MEDIEVAL Cardiff was this weeks' talk by historian Richard Britton at the Probus Club, Penarth, supplemented by a visual of John Speed’s 1610 map of the town.

Initially Cardiff was surrounded by a wooden structure built by Robert Fitzhamon the Lord of Glamorgan in the year 1100 and it had five gates (four at each point of the compass, and the fifth known as Blaunch Gate was near the quay and later demolished).

North Gate was the main gate for travellers heading north and straddled the present day Kingsway. It was later demolished to make way for the Glamorganshire canal.

The East Gate spanned Crockherbtown Street (now Queen Street) at the site of the present Principality Building Society for travellers heading east to Newport, but this also was demolished in the 18th century.

The South Gate was at the site of the now Great Western Hotel and led to present day Butetown. Present day West Lodge Gate at the southern entrance to Bute Park was built in the 19th century and is at the site of the original West Gate.

The 1801 census recorded less than 2000 residents, so as the town was so compact the gates were in close proximity to each other; it remained a town until becoming a city in 1905 when the numbers swelled with the influx of foreign workmen.

St Mary Street was named after the church of St Mary that stood where the present day bus station is, and was known as the mother church of Cardiff.

In 1404 the forces of Owain Glyndwr destroyed the wall by West Gate and burnt down much of the town; but later in that century the walls and gates were rebuilt in stone thus strengthening the fortifications of the town.

Sadly, in the 17th century Cardiff was flooded by the modern day equivalent of a tsunami that accelerated the deterioration of the town walls that collapsed in large sections due to neglect, the stones being used for other structures.

Some sections of the wall still exist, one being opposite the Castle on Kingsway supporting a flower bed, and another behind Queen Street in an unmarked alleyway between the Northgate building and 1 Kingsway.