[:en]There are literally hundreds of war memorials in Wales’ capital. In fact there are over a hundred memorials to the First World War in the city. These range from the enormously impressive Welsh National Memorial in Cathays Park to modest brass tablets.
This blog will concentrate not on the numerous visible memorials that can be seen in the city centre and in various suburbs, but on ones that are within buildings, and which thus may not be generally known even by those who live locally.
Looking in depth at the names on these memorials, you will find that some individuals are named on numerous ones. One rather exceptional example is the rugby player John Lewis Williams, a captain with the 16th Btn (Cardiff City) of the Welsh Regiment, who was badly wounded on the first day of the Battle of Mametz Wood, and died of his wounds on 12 July 1916. He is commemorated on the memorials in Whitchurch, St Mary’s Church, Whitchurch, Cardiff Coal Exchange, Cowbridge Grammar School, Penarth, Cardiff Masons, the WRU and Newport Athletic (Rugby) Club. (For further information, see Ceri Stennett and Gwyn Prescott’s book In Proud and Honoured Memory).
Works memorials
Cardiff is home to four of the most visually striking works memorials in Wales. The enormous memorial to the employees of Cardiff Corporation who served in the war is probably the one that takes the top prize.
Designed by Fred J Dobbs and printed by the Western Mail, it contains a wealth of visual imagery, as well as the names of around 600 employees who served (including at least eleven women). There are images of the flags of the Allies, the pyramids, of destruction in Belgium and of the Lusitania.
This memorial is in the grand surroundings of City Hall.
Another one which comes close in its visual impact is the memorial to the men of the Cardiff Railway company, located in the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay. This enormous memorial has the company crest and logo, and emblems symbolising the nations of the United Kingdom. There are almost 700 names inscribed upon it.
The Taff Vale Railway also commissioned a memorial to their employees who served. This is another ornate design and a detailed copy of it can be seen in the busy Queen Street station. (Further information here)
The fourth large-scale works memorial to be featured here is that to the Post Office workers of Cardiff. This lists over 600 names, of whom over 40 died : it can be seen in the customer service centre in the Royal Mail’s Penarth Road depot. (Further information here)
A number of smaller workplaces around Cardiff commissioned their own memorials. Given that so many companies that were in business then have now disappeared it is difficult to know how many have been lost. One that has survived is that of the Cardiff Gas Light And Coke Company Grangetown Works
University and School memorials
As the war progressed many places of education had ‘rolls of honour’ listing former students who were serving in the forces. If anyone knows whether any of the local schools still have their ‘roll of honour’ (as opposed to a memorial to those who died) please let me know.
Many schools have relocated over the decades, but one which still has its WW1 memorial despite moving to a new site is Cardiff High School.
The University (then under the unwieldy name of the ‘University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire’) established a memorial to the 111 former undergraduates who were killed in the war.
Churches
Most of the places of worship commissioned war memorials to those of their congregations who had died. Sometime these are brass plaques, of a simple design but with an emotional punch when you count the names on them. The memorial commissioned by the church of St James’ on Newport Road has 17 names on it. The church is now closed, so the plaque is on display in St John’s in the city centre.
In the northern suburbs, one of Cardiff’s most impressive outdoor memorials is in Whitchurch, but there is also a memorial to the parishioners who attended St Mary’s church. This lists 24 names.
Also in the north of the city, the church of St Isan in Llanishen lists 18 men on its memorial.
Nearer the centre of the city is the impressive church of St German’s. This has not only a memorial to those of this church who died in WW1 (40 names), but also that of the congregation of St Agnes’ (18 names).
Chapels
The Anglican churches of Cardiff were far outnumbered by the Nonconformist chapels. Some of the memorials in these buildings are substantial, such as the one in Y Tabernacl in the Hayes, featured in a previous blog.
To begin with some more modest examples, there are five names on the memorial in Whitchurch Methodist church. Two of them (Charles Collier and David Williams) were killed in the Battle of Mametz Wood on 7 July 1916, serving with the ‘Cardiff Pals’.
There are also five names on the memorial in St Andrew’s United Reformed Church (then known as Roath Park Presbyterian). One, Joseph Stephens, was killed in the Battle of Doiran in northern Greece on 18 September 1918 alongside many other Cardiff men.
There are eleven names on the memorial in Heath Evangelical Church (then Heath Presbyterian).
The three examples above are all in buildings still active as places of worship. However a number of Cardiff’s chapels have closed down. In many such occasions the memorials inside have been moved; in others (and it is impossible to know how many) they have been lost.
