In May we featured on our social media thisphotograph of workers on the Rhiwbina Garden Village estate.
However, we thought that you might be interested in finding out a little more about the occasion that prompted the picture. Research suggests that the photograph was taken at Y Groes on the morning of Saturday 19 July 1913. There are several clues. The workforce are dressed in collar and tie for a special occasion while, on the right at the back, two men in white are just finishing erecting a wooden stage, with chairs being placed on it as the final touch. In addition, if you look carefully at the house on the far right, behind the ladder there is a cotton sheet covering part of the wall.
This is almost certainly the day of the opening ceremony for the “Rhubina Fields Garden Village”, held on the afternoon of 19 July 1913 at 3.30. A large crowd was expected with special trains laid on from Rhymney Station and motor coaches from North Road. The crowd was to be entertained on the village green, in front of the houses, by the Cardiff Military Band, with refreshments available from tea pavilions set up on the grass. The main attraction was the attendance by the Earl and Countess of Plymouth and hence the construction of the stage for the speeches and formal opening of the garden village. During the afternoon the Earl was due to inspect the first two completed houses and hand over the keys to the tenants.
The workforce had every reason to feel pleased with itself. Following the initial purchase of 14 acres of land by the Cardiff Workers’ Cooperative Village Society, 34 homes were planned. The first sod was cut on 8 March 1913 and now, only four months later, the keys to the first homes were being handed over. With the provision of water, gas and electricity alongside spacious accommodation and gardens the houses, referred to as “cottages”, were designed to set a new standard for working class homes. Rents for the new properties had been pitched low, starting at five shillings and six pence a week, in the hope that they would be in reach of families living in the crowded centre of Cardiff.
As to the cotton sheet in the photograph, it concealed a sundial set into the wall of the house. It was unveiled by the Countess of Plymouth on 19 July 1913 along with a commemorative tablet on the wall of the adjacent house – just out of sight of the photograph. Both features have survived the test of time and can still be seen on the original houses in Y Groes.
The photograph is part of the Rhiwbina Garden Village records held at Glamorgan Archives (ref.: DGSR).
Tony Peters, Glamorgan Archives Volunteer
Glamorgan Archives 