Cardiff: an illustrated handbook [By various contributors.] Edited by J. Ballinger

Preface

. sllHIS bonk, is an attempt to give a picture of Cardiff as it is in 1896, more especially as a commercial and industrial centre. Many things which might, and some which perhaps ought to have been included, have been crowded out for want of space. But the book will supply a want by giving reliable information as to the forces at work moulding the destinies of the remarkable town which claims for itself the position of the Welsh Capital. It would be impossible here to enumerate all the people who have helped in the production of the following pages. To the contributors of the various articles, to those who have generously helped me to procure the illustrations, and to those who have supplied information, I desire to record my indebtedness, and ask them to accept my thanks. This book was prepared at the request of the Executive Council of the Cardiff Exhibition, 1896, and it is being published under the auspices of that body.

I cordially hope that the public spirit of the Executive Council will meet with public appreciation. John Balli.nger. Free Library, Cardiff; 2nd June, 1896. INI>EX OF CONTENTS. PAI > . Agriculture and Gardening ... ... ... ... ... ... 228 Artificial Fuel. T. E. Heath 180 Barry Dock and Kailways. James Bell ... ... ... ... ... -41 Biscuit Factory ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... 172 Breweries. S. A. Brain ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 210 Building Stones, Brick Making aud Quarrying. F.T.Howard ... 188 Bute Docks. William Turner ... 40 Bute, sseeond Marquess of, Creator of Modern Cardiff. William Turner 36 Cardiff, Sketch of the History of. W. Eilir Evans 1 Cardiff as a Seaport. William Turner ... ... ... ... ... 20 Cemeut and Limes. Walter J. Cooper ... ... ... ... ... 192 Chemical Industries. B. W. Atkinson 168 Coachbuilding.

W. Farr 205 Coal Mining. W. Galloway 124 Communications, Railways. Canals, and Steamers. The Editor ... 55 Dowlais Works. A. A. Read 175 Education in Cardiff. Charles Morgan ... ... ... ... ... 103 Ely Paper Works [ 200 Engineering and Shipbuilding. S.W.Allen 114 Fruit Trade. C. Phelps 230 Gas Works 167 Geography. Geology, and Physical Features of the District. F. T. Howard 62 Ice Factory and Cold Stores. J. J. Neale ... 210 Imported Provisions. The Editor 215 Iron Founding and Allied Industries. George Wilson 163 Lloyd's Bute Proving House 233 Meteorology of Cardiff. Franklen G. Evans ... 74 Milling and Cardiff Millers. C.Thompson ... ... ... ... 169 Milling. Cardiff Milling Co.'s Mills 235 Miscellaneous Industries ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 236 Nantgarw Porcelain. John Ward ... ... ... ... ... 221 Penarth Dock.

S.Thomas 237 Potatoes 232 Pottery Manufacture, Modern. T. H. Thomas Index of Contents. — Continued. VI PAGE. Printing Trades, &c. Geo. Padfield 198 Public Works. W. Harpur 95 Railway Rolling Stock. T. H. Riches 118 Sailmaking. P. Ward •■• ■■■ ■■■ 196 Sanitation in Cardiff. Dr. Walford 86 Severn Navigation. W. J. Needle ... ... ... 174 Tanning and Leather Trades. E. Parker 203 Tharsis Company's Copper Works ... ... ... ■■• • . 179 Timber Trade of Cardiff. Frank W. Hybart 184 Tin-Plate Trade. The Editor 183 Water Supply. J. A. B. Williams 76 Wire and Hemp Rope Industries. The Editor ... ... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PaG E. Spital Barn. Ciockherbtown, 1830 ... ... ... Frontispiece Facsimile of Frontispiece to Exhibition Prospectus ... ... iv. Cardiff Castle, by Rowlandson, 1799 ... ... ... Facing 1 West Gate of Cardiff, by Sandby. 1776 ... ... ... „ 2 North Gate of Cardiff, by Sandby, 1776 ... ... „ 4 North Aspect of Cardiff Castle, by Grose, 1775 ... ... „ 6 Tower of St. John's Church, by Buckler, 1810 ... ... „ 9 High Street.

