragments of industrial archaeology, and the gothic splendour of the Church of St John the Baptist. The climax of the tour is the architectural triumph of Cathays Park which was the first planned Civic Centre in the United Kingdom, inspiring the American City Beautiful movement.

We will end the tour at the allegorical sculpture of Minerva featuring the coal miner as an emblem of the source of Cardiff’s wealth as a port and city.

As you walk with me, tracing a 1.5 km northerly line through the city space of 1.5 hours duration and covering some 150 years of history, you will see for yourself why Cardiff was dubbed the “Chicago of Wales”.