Cardiff (Cæer-Taff, 'fort of the Taff'), a parliamentary and municipal borough and seaport, the county town of Glamorgan, South Wales, situated on the river Taff, 56 miles SW. of Gloucester, and 170 W. of London. Its progress in recent years is the most remarkable of any town in the kingdom. The population rose from 2000 in 1801, to 10,077 in 1841; 56,911 in 1871; 85,378 in 1881, with a floating population of about 5000; and 128,849 in 1891, the annual increase being nearly 5 per cent. Cardiff, with Cowbridge and Llantrissant, returns one member to parliament. Among the public buildings are the infirmary, town-hall, free library and museum, county jail, law-courts, county buildings, university college, baths, a theatre, and numerous halls. There is a public park. Very few of the numerous churches belong to the Church of England. The new University College for South Wales and Monmouthshire was established in 1883.
The port of Cardiff is the outlet for the large mineral and manufactured produce of the central portion of the South Wales mineral-field, in which are the populous districts of Merthyr-Tydvil, Rhymney, Aberdare, and the Rhondda Valley, with which this port is connected by the Taff Vale, the Rhymney, the Barry, and the Ely Valley railways, and the Glamorganshire Canal. The town is also one of the chief stations on the Great Western line from London to Milford-Haven. The Bute docks, with an area of 150 acres, constructed at the expense of the Bute estate, have cost nearly four millions sterling, and belong to the Marquis of Bute. There are about forty staiths on the quays of the docks, with machinery of a peculiar construction for the purpose of loading vessels with coal, by which the breaking of the coal is almost entirely prevented. Each of these staiths is capable of shipping 300 tons of coal per hour. There is also a tidal harbour, with seven staiths, and a low-water pier 1400 feet in length. Height of water at spring-tide, 35.9 inches; at neap-tide, 25.9. The imports to Cardiff include copper ore, live cattle, salted provisions, foreign fruit and vegetables, corn and flour, &c. The Penarth Docks, about one mile to the westward, form another outlet for the trade of the district. The Barry Dock (1888), of nearly 80 acres, adds enormously to the shipping facilities of Cardiff. Steamers ply between the port of Cardiff and New York, London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol, Cork, Whitehaven, and Burnham.
The recent progress has been immense. For total tonnage of ships entered and cleared, Cardiff comes close after London and Liverpool, and has more than twice any other British port. It is now the first port in the world for shipping coal, its exports having in 1893 reached nearly 11,500,000 tons—exceeding the quantity shipped at the Tyne ports. In 1871 its total was less than 3,000,000 tons; in 1848, only 615,000 tons; in 1839, 4562 tons. The growth of Cardiff began with the opening of the canal from Merthyr-Tydvil to the sea; the bill for the construction of the first dock was obtained only in 1830, and the dock was opened in 1839. The second or East dock dates from 1854. The corporation has recently spent over £300,000 in widening and improving the streets. The corporation possesses the water-works, and in 1888 completed a new supply from the Brecknockshire Beacons, involving an outlay of nearly £600,000. The enterprise of its citizens is very marked—enormous sums are sunk in its colliery and shipping enterprises; one of its railways for years paid from 15 to 18 per cent., and another 10 to 12—and altogether it has for the last twenty years experienced an almost unparalleled prosperity. There are three daily papers.
The ancient city of Llandaff (q.v.), now a mere village, is almost connected with Cardiff. Cardiff Castle, built in the 11th century, is partly now in ruins, and partly occupied by the Marquis of Bute, who has spent large sums in rebuilding the castle, and to whom nearly the whole of the modern town belongs. Robert, Duke of Normandy, brother of Henry I., died in the castle, after twenty-eight years' captivity. Cromwell (1648) got possession of the castle through treachery, after bombarding it three days; and he afterwards hanged the traitor, as an example to his own soldiery. The town was an important one, under British, Romans, and Normans in succession.