Sitting on the dock of the Bay

A general view of Cardiff Bay with the Water Tower fountain feature in front of the Wales Millennium Centre

One of the delights of working in Cardiff Bay is the proximity of so many wonderful sights to enjoy during the lunch-hour. For nearby is Mermaid Quay, at the heart of the “vibrant” development surrounding the 500-acre freshwater lake created by the building of the Cardiff Barrage, opened (or closed) in 1999 to impound the tidal waters of the rivers Taff and Ely.

The Cardiff docks, to the south of the city centre and close to the Bristol Channel, grew by exporting South Wales coal to power industry in late Victorian times. This enabled their owner, the Third Marquess of Bute, to become the richest man in the world.

Dockworkers and sailors from across the world settled nearby and 45 nationalities, including Norwegian, Somali, Yemeni, Spanish, Italian, Caribbean and Irish united to give “Tiger Bay” its multicultural character.

In Mermaid Quay stands this group of bronzes, called People Like Us – the man wears boots and overalls and holds a newspaper, while the woman sits on the railings with a shoe in her lap and they have a dog – the sculptor was John Clinch, who died in 2001

After World War II industry declined and by the 1980s the docks area was run-down and derelict, surrounding what developers considered to be ugly grey mud exposed as the tide rose and fell. This was a time when several cities in the world were looking to regenerate their waterfronts, with the Baltimore Inner Harbor in the USA acting as one of the inspirations for Cardiff Bay.

The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was created in 1987 to stimulate redevelopment of 2,700 acres of derelict land. By the time CBDC was wound up in the year 2000, its work was considered as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the UK.

The front of the Wales Millennium Centre, opened in 2004. The English words are In These Stones Horizons Sing , but thanks to John Kingdon for pointing out the Welsh words say something different – Creating Truth Like Glass From Inspiration’s Furnace – this is the home of Welsh National Opera – and shows like the current Tiger Bay musical

The side of the Wales Millennium Centre, showing an area clad in purple, blue, green, grey and black slate from all over Wales

On a sunny day the roof shines like a copper armadillo

Read more about the architecture of the Wales Millennium Centre on Wikipedia here. Read more about the centre’s attractions on its own website here.

Next to the Wales Millennium Centre is the Senedd building, home to the National Assembly for Wales

Read more about the Senedd on its website here.

All signage in Wales is bilingual

The Pierhead building was raised in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company but now belongs to the National Assembly for Wales and serves as a museum – the area in front in this image is Roald Dahl Plass, formerly called the Oval Basin, an arena for cultural events such as food fairs and open-air theatre

The big plastic dog to the right is one of 43 different Snowdogs placed all over the city as part of a trail to raise funds for Tŷ Hafan, which supports children with life-limiting conditions and their families across Wales

See all 43 Snowdogs on the Tŷ Hafan website here.

The Pierhead building is sometimes known as Little Big Ben

The Bute Docks Company has its name over the door

The architecture is described as French-Gothic Renaissance, although it reminds me of Hogwarts, but in red brick

If you look closely the words under the shields on the left read wrth ddŵr a thân (by water and fire) – the motto of the Cardiff Railway Company, the new name for the Bute Docks Company after 1897

Superb dragon gargoyle

Another docks landmark is the Norwegian Church, a Lutheran place of worship, consecrated in 1868 for the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission for Scandinavian sailors in Cardiff – writer Roald Dahl, who gave his name to Roald Dahl Plass, mentioned above, was born in Cardiff to Norwegian parents and was baptised in the Norwegian Church – he was a great supporter of the church’s preservation fund

Read all about the Norwegian Church here and visit the Roald Dahl website here.

This boat-shaped sculpture made of riveted metal plates by Brian Fell is the Merchant Seaman’s Memorial…

…the underside shows a sleeping face – note the poppy wreaths as this was only a few weeks after Remembrance Day in November

Several buildings in the Bay have a sail design – on the left is the 5-star St David’s Hotel, viewed from under the boardwalk to block the bright sun – and on the right is Cadwalader’s Ice Cream, a cafe on stilts

This office building behind the Wales Millennium Centre also has a sail design – I think it’s the Atradius building in Capital Waterside

The Dock is a popular pub in Mermaid Quay, which is full of eateries

On the boardwalk below is Ianto’s Shrine – a memorial to the popular character Ianto Jones, killed off in the Torchwood scifi series, filmed here in Cardiff – the door to the Torchwood HQ was supposed to be nearby and the complex stretched under the Water Tower fountain seen in the image at the top of this post

Find out all about Ianto Jones on the Tardis Wiki here.

This bronze in the middle of main roads as you leave Mermaid Quay shows Mahatma Gandhi – funds were raised by the Hindu Council of Wales to unveil the statue, created by Ram Sutar and his son Anil, on Gandhi’s birthday, October 2 this year

Read the story of the sculpture on WalesOnline here. And see Paul Seligman’s YouTube video of the Hindu parade before the unveiling here.

I also like the small sculptures decorating Mermaid Quay – including this elephant…

…and this peacock

I hope I will find many more sights to discover in the Bay in the coming months – for too long it has been divided from the heart of the city, being the “wrong” side of the (railway) tracks and separated from the centre by rundown areas. Hopefully the new housing along Lloyd George Avenue and shiny offices along Dumballs Road will bridge the gap and make the Bay more accessible, while maintaining its multicultural and historical attractions…

Google Map showing the divide between Cardiff city centre (top circle) and Mermaid Quay (bottom circle)