Bowling

The first public bowling green in Cardiff was created at Victoria Park. The Parks Committee agreed in July 1904 to allocate a space at the northern end of the park for a bowling green,[1] which was laid down during the winter of 1904-05 and opened on the 10th June 1905.

Cardiff's earliest bowling green was opened in 1878 in Sophia Gardens, then privately owned and managed by the Bute Estate. Unlike the one in Sophia Gardens, which A.A. Pettigrew (volume 4 page 41) described as "made on scientific lines, with clinker foundation and laid with Cumberland turf", the Victoria Park green was simply a level piece of lawn without any foundation, and the turf was ordinary meadow turf. In April 1905 The Parks Committee accepted a tender of 21/- per set of bowls and set the charges for people using the bowling green: 2d per hour for two persons playing or 1d per hour each if more than two persons playing. On the 26th June 1905 the Parks Superintendent reported that since the opening, 269 tickets had been sold at 2d and 484 at 1d. He recommended the purchase of 6 additional sets of bowls which was approved. In 1906 the total sum taken in charges for use of the Victoria Park bowling green was £61-0s-11d.

In June 1907 the Victoria Park Bowling Club requested that a shelter be placed near the bowling green. A disused cab shelter was obtained for this purpose from the Watch Committee.[2]

The green was reconstructed in 1910, when on the 24th October the Parks Committee instructed that it should be refurbished at a cost of £350. The ground surrounding it was raised in height by nine inches.[3] Soil was removed, three inches of ashes were placed over the entire site, and the green re-turfed to finish up at the same height that it was previously. As in the case of several other parks, the turf for the green was obtained from the Splott foreshore.

A quasi-rustic shelter was erected at about the same time to provide a place for those using the bowling green to change their shoes, but it was not large enough to allow teas to be served when club matches were played. On the 10th August 1920, the Parks Committee received a request from the Victoria Park Bowling Club for a building large enough to provide such hospitality. A suitable pavilion was built in 1922, a donation of £50 having been received towards the estimated cost of £100. It measured 30 ft. by 10 ft and was open along one side. It was formally opened in the presence of the Parks Committee on 20th June 1922.[4]

In the winter of 1922-23 the green was again returfed, this time with Ely Moors turf.

In 1931, when the Chief Parks Officer reported on provision in all Cardiff's publicly managed parks, Victoria Park still had only the one bowling green.

The 1938 Inventory of Parks Buildings and Equipment indicated thet there was a Bowls Shelter as well as the pavilion built in the 1920s. During the 1939-45 war this "Bowls House" was occupied by ARP (Air Raid Precautions) Wardens.[5]

A new bowling pavilion was provided in 1960.[6]

In 2015 the bowling green was closed and part of it converted into a beach volleyball court. In late 2017 the Berberis hedge between the volleyball court and the path was replaced by a new border planted with a number of Cordyline australis (Cabbage palm).

Sources of Information

In general, the information in this section is taken from A. A. Pettigrew. The Public Parks and Recreation Grounds of Cardiff. Volume 4, Chapter on Bowling Greens

Other sources are:

  1. Meeting of the Parks Committee 25th July 1904
  2. Meetings of the Parks, Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 24th June & 22nd July 1907
  3. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 30th November 1910
  4. Meeting of the Parks Open Spaces and Burial Board Committee 20th June 1922
  5. Meeting of the Parks, Baths and Cemeteries Committee 5th March 1940
  6. Meeting of the Parks, Baths and Cemeteries Committee 26th September 1960