Cardiff, by Rowlandson, about 1797 ... ... „ 12 Bird's-eye View of Cardiff Docks, 1894 ... ... ... „ 24 John, Second Marquess of Bute... ... ... ... ,, 36 Plan of the Bale Docks ... ... ... ... „ 44 The Lewis and Hunter Coaling Crane, Bute Docks ... „ 46 „ 48 Map showing Railways connecting Cardiff with ths Coalfield 57 Geological Map of Cardiff District ... ... ... 65 Geological Sections ... ... ... ... ... 66 North West View of Cardiff, by Buck, 1748 ... ... Facing 76 Map Illustrating Water Supply ... ... ... ,, 80 Cardiff Bridge, by O'Rourke, 1849 ... ... ... „ 98 Ballast Wagon, Bute Ducks Co. ... ... ... ,, 118 Rail Truck built at T.V.R. Works ... ... ... „ 122 Curve showing fluctuations of wages in the eoal trade since 1892 ... ... ... ... ... ... 139 Diagrams illustrating Coal Washing ... ... ... 156,158 Spillers and Bakers Flour Mills ... ... ...

Faeing 171 Dowlais Works, Cardiff. The Blast Furnaces ... ... „ 175 Dowlais Works, Cardiff. Hydraulic Pig-breaker... ... „ 177 Dowlais Works, Cardiff. Steel Works ... ... ... „ 178 The Old Brewery, Cardiff ... ... ... ... „ 210 Nantgarw Works in 1868 ... ... ... ... 222 Cardiff Milling Co.'s Mills ... ... ... ... 235 Map of Penarth Dock and Harbour ... ... ... Facing 237 The Despatch Anti-breakage Box ... ... ... „ 238 Victoria Wharves, Ely Tidal Harbour ... ... ... „ Cardiff Castle. H\t Jhoa. Bawlandwn. Published August 26th, 1799. A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CARDIFF. By 11'. h'ilir Evan... /">* ARDIFF is sometimes called the Chicago of Wales. The 1 o history of the two towns presents certain points of similar - ity. hut the comparision is decidedly uncomplimentary to Cardiff Both places are seaports, the recent growth of both has been phenomenal, and, to complete the analogy, both towns have been burnt down, both have had their exhibitions, and the names of both begin with the same letter.

But here the analogy ends. Chicago is a town of yesterday, a mere Jonah's gourd so far as antiquity is concerned, unless, indeed, it chooses to trace its origin from some Red Indian's wigwam. On the other hand, Cardiff has a long history. The town is not what the gourd-like city on Lake Michigan is, but a time-notched British oak whose tap-root strikes deep into the under soil of a remote past, having a firm grasp on the age of " Brawny -aimed Caratacus," of the Roman, of the Saxon and the Dane, of the Norman and the Plantagenet, of Llewelyn and of Owen Glyndwr, of the Tudors, the Stuarts and the Georges — all of which Cardiff bears along, proudly conscious of the continuity of its heritage. Few, however, if any, traces of the Briton remain ; it is the Roman that we first see in Cardiff'. Some time towards the close of the first century Aulus Didius is said to have established a military station here, on the site of which the present castle stands.

Some derive the Welsh name of the town — Caer Dydd — from that of the Roman soldier, and maintain that the form Cardiff itself is only a slight corruption, though they fail to account satisfactorily for the final consonant in the English name. But our knowledge of Cardiff, both under the Roman occupation and for many centuries after, is barely sufficient to justify our dwelling on the subject at any length. After the 11 of the Roman army, the country must have reverted to the care and rulership of native chieftains, and Cardiff formed part of the Kingdom of Morganwg — as kingdoms went in those days. Later on the town suffered from the incursions of the Saxons, and, in common with other accessible places on the Southern coast of Wales, lay open to the ravages of the Danes, who gave names to our islands and creeks.

A Cardiff. 2 It is not before the eleventh century — the time of leslyn ap Gwrgan— that we find a firm footing in tracing the history of Cardiff. The Norman was then in the land, and from that time on the history of the town is closely associated with that of the Conqueror's followers. Glamorgan, — the Land of Morgan, — passed into the hands of strangers a decade or so before the close of the eleventh century. The change was the outcome of revenge and treachery. During the time Iestyn ruled in Glamorgan, as a tradition of considerable antiquity states, a feud existed between him and Rhys ap Tewdwr, the lord of Dyfed, which was occasioned in consequence of the hitter's attempt to possess himself of Iestyn's wife. Being the weaker chieftain, Iestyn despatched a messenger — Einon ap Collwyn — to the English King (Rufus) to apply for assistance against his Welsh neighbour and enemy, promising him his well dowered daughter in marriage if his mission proved successful.

