Roath Park was the first publicly-owned public park in Cardiff and was conceived to provide a wide range of recreational, sporting, and educational facilities for the residents of east Cardiff. It is a fine, extensive late-Victorian public park, laid out in 1887-1894 by William Harpur and planted by William Pettigrew. It remains intact with much of its original framework, although layout and planting have been simplified and built structures replaced. The park still contains all the typical elements of an urban public park of the period, still serves most of its original recreational functions, and retains its setting of surrounding villa residences which were built to take advantage of the park's presence and in particular its large lake.
The park is one of the largest Victorian public parks in both Cardiff and Wales as a whole. It is a long, narrow park, occupying 130 acres (52.7ha) of the flat valley floor of the Roath Brook, which runs from north-west to south-east through north-eastern Cardiff, on either side of the A48. The park is bounded on all sides by roads, and is divided into four main sections.
The largest area is the lake section, an unusual and outstanding feature, which lies between Celyn Avenue in the north and Eastern Avenue (A48) in the south. This is an elongated north-south area, the greater part of which is taken up by the 29-acre lake, former marshland, made by damming the Nant Fawr. It is surrounded by a perimeter footpath and has five small islands intended as a home for waterfowl. Since its construction the lake has been used for boating. Bathing in the lake was also popular, with the first dressing boxes added in 1908, but ceased during the mid-twentieth century. At the south end of the lake, close to the promenade, is a clock tower lighthouse, the Scott Memorial (419827) a memorial to Captain Scott and his companions, who had sailed from the port of Cardiff.
The lawn below the dam was originally the location of the bandstand (from 1903), occasionally visible as parchmarks. A memorial drinking fountain, presented by the Samuel family, also once stood in this area and another was located on the recreation ground. Both have now gone.
The area south of the lake is the former Botanic Garden, with both formal and informal areas. The formal part occupies a roughly rectangular area along the west side of the park, now laid out as a formal rose garden but originally an educational area, known as the Students' Garden, because of its special interest to horticulturists and students of botany. A fish hatchery and aquarium also once stood in the Botanic Garden. The current conservatory stands on the site of two former glasshouses. Three listed bridges (40030; 400307-8) span the Nant Fawr between the west and east areas of the Botanic Garden. The east area is laid out informally planted with trees including several species of pine. The rockery, although once more extensive, is located along the east of the park adjacent to Lake Road East.
To the south east, between Fairoak Road and Alder Road, is the Pleasure Garden through which the Roath Brook winds, spanned by an early example of a reinforced concrete footbridge (400306). It is mostly laid out with informal specimen tree and shrub planting. The Pleasure Gardens are also home to the bowling greens and tennis courts, which have existed since the early twentieth century and are still popular facilities.
Beyond the Pleasure Gardens is the wide open space of Roath Park Recreation Ground. The Roath Brook runs along the northeast side of the recreation ground, having been diverted and the land drained and levelled to make the playing field suitable for a wide range of sports. A bridge (Cadw LB 26662) crosses the Roath Brook at the northwest corner of the recreation ground. The field is tree-fringed and a footpath runs around the perimeter. The original railings around the recreation ground have gone and the field is no longer enclosed.
Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)24(CDF).
RCAHMW, 7 July 2022