One example where the memorial is still in situ although the building has changed its purpose is in the former Calvinistic Methodist chapel on Pembroke Terrace, now a restaurant known as Chapel 1877. There are nine names on the memorial.
The congregation of Ebenezer (Welsh Independent) used to meet in Charles Street, but now the building is used by the adjacent Catholic church. The stone war memorial, with six names upon it, has been relocated outside.
Another instance where the memorial has been relocated is to be found in the Trinity Centre, Roath (now an outreach centre of the Methodist church). When the Methodist church nearby in the Broadway closed down in 1950, both the brass memorial (14 names) and the magnificent stained glass windows were moved here.
The final war memorial featured in this section is another surprising work of art. Salem (Calvinistic Methodist), Canton, commissioned the famous Cardiff-born sculptor William Goscombe John to create the memorial to the five men of the chapel who died in the war. The result may be a surprise to those who see it today: a statue of a female figure who might represent Britannia or perhaps the Roman goddess Minerva. Either way, it is not what one expects to see in a Welsh chapel!
Other memorials
Many other clubs or organisations commissioned their own memorials after WW1. It is difficult to estimate how many of these there were, and how many have been lost. For one interesting example, of the Oddfellows’ memorial, now presumed lost, see the Roath Local History Society website
To finish off the list of twenty Cardiff memorials, here is one from the Masonic Hall on Guildford Crescent. This commemorates the men of six different local lodges who died in the war, and names 32 individuals. A Welsh-language resource in which the late Rev Dafydd Henri Edwards describes this memorial is available via the BBC website
There are dozens more WW1 memorials in Cardiff. The database of war memorials compiled by the Imperial War Museum lists 102 memorials to the First World War in the city, yet this list is not definitive, and there will be other memorials hidden away across the city which are not yet known to researchers.
Further resources – from the IWM Memorials database:
Cardiff Corporation: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6647
Cardiff Railway company: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6670
Taff Vale Railway: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6669
Cardiff Post Office workers – https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60558
Cardiff Gas Light And Coke Company Grangetown Works: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6673
Cardiff High School: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6657
Cardiff University: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6651
St James’: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60542
St German’s : https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/51037
St Agnes’: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/51030
St Andrew’s United Reformed Church: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/17676
Heath Evangelical: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/37148
Pembroke Terrace: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/65213
Broadway Methodist: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/37643 and https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/50427
Cardiff Masonic memorial: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6675
[:cy]Y mae cannoedd o gofebau gwahanol yng Nghaerdydd. Mae’r rhain yn cynnwys dros gant o gofebau’r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf. Y mae rhain yn amrywio o’r Gofeb Gymreig Genedlaethol ym Mharc Cathays i gofebau pres cyffredin.
Ni fydd y blog hwn yn canolbwyntio ar y llu o gofebau a welir mewn llefydd amlwg yng nghanol y trefi a’r maestrefi, ond ar y sawl sydd o fewn i adeiladau ac na ŵyr hyd yn oed pobl sy’n byw yn lleol ddim amdanynt.
Wrth edrych yn fanwl ar yr enwau ar y cofebau hyn, gweir fod enwau rhai unigolion yn ymddangos ar nifer ohonynt. Un enghraifft nodedig yw enw’r chwaraewr rygbi rhyngwladol, John Lewis Williams, swyddog yn y fyddin gyda Bataliwn16 (Dinas Caerdydd) y Gatrawd Gymreig, a glwyfwyd yn ddrwg ar ddiwrnod cyntaf Brwydr Mametz Wood, ac a fu farw o’i anafiadau ar 12 Gorffennaf 1916. Mae ei enw ar gofebau yn Eglwys Newydd ac Eglwys Mair, yr Eglwys Newydd, ym Marchnad Lo Caerdydd, Ysgol Ramadeg Penybontfaen, Penarth, Seiri Rhyddion Caerdydd, Undeb Rygbi Cymru a chlwb rygbi Casnewydd. (Am fwy o wybodaeth, gwêl llyfr Ceri Stennett a Gwyn Prescott, In Proud and Honoured Memory).
Cofebau Gweithfeydd
Yng Nghaerdydd y gwelir y mwyaf nodedig o gofebau gweithleoedd yng Nghymru. Y mwyaf trawiadol yw’r un sy’n coffáu gweithwyr Corfforaeth Caerdydd a wasanaethodd yn y Rhyfel Mawr.
Fred J Dobbs a’i lluniodd a chafodd ei argraffu gan y Western Mail. Mae’n cynnwys cyfoeth o ddelweddau yn ogystal ag enwau rhyw 600 o’r sawl a wasanaethodd (gan gynnwys o leiaf 11 gwraig). Ceir delweddau yn cynrychioli baneri’r gwledydd y Cynghreiriaid, y pyramidiau, y llanastr yng Ngwlad Belg a’r Lusitania.
