CARDIFF (Cier- Ttz IA Fort of the Taff), a parliamentary and municipal borough and sea port, one of the county towns of Glamorgan, South Wales, situated on the river Taff, 170 m. w. of London by railway. The population has risen from 2,000 in 1801, to 56,911 in 1871, with a floating population of about 5,000. O.,with Cowbridge and Llantris sant, returns one member to parliament. The town extends about one mile in each direc tion from the town-hall. Among the public buildings are the Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire infirmary, town-hall, free library and museum, county jail, law-courts, an infirmary, a county lunatic asylum, baths, and a theater. There are also many private buildings of a superior character, and a public park. Of about 30 places of worship in C., only 4 belong to the church of England.
The port of C. 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, 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, e. and w., with an area of 70 acres, constructed at the expense of the Bute estate, have cost upwards of a million sterling, and belong entirely to the present marquis. There arc about 40 staiths on the quays of the docks, with machinery of a peculiar construction for the purpose of load ing vessels with coal, by which the breaking of the coal is almost entirely prevented. Each ut these staiths is capable of shipping 560 tons of coal in a day of 12 hours. There
is also a tidal harbor, with 7 staiths, each capable of shipping 400 tons of coal per day, and a lower-water pier 1400 ft. in length. Height of water at spring-tide, 31 ft. 84. inches; at neap-tide, 21 ft. 74 inches. Width of sea-gates, 55 ft.; length of quays, 11,100 ft.; width of dock, 300 ft. southern, and 500 ft. northern part; depth, 25 feet. Exports during 1873—coal, 3,591,218 tons; iron, 154,570 tons; coke, 1276 tons. The quantity of coal exported has immensely increased. In 1875, 5,450 vessels, of 1,170,122 tons, entered the port, and 10,105, a 2,428,721 tons, cleared it. The imports to C. include copper ore, live cattle, salted provisions, foreign fruit and vegetables, corn and flour, etc. The Penarth docks, about 3 m. to the westward, form another outlet for the trade of the district. Steamers ply between the port of C. and New York, London, Liver pool, Glasgow, Bristol, Cork, Whitehaven, and Burnham.
The assizes (half-yearly, alternately with Swansea) and the quarter-sessions are held at the town-hall. The ancient city of Llandaff, now a mere village, is almost connected with Cardiff. Cardiff castle, built in the 11th c., is partly now in ruins, and partly occupied by the marquis of Bute, to whom nearly the whole of the modern town belongs. Robert duke of Normandy, brother of Henry I., died in the castle, after being a prisoner for 28 years. Cromwell (1648)got possessiou of the castle by treachery, after bombarding it three days; and he afterwards hanged the traitor, as an example to his own soldiery. This town was anciently an important one, successively under the British, Romans, and Normans.