Anderson Fields

Anderson Fields, sometimes called just Anderson Field, is a park south of Constellation Street, Adamsdown.

Up until around 2006 it was a green open space mainly used by dog walkers before being converted into a more formal park.

It is built largly on the area occupied by Cycle Street and partly on land previously occupied by the old Roath Cattle Market. The name of the park name is thought to have come from the Anderson father & son who were health officers and were frequent visitors to the abattoir.

Anderson Fields map showing it was built largly on the area occupied by Cycle Street and partly on land previously occupied by the cattle market.
View of the old Roath meat market and abattoir on Constellation Street from Cycle Street junction 1960s
Cycle Street 1965

The area nearest Constelation Street is occupied by a new play area installed in 2023.

Anderson Fields new play area photographed Feb 2024

The central area is more an open space with some ornamental stones and beyond that an earth mound. In the south-east corner there is a copse of mature trees.

Anderson Fields in Adamsdown – Feb 2024

There is also a selection of street art, or in this case I guess it should be called park art. One image refects the days of the steam engines that used to travel on the railway line the other side of the wall. (click here for more examples of street art in the area). On another boundary is a series of wooden relief carvings.

Anderson Field, Adamsdown
Anderson Field wood relief carvings.

When the park was originally developed in ~2007 it included an ambitious scheme to combine artwork and children’s play equipment by Andrew Small and Ian Maddox. This included the Spending Time Machine, a curved wooden platform with a series of stainless steel arches above it as a roof.  The idea was that children climb inside it and on top of it, and slide and run up and down the curved surface. It can be anything they want it to be – a space ship, a boat, a house, a den, a tunnel, a submarine, a cave and so on. It is a structure which allows their imagination free rein.

There was also the Triphid, a climbing and balancing structure in galvanised steel, painted a deep blue. The tentacles can be climbed, swung on, walked along, and the soft ‘wet pour’ surface on the ground ensures that children can be more adventurous and risk falling off. The coloured patterns on the soft surface complement the Triphid and can form part of its use in a game.

The original artwork/childrens play area that was replaced in the 2023 renovation.

Click to return to our Parks page and explore other parks in the area.