Thompson’s Park, historically known as Sir David’s Field, is a well-preserved Victorian urban public park situated in the community of Canton in Cardiff. It is surrounded by the predominantly Victorian residential streets and the main entrance is off Romilly Road to the south. The park has an unusual history in being a privately-owned and managed garden opened to the people of Cardiff, in 1891, by a prominent local philanthropic businessman, Charles Thompson. Later enlarged, the park freehold was conveyed to Cardiff Council in 1912. The site’s historic name originates from its association with the Mathew family of Llandaff believed to have owned the land during the fifteenth century.

The gardens were enlarged in about 1895 under the direction of the well-known garden designer, William Goldring. Many of the original landscape features and much of the original layout and tree planting are retained. The park is polygonal and occupies an area of 5.2 hectares. The northern two thirds occupy a level plateau which drops steeply at the southern edge, by approximately nine metres, to the lower third. The upper level is a large, informal playing field encircled by a tarmac path. A double avenue of deciduous and coniferous trees traverses the top third of the field separating it from a smaller, rougher grassed area to the north; some of the trees pre-date the park but were incorporated into the design. The upper level of the park affords wide views to the southwest towards the Leckwith Hills.

The lower, southern third of the park is ornamental and partly formal, laid out with grassed areas, a small lake, a circular pool and fountain, mixed deciduous and coniferous trees, herbaceous borders and ornamental plantings. A central path leads from the entrance gate to a circular, concrete lined pool and four jet fountain, the focal point of the lower level. The pool is bordered by a circular flowerbed, seasonally planted with flowering annuals and edged with a low iron fence. Ordnance Survey maps, (1901, 1920 and 1947), show the flower bed was once fan shaped. At the centre of the pool is a bronze statue, ‘Joyance’, by Welsh sculptor William Goscombe John, (1860-1952), commissioned in 1899 by the landowner, Mr Charles Thompson. The present statue is a copy.

To the west of the pool is a small, roughly oval lake with a natural appearance, edged with large stones, enclosed by a short iron fence, with a backdrop of planted deciduous trees and evergreen plants. The lake is evident on the first edition OS map and so was incorporated into the park’s design.
On the eastern side of the lower level, the path encircles a tree-planted grassed area, mainly beech. The path passes between a herbaceous border, originally a rock garden, which still contains some substantial rocks, and a seasonally planted bed, formerly a pond. An article in Gardener’s Chronicle (1911) reported the pond as being planted with aquatics.

The Dell incorporates the northern third of the lake, the bank behind it, and the path and steps leading to the upper level on the eastern side of the park. Stone-edged terracing exists on the bank and a further disused path can be discerned near the top of the bank. The planting on the bank includes yew, oak, ferns, butcher’s broom and native wild flowers. The bank is topped with a holly hedge. There is an excellent view from here southwards across the Dell and the eastern part of the lower level.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)71(CDF).
References: early postcards; OS mapping; Thompson family of Cardiff papers (administrative history), Glamorgan Archives.

RCAHMW, 7 July 2022