Einon went, and succeeded, and brought back with him a Norman Knight — Robert Fitzhamon — accompanied by twelve other knights, double that number of esquires, and a force of three thousand men. The mercenaries, joined by Einon ap Collwyn's own soldiers, met the army of Rhys ap Tewdwr somewhere near Hirwain, on the ridge between the sources of the Dare and the Rhondda. A battle ensued, Rhys being defeated and slain and his head cut off. The event so impressed itself on the national mind that it has been perpetuated in a tradition, which states that the scene of battle was called Pen Rhys, that is, Rhys's Head, in reference to that chieftain's decapitation. But traditional etymologies are generally untrustworthy, and this of Pen Rhys may be no more than the effort of a subsequent generation to account for a name which may have existed prior to the battle which settled the fate of Morganwg.

When the battle was over Fitzhamon and his men were dismissed and were to have returned home from Penarth by sea. Einon ap Collwyn now applied for his part of the bargain, the hand of Nest. To the suitor's great disappointment and disgust. Iestyn refused to fulfil his promise. Einon forthwith hurried after Fitzhamon. Having related Iestyn's ingratitude he urged the Normans to smite him hip and thigh and possess themselves of his territory. The advice was taken, and Fitzhamon and Iestyn now met as enemies on the Heath, just where lies the northern boundary of the borough, a spot that has been the scene of more than one bloody engagement in the history of Cardiff. Victory favoured the Norman filibusters, and after his defeat Iestyn fled to hide his disgrace ia the quiet shades of Keynsham Abbey, where he died and was buried.

Nest, his daughter, was handed over to Einon, and Glamorgan was divided between the Norman knights, Fit/.ham >n taking the lion's share of the spoil, including Cardiff and its castle and a large slice of the surrounding The West Gate or Cardiff, 1776, By Paul Sandby. A Sketch of the History of Ccvrdiff. 3 country. His followers planted themse'ves in different parts of the Tale of Glamorgan, where they built castles, maintaining their ill-got possessions by their swords. So runs the tradition. Robert Fitzhamon held Cardiff and its castle until the year 1105, when he was summoned by Henry I. to assist him in his campaign in Normandy. The Knight took an active part in the battle of Falaise, where he was mortally wounded. His body was conveyed to England for interment, and his remains were deposited in Tewkesbury Abbey, in Gloucestershire.

By his marriage with Fitzhamon's only daughter, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, took possession of the Castle and the lordship of Cardiff and Glamorgan. Cardiff was a place of considerable strength in the time of the Norman lords, being surrounded with a high and massive wall, and on three sides further protected by a moat, the river serving a similar purpose on the west side, entrance being obtained by four spates, called, respectively, the East, or Crockherbtown Gate ; the West, or Mill Gate ; the North, or Senghenydd, that is, Caer philly, Gate ; and the South, or Moor Gate. A local topographer, writing some forty years ago, thus describes ancient Cardiff: " The East Gate stood at what is now called the Pillars, near where the Glamorganshire Canal intersects the road in Crockherb town ; the South Gate within a short distance of the end of Mill Lane ; the West Gate near the Castle, and the North Gate at the present commencement of North Street, entering the town.

The west side of the town was washed by the river Taff. Until the last few years the town walls were in a tolerable state of pre servation, considering their great antiquity, and were nearly in a continuous line, with a few exceptions, from North Street to the end of Mill Lane. The Watch Tower, at the north-eastern angle of the wall, having become undermined, fell down about twelve years ago (1842) into an adjacent coal yard. The Cocks' Tower, a portion of which now remains, is situate mid-way between the East and South Gates, and until within the last few years was of considerable height, when it was deemed expedient to take down .at portion, it having become so dilapidated, and to prevent the occurrence of any serious accidents. This tower is described by ancient writers to have been erected to defend the town against ' the danger of the sea,' which is highly interesting at the present time, the sea being now nearly a mile and a half from its vener able ruins.

