Memorial Fountain

In May 1914 Mr. Isaac Samuel[1] offered to provide a fountain in Llandaff Fields in memory of the late Alderman Lewis Morgan. The proposed fountain was to be placed in the "second field"[2] and would have a 25 foot basin made of Forest of Dean stone.[3] It was not until May 1915 that the Parks Committee agreed the inscription for the memorial fountain,[4] and later that year the construction work had still not started: at its September 1915 meeting the Committee heard that Mr Albert Samuel (the son of Isaac Samuel who was now deceased) had been informed of the delay, and he was satisfied that it would be erected at the earliest opportunity, whilst the laying of the water supply would be deferred.[5]

In October 1915 the Western Mail reported that the fountain had been installed:[6]

A handsome fountain in memory of the late Alderman Lewis Morgan is now fixed in Llandaff Fields. It is surmounted by a Red Dragon and is admired by all who have seen it. On one side of the fountain is the following:- "Given to the City of Cardiff in remembrance of long and sincere friendship by Isaac Samuel, J.P., who himself died in September 1914, before the completion of this memorial." On the other side is the following:- "In memoriam, Alderman Lewis Morgan, Lord Mayor of the City of Cardiff, 1906-1908. Died April, 1914."

In 1921 the Parks Committee approved the relocation of the memorial fountain to a site near the proposed bowling green. It was reported that the Samuel family had no objection, and £100 was set aside for the purpose.[7][8] Council minutes did not indicate whether the relocation took place, but an article in the Gardeners' Chronicle in 1923 stated that at the entrance to Llandaff Fields there was "a fountain and water pool surrounded with flower beds".[9] This is not consistent with a decision of the Parks Committee two years later in February 1925 that the fountain "be removed from its present position and re-erected on a site near the main entrance."[10]

In 1927 the Parks Committee received a report that the memorial was in need of renovation and it was proposed to replace the fountain basin with rockwork.[11]

A "Monument" was shown on the 1940 Ordnance Survey map in Llandaff Fields, close to Penhill Road and opposite Conway Road. In November 1947 the Parks Committee authorised the removal "from its present position" of the memorial in Llandaff Fields to Alderman Lewis Morgan.[12]

On the 1950 map the Monument was absent and this position was partly occupied by a tram terminus.

Sources of Information

  1. Notes on the Samuel family
  2. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 7th May 1914
  3. Meeting of the Parks Sub Committee 30th July 1914
  4. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 6th May 1915
  5. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 22nd September 1915
  6. Western Mail Friday 8th October 1915 page 4
  7. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 18th October 1921
  8. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 22nd November 1921
  9. Gardeners' Chronicle 3rd March 1923, page 119
  10. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 12th February 1925
  11. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 8th September 1927
  12. Meeting of the Parks, Baths and Cemeteries Committee 18th November 1947