Temperance Town was an area near the centre of Cardiff (nprn 301223), built in the 1860s. When the river Taff was straightened, a large area of wet low-lying land was left; large quantities of rubbish were tipped on it and the streets of what became Temperance Town were laid out over an area of 5.7ha (14 acres). The owner of the land, Colonel Edward Wood, did not approve of alcohol, hence the name of the area. In the early 1930s the Great Western Railway rebuilt Cardiff General Railway Station (nprn 34783), which lay on the south side of Temperance Town, and requested that Cardiff Corporation improve the area to the north. Various schemes were proposed including a bus station, public gardens with an underground car park, and exhibition and public halls. Temperance Town was declared unfit for human habitation and demolished in 1937-8. A bus station (nprn 407179) was eventually opened on the site in 1954. Of the original street plan, only Wood Street and parts of Park Street and Saunders Road remain.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 03 July 2009.