The portion of the Glamorganshire Canal extending from the north-eastern angle of the Castle walls to the end of Mill Lane comprises the original moat of the town." * Speed, in his map, published in 1610, gives a still clearer view of the size and general appearance of the town. ♦Merrick states that the thoroughfare here called Mill Gate, was "com monly " called Miskin Gate. A Sketch of the History of Cardiff. 5 Black Tower as it was called — served the purposes of a prison, and its Harrow* Chamber and White Chamber had many a tale of torture and suffering to unfold. From this tower to the keep ran a strong wall, in which were two gates leading into the middle court. The most ancient portion was Iestyn's Tower, or the Keep, the walls of which were of immense thickness and surrounded with battlements, the roof being covered with lead.

This, also, was surrounded with a deep moat, and entered by two gates, each defended by a portcullis. The Constable, or Keeper, of the Castle was always a person of importance ; he was also mayor of the town, and before him the bailiff's and other officials were sworn at the Castle. Cardiff Castle flourishes in English history in connection with the unfortunate Robert, Duke of Normandy, eldest son of the Conqueror. Deprived of the throne, Robert was placed here out of mischief's way by his brother Henry, aud detained a prisoner for twenty-six years. Whether he was deprived of his eyesight, or suffered half of the cruelties mentioned by some romancers, is questionable. Probably not, or his prison life could scarcely have lasted over a quarter of a century. Moreover, the alleged indignities heaped upon him during his lifetime are inconsistent with the respect shown to his body after his decease.

His corpse was removed for burial to Gloucester, and interred with great honours in the pavement of the Cathedral, before the altar. The year 1158 is memorable in the history of the Castle, for the very bold and successful raid made upon it by Ivor Bach, or le Petit, who, from his mountain fastness at Morlais, near the source of the Taff, would occasionally sweep down on the lowlands, striking terror into many a Norman garrison. Speaking of his particular exploit at Cardiff, Giraldus Cambrensis says : — " The Welsh leader, after the manner of his people, had a property in the woods and mountains" — Castell Coch and Castell Morlais above Merthyr probably- -" of which the Earl of Gloucester strove to gain possession. The Castle of Cardiff is mightily defended with walls which ring by night with watchmen's cries.

It is garrisoned by 120 soldiers, and a strong force of archers, and the paid retainers of the lord fill the town. Nevertheless, the said Ivor placed ladders by stealth against the walls, gained possession, and carried off the Earl, the Countess, and their only son to his own woodland fastnesses, where he held them prisoners till he not only recovered that of which he had unjustly been deprived, but wrung from them concessions besides." Ivor was a worthy representative of his great ancestor Caratacus, who had led the Silures against the Roman hosts eleven hundred years earlier, and though small of stature boasted that his twelve hundred men could beat any force twelve times their number. Cardiff. 6 In 1171, on the occasion of his visit to Ireland, King Henry II. broke his journey at Cardift in coming and going, and it was here he received the well-known warning as to his observance of Sunday.

The story has often been told, but will bear relating once more. It was Low Sunday, the narrator says, and the King after church went out riding. An old man, " yellow haired, with a round tonsure, thin, clothed in white and " — just another John the Baptist, both in spirit and in his rough outward guise — addressed His Majesty, forbidding him in the name of Christ and the saints, to tolerate throughout, the kingdom buying and selling, or any unnecessary work on Sunday. If the King would obey this warning his undertakings would be prosperous. Henry spoke Norman- French, and through his interpreter asked in English whether the rustic had dreamt this dream. The bold seer replied in English that, vision or no vision, if the King dis regarded the advice he should hear within the space of a year of something that would torment him to the end of his days.

This witness was true, for in a short time afterwards Henry's children rebelled against him. The story is interesting, were it only to show that the language of the court and the nobles, at that time, was still Norman-French. On the death of Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who fell at Bannockhurn (1314), the Castle passed to the Despensers, the builders of the Castle of Caerphilly, including Jasper, Duke of Bedford, who built tbe Jasper Tower in Llandaff Cathedral. It afterwards became the possession of various noble families. In the time of Edward VI. the lordship passed by purchase to Sir William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke and Lord Herbert of Cardiff. Through female descendants of the Earl it became the property, by marriage, in the 18th century, of an ancestor of its present noble owner, the Marquis of Bute.