Mae’r gofeb hon i’w gweld yn Neuadd y Ddinas.
Un arall nodedig yw honno welir yn Adeiled y Pierhead ym Mae Caerdydd sy’n coffáu gwŷr cwmni y Cardiff Railway. Ar y gofeb enfawr hon ceir pais arfau a logo’r cwmni, ynghyd ag emblemau o wledydd Prydain ac yn agos i 700 o enwau arno.
Comisiynodd Cwmni Rheilffordd Taff Vale gofeb i’w gweithwyr hwy a wasanaethodd yn y lluoedd arfog. Mae’r gofeb hon hefyd wedi ei addurno’n gywrain, a gellir gweld copi manwl ohoni yng ngorsaf brysur Stryd y Frenhines. (Am fwy o wybodaeth gweler – http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=taff-vale-railway-war-memorial-cardiff )
Y bedwaredd gofeb nodedig yng Nghaerdydd yw honno i weithwyr Swyddfa Bost y ddinas, Cofrestrir dros 600 o enwau – deugain ohonynt wedi colli eu bywyd. Fe’i gwelir yng nghanolfan gwasanaeth cwsmeriaid y Post Brenhinol yn Ffordd Penarth. (Am fwy o wybodaeth gweler – http://188.65.112.140/~daftscou/steve/grangewar18.htm )
Comisiynodd nifer o weithfeydd bychain o gwmpas Caerdydd eu cofebau hwy eu hunain. Gyda chymain o fusnesau o’r cyfnod wedi cau eu drysau erbyn hyn, mae’n amhosibl gwybod faint o gofebau a ddiflannodd a mynd ar goll, Un a oroesodd yw cofeb gwaith Cardiff Gas Light And Coke Company Grangetown.
Cofebau Ysgol a Phrifysgol
Wrth i’r rhyfel fynd rhagddo bu gan nifer o sefydliadau addysgiadol ‘cofebau anrhydedd’ yn cofrestru cyn-ddisgyblion a oedd yn gwasanaethu gyda’r lluoedd arfog. Os gŵyr rhywun am gofebau o’r fath mewn ysgolion lleol (heblaw y rhai sy’n enwi dim ond y sawl a fu farw) byddai’n dda gennyf wybod amdanynt.
Ail-leolwyd llawer o ysgolion dros y degawdau diwethaf, ond un sy’n cynnwys y fath gofeb o hyd, er newid safle, yw Ysgol Uwchradd Caerdydd.
Lluniodd y Brifysgol gofeb i 111 o fyfyrwyr israddedig a fu farw yn y gyflafan. (Adwaeinid y Brifysgol ar y pryd fel ‘Coleg Prifysgol De Cymru a Mynwy’.)
Eglwysi
Comisiynodd y mwyafrif o eglwysi gofebau rhyfel i aelodau’r gynulleidfa a fu farw. Plâc syml o bres yw rhai o’r rhai hyn, ond mae’r ergyd yn un emosiynol yr un fath pan gyfrifir nifer yr enwau arnynt. Roedd gan gofeb eglwys St James ar Newport Road gofeb ag arni 17 o enwau. Wedi iddi hi gau gosodwyd y plâc yn eglwys St John yng nghanol y ddinas.
Yng ngogledd Caerdydd, un o’r cofebau allanol mwyaf tarawiadol yw honno a welir yn yr Eglwys Newydd. Ond ceir hefyd gofeb i’r plwyfolion a addolai yn eglwys Saint Mary, sy’n cynnwys 24 o enwau.
Hefyd yng ngogledd y ddinas, yn Llanishen, mae cofeb yn enwi 18 o wŷr.
Yn agosach at ganol y ddinas saif eglwys atyniadol St German. Nid dim ond cofeb i’r sawl a laddwd a berthynai i’r eglwys hon a welir (40 o enwau) ond hefyd o gynulleidfa St Agnes (40 enw).
Capeli
Roedd llawer mwy o gapeli Anghydffurfiol yng Nghaerdydd nag oedd o eglwysi Anglicanaidd. Mae rhai o’r cofebau welir yn y rhain yn sylweddol, megis cofeb Tabernacl, yr Ais, un y soniwyd amdani mewn blog arall.
I ddechrau gyda chofebau mwyaf cyffredin; ceir pump enw ar gofeb Eglwys Fethodistaidd yr Eglwysnewydd. Lladdwyd dau ohonynt (Charles Collier a David Williams) ym mrwydr Mametz Wood ar 7 Gorffennaf 1916, yn gwasanaethu gyda’r ‘Cardiff Pals’.
