Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - The Work of Martin J. Ridley - Photographer . . .

◊ The Fountain, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff - The Cardiff Times reported during August 1860 that : -

Sophia Gardens - 'The handsome fountain recently erected in the above gardens by the Marquis of Bute, commenced playing for the first time, on Thursday afternoon. A number of ladies and gentlemen were present, while the Militia band greatly enhanced the pleasure of the occasion, by playing an excellent programme, in their usual good style.' - Cardiff Times [019] [361] 4th August 1860.

Another heritage postcard record of the work of photographer Martin J. Ridley held within the Penarth Dock Collection. [001] [M.J.R.- B.6041] [NLW Preferred citation: Ridley 2030]

◊ The Avenue, Sophia Gardens - A tree-lined avenue leading to the bandstand c.1905. A digital record from the archive of the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth of the work of Martin J. Ridley, photographer during the years 1900 to 1910. The archive record is a black and white, glass dry-plate negative. [439] [Preferred citation: Ridley 2131] [20190306]

Mr. W. A. Fisher, B.E.M., recalls in his booklet 'Old Cardiff and Reminiscences' [1367] : 'There was a small lake in the Sophia Gardens some seventy years ago and in the middle there was an island with a swan house on it. The lake was filled in some years ago.'