Legacy of Irish community in Cardiff honoured

Nation Cymru staff

The Irish diaspora communities of Cardiff, which were formed following the Great Famine of 1845 and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, have been honoured at an event which took place in the Welsh capital this month.

On Friday 15 May, the Consulate General of Ireland, Cardiff, officials from Cardiff Council, and members of the Cardiff Irish community held a special gathering in Cardiff’s Newtown Memorial Garden to unveil a new information sign highlighting the public garden.

Throughout from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries countless Irish people came to Cardiff to live and work. The first great wave of Irish immigration into Newtown came after the Great Famine of 1845, when workers and their families came to work in construction and as labourers for the greatly expanding Cardiff Bay docks. They were settled in new housing funded by aristocrat and industrialist John Crichton-Stuart, Marquess of Bute.

The Newtown neighbourhood became known as ‘Little Ireland’.

Generations of the Irish diaspora community grew up in the area, creating local institutions from churches to pubs, and a distinctly Irish-Welsh culture within the city. Newtown was demolished in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but many former residents still live in the city and a large share of the Irish community in Wales can trace their ancestry to Little Ireland.

A group of dedicated campaigners succeeded in persuading the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and Cardiff Council to establish a public garden in the former Newtown area and in 2005 the Newtown Memorial Garden, featuring a special stone knotwork sculpture by artist David Mackie, was opened off Tyndall Street.

21 years later, a new sign has been unveiled with the support of Cardiff Council and the Consulate General of Ireland, Cardiff. The new sign contains more information about the history and context of the garden. Staff from the Consulate General of Ireland, Cardiff assisted by staff and residents of Cardiff Council’s Tyndall Court, organised a clean-up of the Memorial Garden in advance of the unveiling.

The new sign was unveiled by Thomas and William Mann and their mother Kate Sullivan, grandchildren and daughter of Mary Sullivan, who played a leading role in the original campaign for a Newtown Memorial Garden; Consul General Denise McQuade, Vice-Consul Michelle Ryan, and Cllr Jen Burke, Councillor for Llandaff North and Cardiff Council Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks, and Events.

A film crew involved in producing a forthcoming series for S4C was also present at the ceremony.

Commenting Consul General Denise McQuade said: “The Newtown Memorial Garden is an important site in Cardiff, for the Irish community and the city as a whole. It marks a significant part of the story of Cardiff and Cymru and the strong and enduring links between the people of Ireland and Wales.”

Vice-Consul Michelle Ryan added: “During my time in Cardiff as Vice-Consul, it has been a privilege to work with the city’s Irish community and all the people who are passionately committed to sustaining and sharing Irish culture and history in their wider communities.

“I am grateful to all the members of the Cardiff Irish community who enthusiastically collaborated with us on this project and joined us for the special unveiling ceremony.”