Cathays
Cathays
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,_Cardiff.jpg) Cathays Library, a Carnegie library built in 1906 |
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 Cathays
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| Cathays shown within Cardiff | |
| Population | 20,121 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | ST181780 |
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| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CARDIFF |
| Postcode district | CF24 |
| Dialling code | 029 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
Cathays (/kəˈteɪz/ kə-TAYZ; Welsh: Cathays) is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contains many older terraced houses giving it a Victorian era atmosphere. The area falls into the Cathays ward.
The name is likely to be 'enclosure where there are wildcats' from MIddle English catt, meaning 'wildcat', and the plural form of hay, meaning 'enclosure', from Old English haga. An unlikely explanation which is sometimes found is that it is from 'Cad Hayes' - cad, the Welsh word for battle, and English hayes, said to mean 'open area'.
Originally farmland outside the old Cardiff Castle, the northern limit of mediaeval Cardiff was marked by the cross where Fairoak Road and Crwys Road now meet.
After John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute married The Hon. Charlotte Hickman-Windsor (daughter of Herbert Windsor, 2nd Viscount Windsor) on 12 November 1766, he inherited lands in Cathays that lay to the north of his existing Bute Estate. He then purchased other properties and farms to extend his land further north and east, including Cathays Park. There he built Cathays House at a cost of £40,000 and at further cost landscaped Cathays Park. But after John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute took over the title, he preferred to use Cardiff Castle as his residence, so chose to demolish the house in 1815, and turned Cathays Park into enclosed parkland.
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Wikipedia