Pum enw geir hefyd ar gofeb yr Eglwys Ddiwygiedig Unedig (U.R.C. Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Parc y Rhath , cyn hynny). Lladdwyd un, sef Joseph Stephens, ym mrwydr Doiran yng ngogledd gwlad Groeg ar 18 Medi 1918 – fel llawer mwy o ddynion Caerdydd.
Y mae un-ar-ddeg o enwau ar gofeb Eglwys Efengylaidd Heath (Heath Presbyterian, gynt).
Y mae’r tair enghraifft uchod mewn adeiladau sy’n dal i gael eu defnyddio fel addoldai, ond caewyd llawr o gapeli Caerdydd. Symudwyd llawer o’r cofebion oddi mewn iddynt ond aeth eraill ar gol, ac mae’n amhosibl dweud sawl un a ddiflannodd.
Un enghraifft o gofeb sy’n dal yn y lle ble ei gosodwyd, er i’r adeilad beidio â bod yn gapel yw Pembroke Terrace, hen addoldy’r Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, sydd bellach yn dŷ bwyta, dan yr enw Chapel 1877. Ceir naw enw ar y gofeb.
Arferai cynulleidfa Ebeneser, yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg, gwrdd yn Charles Street, ond bellach defnyddir yr addoldy hwnnw fel canolfan gan yr Eglwys Gadeiriol Babyddol sydd gyferbyn. Ail-leolwyd y gofeb, sydd ag chwech o enwau arni, y tu allan i’r adeilad.
Mae enghraifft arall lle ail-leolwyd y gofeb i’w gweld yng Nghanolfan y Drindod, y Rhath – canolfan allgymorth yr Eglwys Fethodistaidd. Pan gaewyd eglwys gyfagos yn Broadway yn 1950, symudwyd y gofeb bres (ac arni 14 enw) a’r ffenestr liw yno.
Y gofeb olaf yn yr adran hon yw’r darn anarferol o gelfyddid a gomisiynwyd gan Salem, Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Treganna. Gofynnwyd i William Goscombe John, y cerflunydd a anwyd yng Nghaerdydd, i lunio cofeb i’r pump o’r gwŷr o’r capel a laddwyd yn y rhyfel. Y canlyniad annisgwyl oedd cerflun o ferch, a allai gynrychioli Britannia, neu efallai’r dduwies Rhufeinig, Minerva. Ni ddisgwyliech weld y naill na’r llall mewn capel Cymraeg!
Cofebau Eraill
Comisiynodd nifer eraill o glybiau a sefydliadau eu cofebau hwy eu hunain ar ôl y Rhyfel Mawr. Mae’n anodd amcangyfrif faint o rain a fu, a faint gafodd eu colli. Un enghraifft ddiddorol yw cofeb yr Oddfellows, y credir ei bod bellach ar goll; gweler gwefan Cymdeithas Hanes Lleol y Rhath
I orffen y rhestr hon o ugain o gofebau Caerdydd, mae un yng nghyfrinfa’r Seiri Rhyddion yn Guildford Crescent. Coffeir aelodau o chwe chyfrinfa gwahanol a fu farw yn y rhyfel ac enwir 32 o ddynion. Mae adnodd ar gael ar wefan BBC Cymru, gyda’r diweddar Barchg Dafydd Henri Edwards yn disgrifio’r gofeb hon – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0289qw5
Y mae dwsenni mwy o gofebau’r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf yng Nghaerdydd. Mae bâs data’r cofebau rhyfel a gasglwyd gan yr Amgueddfa Milwrol Ymerodrol (Imperial War Museum) yn cofnodi 102 o gofebau yn y ddinas, ond nid yw’r rhestr hon yn gyflawn, ac mae’n siwr y daw mwy i’r fei na ŵyr ymchwilwyr amdanynt hyd yn hyn.
Adnoddau pellach o fâs data Cofebau’r Amgueddfa Milwrol Ymerodrol :
Corfforaeth Caerdydd: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6647
Cardiff Railway company: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6670
Taff Vale Railway: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6669
Swyddfa’r Post Caerdydd: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60558
Cardiff Gas Light And Coke Company: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6673
Ysgol Uwchradd Caerdydd: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6657
Prifysgol Caerdydd: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6651
St James’: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60542
St German’s : https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/51037
St Agnes’: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/51030
St Andrew’s URC: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/17676
Heath Evangelical: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/37148
Pembroke Terrace: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/65213
Broadway Methodist: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/37643 and https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/50427
Seiri Rhyddion Caerdydd: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6675[:]