Clipping from page 27 of the South Wales Echo reporting on residents from Cardiff who are celebrating the building of a memorial to their old community

Description

A South Wales Echo article dated 25 January 2002 reporting an Arts Council of Wales' Lottery Division award to the Newtown Association to build a memorial garden to 'Little Ireland', in Tyndall Street. The article is accompanied by a photograph of the demolition of Newtown with the caption: "MEMORIAL Newtown was demolished to make way for new development".

The Newtown Association website describes the genesis of the garden, but does not mention any Arts Council grant:

“In March 1999 the Newtown Association, in association with Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, obtained a grant of £10,000 from the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation towards the development of a memorial on a plot of land in the area formerly known as Newtown - now on the fringe of Cardiff Bay. The primary function of the memorial is to commemorate the loss of a community, to record its history and to keep its memory alive. It will provide the people of Cardiff with a source of educational archive material about the Newtown community, with a permanent memorial to the significant part which the people of the community played in the development of the city.”

The design by David Mackie “is influenced by the topography of Newtown: low curved walls combined with sections of real track incorporated in the floor scape represent the railway lines that once surrounded Newtown. The walls define the garden, creating a sense of enclosure, while maintaining an open aspect, and is fabricated from a variety of traditional materials including blue pennant stone, which was once abundant in the area. Bronze disks have been designed with schoolchildren from 5 Primary schools across Cardiff. The written word is a major element within the work and includes both Gaelic and Welsh texts, pointing to the integration of the original Irish community into Wales. Over 200 names spanning four generations have been inscribed in the in the stone paving to record Newtown family names for future generations.”

The Newtown Memorial Garden was officially opened on 20 March 2005.
Source: www.ourwales.co.uk/newtown/simple/index.php?id=features-1. Published on May 29th, 2011, accessed on April 2nd, 2017.


Transcription:

'Little Ireland' residents reunite to celebrate victory over memorial

RESIDENTS of the former Newtown area of Cardiff will be reunited tonight to celebrate winning the battle to build a memorial to their old community.

These former residents, their families and friends who make up the Newtown Association have been given £77,000 from the Arts Council of Wales' Lottery Division to build a memorial garden in Tyndall Street, which lies in the heart of the former community.

Newtown was known locally as Little Ireland, as it was highly populated by Irish families who had fled the Great Famine in the 19th Century.

These families were brought to Cardiff by the Marquis of Bute to make up the workforce he needed to build the docks.

The community spanned four generations until its terraced streets were demolished in the 1960s.

Former residents of Little Ireland or their children and grandchildren are welcome to attend the party at St Peter's Hall, St Peter's Street, Roath, Cardiff, to celebrate with a disco, buffet and Irish bingo.

Admission, which is £5, is by ticket only. For more information, call Mary Sullivan on 07966 747179.

From Microform, Local Studies, Cardiff Library.
Image created by The British Library Board.
Copyright: Media Wales.