In 1404 Owain Glyndwr besieged the town and castle, both of which he took and nearly destroyed. He spared, however, the Grey Friars' Convent, and the street in which it stood, " because of his love for that order." In the time of Elizabeth, Cardiff gained an unenviable notoriety as a resort of desperadoes and pirates. In those days the Bristol Channel seems to have been a favourite resort of pirates and smugglers, and Sir Thomas Button, of Cardiff, was commissioned by the Admiralty to put a stop to the trade in contraband goods. The publications of the Record Office frequently refer to the difficulties experienced by the local authorities in coping with illicit commerce. Piracy proved detrimental to open trading and the interests of the port, and several petitions were made from time to time to the Council at Ludlow on behalf of merchants whose goods were seized.

In 1577 we find Sir William Herbert and others seeking the aid of NOKTHJASPECT OF THE TOWER AT CARDIFF CASTLE, JULY 25TH, 1775. By Francis Grose. A Sketch of the History of ('ardiff'. 7 that authority in restoring certain goods taken by pirates from Thomas Brown, a Scotchman, and sold in Wales. A few days later the same Thomas Brown takes out a warrant against receivers of " certain quantities of cloths recovered by the pirates I shipped by him from Cardiff to Bristol." Piracy had evidently sunk deep into the grain, and local representatives of law and order were not above suspicion. Even Sir William Herbert himself had not clean hands, for once in connection with some other leading men he w*as publicly charged with '* buying goods unlawfully from commissioners at Cardiff." Women as well as men were engaged in defeating the revenue, foremost among them being one Flowry Johnes, " wife of John Wastel!," who was ** examined" relative to "quantities of salt " discovered in her possession.

One of the most interesting items occurs under 1602. It is well-known that towards the end of the sixteenth century cannon for the use of the Spanish Government were clandestinely exported from the town. It would be interesting to learn where the cannon came from, but it is certain they were cast in the neighbourhood of Cardiff, probably either at Radyr or Pentyrch. At length — in 1602 — the authorities took cognizance of the matter, and Government made it illegal for masters of furnaces to cast ordnance. The order directly affected one Edmund Matthews, for he was " to be put down for casting ordnance at his furnace near Cardiff, whence it might easily be carried to Spain." Matthews was an old offender and carried on his doings with a high hand. The language of the record is almost pathetic : " As the officers of that port (Cardiff) are poor and dare not displease him, that place is very unfit for casting ordnance."

A certain Welsh justice of the peace, John Davids by name, excused himself for not proceeding against a famous pirate by saying that Cardiff had " always protected that class." Apparently the townspeople at this time viewed piracy with much indifference. Even the judicial bench suffered from the general decay of morals, for in 1587 one William Matthew, for the murder of Roger Phillips, was allowed to go scot-free, the murderer's fellow magistrates and the Council of the Marches at Ludlow taking very little cognizance of the crime. Justice, however, had been known to assert itself occasionally even during the middle ages, for we read that in the reign of Edward II. Sir William Fleminge, one of the lords of Wenvoe, for having wrong fully passed sentence of death on Llewelyn Brenn, a Welsh knight and the owner of Caerphilly, expiated his crime on the gallows and the gibbet.

Political feeling seems to have run high in Cardiff in the good old days. During the civil war the people of Cardiff took active interest in the national cause, the Royalists and the Parliamen tarians being masters of the situation in turns. On the whole, Cardiff. however, the sympathies of the town sided with the Republican party, for when Charles I., sorely pressed by his enemies, visited the place and sought aid of the authorities, he was given a very cold reception, and soon left for a better show of loyalty and sympathy in Brecknockshire. The Castle was besieged by Oliver Cromwell from Plasturton on the west side of the river, north of the present Cowbridge road. Cromwell met with little success until a deserter from the Castle showed him a secret subterranean passage which com municated with the Castle beneath the bed of the river Taff, by which means the garrison was surprised by night.

How far this tradition is true it is difficult to sa}*. "Secret passages," some of them of incredible length, are made to play their pait in the history of nearly every castle in the country. The engineering skill of a byegone age must have been simply miraculous ! It is quite possible that the tradition con cerning this secret passage may have originated in some other event or fact connected with some ancient building in the town. At the time of levelling the site on which stands the present Town Hall, a few feet below the surface, the foundations of immense walls of great thickness were discovered, "also," the chronicler tells us, "a circular stone staircase descending to a considerable depth and in a most remarkable state of preservation, which had evidently been filled up for a long period."

