Pengam Recreation Ground

Pengam Recreation Ground no longer exists. It was created on land adjoining the Pengam Farm housing estate, the land for which was purchased from the Tredegar Estate in 1920 for £10,000.[1] At that time the Tredegar Estate retained the adjoining field, but in 1928 Lord Tredegar offered to give it to the Council for development as a recreation ground.[2] The deed of gift for the field, an area of some 5 acres, was completed in April 1929.[3]

When acquired by the Council the ground was already in use as a sports field, and there were two pavilions ("dressing rooms") that had been erected by local clubs with the permission of the former tenant farmer, a Mr Thomas. The local clubs were the Splott University Settlement Baseball (SUSB) Club and the Roath Harriers. The SUSB Club offered to sell its pavilion to the Council and the sale for £100 was completed in 1930. The Roath Harriers retained their pavilion and paid the Council £5 per year in rent.

Boundary fencing was erected in 1930 and two pitches were marked out in the same year. Football was played in the winter and the same pitches were used for baseball in the summer.

The Parks Department Inventory of Parks Buildings and Equipment, compiled for insurance purposes in April 1938, included the following information for Pengam Recreation Ground:

  • 1938 Buildings and Equipment Inventory: Pengam Recreation Ground
  • Pavilion

It is probable that Pengam Recreation Ground was put to use for military or civil defence purposes during the 1939-45 war. In 1944 it was reported, with respect to "Pengam Open Space", that the Army Training Corps Splott District had made application for tenancy of part of the ground, "including two huts that would shortly be released from requisition". The Parks Committee decided that this should be approved, the arrangement terminable on either side by six months notice.[4]

The 1940s Ordnance Survey map for the Pengam Farm area has one field marked "Playing Field", with allotments either side of it. Maps from the 1950s onwards show the former playing field to be occupied by industrial buildings. This area is now the Clydesmuir Insustrial Estate.

Sources of Information

In general, the information in this section is taken from A. A. Pettigrew, The Public Parks and Recreation Grounds of Cardiff Volumes 3 & 5.

Other sources are:

  1. Western Mail & South Wales News 19th January 1933 page 5
  2. Western Mail 1st June 1928 page 8
  3. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 24th April 1929
  4. Meeting of the Parks, Baths and Cemeteries Committee 10 October 1944