Albany Road

An old road dating back to around 1800. Used to be called Merthyr Road but was renamed Albany Road in 1884 to commemorate the death of the Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, son of Queen Victoria. Still boasts a number of pubs (Claude, Pear Tree and Andrew Buchan) and churches (St Martin and Albany Road Baptist) but the Globe cinema and Roath village school are long gone. The houses at west end have been converted into shops over time.  The east end of Albany Road remains residential. More pictures of Albany Road.

Arran Place

Built in 1911 on land belonging to the Roath Court Estate.  It was an extension of Arran Street after the  Connaught Rd junction.  It seems to be wrongly labelled on Google maps.  The houses have attractive tiled porches.  The hundred year old Allen’s Bakery hides away in the lane.

Arran Street

Built on land owned by the Mackintosh family around 1886. Plasnewydd (now called the Mackintosh Sports and Social Club), the home of the Richards family that married into the Richards family, backs onto Arran Street. Other streets in the vicinity have names connected with the Mackintosh clan, but what is their connection with the Isle of Arran?  The Mackintosh Clan were a Highland Clan, no land ownership or battles on the island, not even a strongly worded letter to the Arran residents.  A favourite holiday destination maybe?

Ashwood Court 

Flats built around the 1970s on the site of former homes in Elm Street. Presumably named after the ash tree that can grow up to 35m in height with some species producing a lovely white wood, good for carving.

Cottrell Road

The houses date from 1886.  Named after Cottrell House, St Nicholas, near Cowbridge, which was demolished in the 1970s and is now the Cottrell Park golf resort. Edward Priest Richards (Plasnewydd) married Harriet Tyler of Cottrell, granddaughter of Sir Charles Tyler, one of Nelson’s Band of Brothers who commanded HMS Tonnant at the Battle of Trafalgar.   Cottell Road was home of a number of mission churches including the Cottrell Road Baptist Mission, forerunner of Albany Road Baptist church.

Crofts Street

The street dates from 1867. Crofts was a family name of the Williams family of Yorkshire origin, the landowners, who lived at Roath Court, the patriarch being  Charles Crofts Williams (1798-1860). Crofts Street National School opened around 1879 and became St Anne’s School which finally closed in 2011.  Crofts Street was badly bombed in Jan 1941. Winston Churchill later visited on a moral boosting trip.  The Crofts pub was later rebuilt in 1957 and is still going strong.  Crofts Street was also home to the Cardiff Public Laboratory, the buildings of which were demolished around 2016.

Cyfarthfa Street

Dates from 1886. Cyfarthfa meaning ‘Place of barking’. Named not only to give Welsh learners some pronunciation homework but probably also to reflect the parcels of land in the valleys, including in the Merthyr area, owned by the Richards family of Plasnewydd House (later called the Mackintosh Institute). The pillar box at the City Road end dates back to Victorian times.

Keppoch Street

Named after a very small place near Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, Scotland, home of the MacDonald of Keppoch clan.  For many years the Mackintosh clan, who owned the land, fought battles with the MacDonalds over rent arrears. Plasnewydd Presbyterian Church is now the Gate Arts Centre. Notable Keppoch Road residents have included Joe Erskine, the British Heavyweight Boxing Champion, and the garden designer Ralph Hancock.

Partridge Road

One of Roath’s oldest streets, laid out pre-1861.  It was built on land owned by Charles Henry Williams of Roath Court, a keen sportsman and hunter and Master of the Roath Harriers. This possibly explaining the cluster of roads named after game birds.  A partridge is a ground nesting bird which produces large clusters of eggs, typically 14-15. Partridge Road was  bombed in 1941 suffering damage at the Crofts Street end.

Plasnewydd Road

A street in two halves, divided by the Mackintosh Club, formerly known as Plasnewydd House or Roath Castle/Lodge.  Plasnewydd (‘New Mansion’), was owned by the Richards family, the heiress of whom married Alfred Donald Mackintosh in 1880.  The Richards/Mackintosh family later donated Plasnewydd to the community hence it became known as the Mackintosh Institute, now called the Mackintosh Sports & Social Club. The southern end of Plasnewydd Road used to be called Charles Street up until around the 1880s.

Timbers Square

Built around 1955 on Roath Court pleasure garden, land that belonged to the Roath Court estate. Named after Miss Edith Timbers (1901-63) who was head parlour maid at Roath Court House (now the funeral home) for around thirty years.  In 1952 she was left £1000 in the will of Claude Williams of Roath Court in recognition of her long and faithful service. Roath Court was sold in 1953 and Edith returned to the village where she grew up, Whitney-on-Wye, Herefordshire. She died ten years later aged 62 and left £1093 in her will, almost as if her gift had remained untouched.