It is surmised that the walls and staircase were the remains of the "very strong and high walls" which were built "neere the river of Taf," by Sir Roger Vaughan, who was beheaded at Chepstow* in the reign of Edward IV. There were a few walls still standing in 1578. In the seventeenth century, at the time of the Restoration, Cardiff suffered from great depression in trade. It had a strong rival just then in Caerphilly, a town which commanded a larger agricultural area, and hail its markets or fail's every three weeks. Against this privilege Cardiff stoutly protested, and on its petitioning the authorities the monopoly which Caerphilly had set up was abolished. Probably, also, the support Cardiff had given to foreign pirates and its disloyalty to Charles contributed to the decay of its trade.

But Cardiff had evidently entered upon a lengthened period of commercial depression, and its trade showed few signs of revival until the commencement of the present century, when the coal and iron of Merthyr and Aberdare began to be developed, and a new era set in. Mediæval Cardiff contained several religious houses all of which have disappeared. On the north-west side of the town, between the Castle and the river, Kichard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, in 1256, founded a monastery of Benedictine or Black Monks, the ruins of which stood some fifty or sixty years ago, but eventually were swept away by the forward movement which has culminated in the creation of the new and greater Cardiff of St. John's Church Tower, showing Arch over Trinity Street, Jiy J C Buck.tr. " Gentleman's Magazine," A Sketch of the History of Cardiff 9 to-day.

Another of the De Clares founded a house of Francis can, or Grey, Friars, on a site near the East Gate of the town. Here was buried Sir William Fleming, of Wenvoe, who was ■ executed on a gibbet " for having judicially murdered Llewelyn Brenn, of Caerphilly. Both the murderer and his victim were laid in the little churchyard at the Grey Friars. At the suppression of the religious houses this convent became the possession of the Herbert family. Sir William Herbert rebuilt it and made it his chief place of residence, and it was so used by his descendants for a long period. In the Parliamentary roll for 1585 we find the name of "Nicholas Herbert, Friars." In Llandaff Cathedral a monument is erected to the memory of '* Florence, the wife of William Herbert, of the White Fryers, in Cardiff. Esquire."

The site of the Black Friars Church was excavated three years ago under the supervision of Lord Bute, a nobleman who takes the keenest interest in antiquarian and arch.'eological pursuits. Nothing, however, of any value w-as found beyond a few coins so defaced as t.> be perfectly illegible. The remains of Sir William Herbert's house are still visible in Lord Bute's garden. Besides these religious houses there were the chapelry of St. Piran and the church of SS. Mary and Thomas, of which not a vestige is now traceable. Cardiff's chief link with the past in the present day is its noble castle, which is the boast and admiration of the town and of South Wales, and which, from being a mass of ruins, has been restored with so much judgment and taste as to be one of the most beautiful of the many stately homes of England . nd Wales.

The castle really is a great study ; and beautiful as its exterior is its interior is incomparably more so, and would take a volume to describe. There is one, and only one, other object of historic interest — the church of St. John the Baptist, which was erected in 1443, and is supposed to have been one of the creations of Hart, who is stated also tohave builtthe tower of Wrexham and St. Stephen's in Bristol. The edifice, which is very spacious, is built in the Perpendicular style, the roof being supported by handsome pillars, from which spring light and graceful arches. In the chancel there is a hand some reredos placed behind the altar table. This fine piece of work is from the hand of Mr. Goscombe John, a native of Cardiff and a sculptor who is rapidly rising into fame. St. John's is one of the few churches which contains a baptistery for immersion.

In the church there is a monument to the memory of Sir William and Sir John Herbert of the Friars'. The tower is supposed to have been built by Anne, the daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury and Warwick. Cardiff, from time immemorial, has enjoyed various municipal privileges and immunities. The earliest remaining charter dates Cardiff. 10 from the twelfth year of Edward III. (1339) granted by Hugh le Despenser. It is a charter of Inspeximus, confirming an older one of Lord William la Zouch in which a grant was made to the burgesses of a piece of ground in High Street. Most of the witnesses were Normans, the exceptions being " Llewelyn ap Kenwrek " and " Thomas ap Aron." The same Hugh le Despenser granted another charter in 1359, in which we get interesting glimpses of life in the fourteenth century, when people had to pay " murrnge," " pontage," " pannage," " terrage," " kayage," and " pickage," customs and usages from which, by the way, "our beloved burgesses of Cardiff" were declared discharged and free by this second charter of Despenser.