The West Wall
So far, this discussion has covered the first 500 years of Cardiff’s history up to the 17th century. Yet, for many a writer the town’s history appears to begin only at this juncture, namely with Speed’s plan of 1610. Admittedly, it is the earliest illustration of Cardiff’s town wall but that is all. To base one’s description of the latter on this single piece of evidence seems insufficient. This approach has established the view that the town wall was without a western section altogether, because it is missing in Speed’s plan. The omission on Speed’s part has never been explained, hence the mistaken view point. It was argued that the presence of the river Taff on this side of the town was sufficient defense. In 1678, sixty-eight years after Speed had recorded what he apparently saw, Francis Place drew a sketch of the Town Quay from across the Taff (25). It clearly shows substantial wall sections extending both northward and southward from the quay. Substantial, because they were high enough to conceal some of the houses behind them. In fact, the sketch appears to have been produced for a later painting because the artist had written the words ‘wall’ and ‘river’ into his work. This eliminates all possibility of misinterpretation.
In 1748, a further seventy years after Place’s piece of evidence was produced, the brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck published their print ‘The North West View of Cardiff, in the County of Glamorgan’. It also shows a wall running all the way from just above the town quay to the southern end of town. Their illustration suggests a staggered course of the wall along the river, not a straight line as that of the eastern wall. It seems curious that this feature could have been overlooked in 1610. Beyond the quay, after a gap, there was another section of wall before it petered out near the West Gate. The site of this wall section was even recorded on the 25" Ordnance Survey map of 1883, as well as on Stewart’s Cardiff map no.2 of 1824 (26). From close to West Gate, the section ran due south as far as the Arms Hotel, where it changed course south-south-east for a similar distance, before veering sharply southeast as far as the Town Quay. In 1885, town wall foundations were actually excavated during building work near the Golate (27). Unfortunately, any wall remains which existed from this point southward were completely washed away by the river Taff during the 18th and 19th centuries, when it toppled the whole southern-most wall section including its two towers (see figure 1).
However, the evidence presented here strongly suggests that a town wall did once exist along medieval Cardiff’s western periphery. Yet, the question remains unanswered as to why Speed excluded it from his plan of 1610? Merrick referred to a collapsing West wall in 1576; nevertheless, one hundred and seventy years later the Buck brothers illustrate a wall on their print. Of course, it is possible that visitors to Cardiff stayed in the built-up and possibly paved northern section of town, refraining from venturing to its southern part with gardens and unpaved paths. Staying near the Castle would have drawn one’s attention to the absence of the wall in this section. Some houses were being built in its place, as shown on most 18th century illustrations. It is also conceivable that in 1610 the whole length of the western town wall, having completely collapsed, was considered for rebuilding as a flood defense. In consequence, draftsmen were later able to depict a wall. The river seems to have been troublesome long enough for the council to have considered such a step. Even Speed’s plan suggests that the river had already carved away a corner of St.Mary’s churchyard by 1610. Yet, no such building work was ever recorded in any of the Council minutes.
Judging by existing illustrations, in c.1550 the height of the town wall around medieval Cardiff’s whole periphery was the same as the height of the gate towers; also, a parapet walk topped it. If one takes the only surviving gate example as a guide, i.e. West Gate, the height must have been plus/minus twenty-five feet (or seven and a half meters). Prints of the North Gate confirm this suggestion. Probably, it had been so since the 1451 restoration. A curiosity at this section of the wall is its juncture with the southeastern corner or bastion of the Castle. Instead of being joined at right angles, the town wall met the latter at approximately one hundred and five degrees. This particular section was excavated in 1974 and the conclusion was reached that the original wall was either embedded in the Castle bank or rested on the narrow berm between bank and ditch. Furthermore, the wall itself was found to have been built "of a mixture of roughly squared limestone blocks and rounded river or glacial boulders" (28); but no clue as to the angle of the junction. The North wall then continued via the North Gate to a right-angled change of direction towards the East Gate. This it also met at this odd angle but the reason is not known.
The moat, i.e. the ‘river’ of 1111, had always been part of the town defenses. Excavations in the 1970s revealed traces of its original shape. It was estimated that "the full width of the ditch would have been between nine and twelve meters" (29). Presumably this applied to the moat over its entire length. Its eastern extension was later converted into part of the Glamorganshire Canal, while a western section appears to have become a leat. A feature on Stewart’s 1824 plan suggests, that a considerably wide stretch of moat existed alongside the Castle Wall and West Gate, even at that time. Sandby’s print of 1774 shows it as the supplier of water to Cardiff’s main mill, located just outside the West Gate. It is possible that this moat once continued southward, along the west wall, before the river eroded it away. The overflow leat, which in later years ran from the mill to the river along the northern section of the west wall, may indeed have been a remnant of the moat.