Splott streets

Aberdovey Street.

One of a series of streets, many now gone, named after Welsh towns, the connection possibly being railways. The street dates from around 1893.  Mount Zion chapel later became a pram company, a labour club, sports & social club, now demolished.  Future Prime Minister James Callaghan visited in 1971.

Aberystwyth Street

A colourful street dating back to 1887 and named after the Welsh coastal town/port. The anglicised spelling on the street signs capture a period in history when the local newspaper and railway company used the same spelling.

Adamsdown Place

 A short row of houses dating that back to around 1892, next to the ‘Black Bridge’ over the railway.  The name Adamsdowne or Adam’s Down, dates back to at least 1440, but who was Adam?  Probably Adam Kyngot, the gatekeeper at Cardiff Castle.

Adeline Street

The houses date from 1881 but who was Adeline?  She could well have been Adeline Homfrey, granddaughter of Samuel Homfray, the South Wales industrialist. He married Jane Morgan, daughter of Sir Charles Morgan whose family lived in Tredegar House and owned of much of Splott. Adeline was widowed in 1877, shortly before Adeline Street was built, so maybe her name was in the minds Lord Tredegar’s family at the time. Adeline, born Adeline Helen Mary Stable in Exmouth in 1851.  She married William Henry Wicky Homfray in 1872 but they don’t appear to have had any children together before he died in 1877 in Caerleon aged 37. Adeline herself died in France in 1920.  

Bottom: VE Day Street Party in Adeline Street, Family tree: Adeline Homfray and her connection to the Morgan Family of Tredegar House, Newport, the landowners at the time the houses were built in this part of Splott.

Ascog Street

Some houses built pre-1880. Built on land owned by the Marquess of Bute by Cardiff Workmen’s Cottage Co. Named after Ascog on the Isle of Bute, not far from the ancestral home of the Bute family at Rothesay. Loch Ascog looks inviting.

Bottom right: Loch Ascog (photo credit: Claire Pegrum)

Burnaby Street

The houses on Burnaby Street date from around 1881. The street was built on land owned by Lord Tredegar, Godfrey Morgan, who fought in the Crimean War. This group of streets appear to be named after other military men of the time. Major-General Edwyn Burnaby (1830-1883) also fought in Crimea and later became an MP.  His mother was maternal g-g-g-grandmother to the present King Charles III, making Edwyn a g-g-uncle to the present king. Plenty of choice for religious people as there used to be three churches backing onto Burnaby Street; St Saviours, Splott Road Baptist (now Redeemer church) and Splott Road Methodist (now the Oasis centre).

Railway Street

The houses on Railway Street date from 1881, some 30 years after the adjacent South Wales Railway line opened in 1850 – originally a broad gauge railway, later converted to standard gauge.  The original pubs and churches on the street are now gone.  The street has the longest unbroken linked terrace of houses in Cardiff , some ninety five in total stretching over 500 metres. It also has a big community-led initiative happening at Railway Gardens.  In 2021 the Community Health Centre on the corner with Splott Road is being used as a mass Covid-19 Vaccination Centre.