Bute Docks Feeder Explained

The Bute Docks Feeder is a canal in Cardiff, Wales, constructed to provide a water source for the Cardiff docks.^[1]

Background

In July 1830 an Act was passed by King William IV allowing the Marquis of Bute to construct the Bute Ship Canal, a mile-long body of water connecting the sea to the Glamorganshire Canal. The Ship Canal was to be supplied with water via a feeder canal diverted from the River Taff, half a mile north of Cardiff Castle and running through the town.^[2] The feeder canal took about five years to complete, in the run up to the completion of the new dock in 1839^[3] (in 1835 it was reported to have already been extended past Cardiff Castle and into the Crockherbtown area of town).^[4]

The Bute East Dock was completed in 1859,^[5] with the dock feeder extended in the 1850s to provide water for the new dock.

The Corporation Baths were built on Guildford Crescent in 1862, whose swimming pools drew 1 million gallons of water from the dock feeder, which ran alongside it.

In 1945, Cardiff Corporation applied for permission to culvert over the dock feeder between Queen Street and Bute Terrace, which would create a wide new road^[6] - named Churchill Way in 1949 after the work had been completed.^[7]

Description

The feeder canal is diverted from the River Taff at Blackweir and follows a three and half mile route from this point to its destination at the Cardiff docks.^[3]

The canal provides approximately 50 million gallons of water each day to keep the docks full.^[3]

Churchill Way Canal Quarter

Plans were underway in 2022 to create a 'Canal Quarter' in the east of Cardiff city centre, with work was carried out to uncover the feeder canal in Churchill Way.^[8] Sixty-nine of the concrete beams were removed from above the canal, creating a new leisure area around the stretch of canal, which was officially opened in November 2023.^[9]

References

51.4728°N -3.1642°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bute Docks Feeder, Cardiff . . 22 April 2024 .
2. Book: Priestley, Joseph . Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways, of Great Britain . 115-116 . 1831 . London.
3. News: We explore the Victorian canal that feeds Cardiff's port . . 19 May 2015 . 22 April 2024.
4. News: Cardiff . . 3 . 28 March 1835 . Our Cardiff Correspondent informs us that the New Bute Ship Canal feeder is proceeding rapidly, that great progress is making at the back of the Castle Moat, and that the new line by Crockherbtown is fully laid open. .
5. Web site: Bute East Dock, Cardiff . Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales . 22 April 2024 .
6. News: Parliamentary Notice . . 2 . 4 December 1945 . Notice is hereby given that application has been made to Parliament by the Lord Mayor Alerman and Citizens of the City of Cardiff for leave to introduce a Bill in the session of 1945 - 46 ...To empower the Corporation to construct the following works in the City: Work No. 1 - The culverting over of so much of the channel, feeder, watercourse, tunnel or aqueduct constructed under the Bute Docks Act, 1834, for supplying water from the River Taff to the Bute Docks as is situate between the southern side of Queen-street and the northern side of Bute-terrace. Work No. 2 - Aroad commencing by a junction with Queen-street and terminating by a junction with Bute-terrace....
7. News: New Cardiff Street Will Be Called Churchill Way . Western Mail & South Wales News . 3 . 11 January 1949 .
8. News: Ben . Summer . Canal that ran through Cardiff city centre opened up after almost 80 years . . 7 September 2022 . 22 April 2024.
9. News: Ben . Summer . First look as Cardiff's historic dock feeder canal is officially opened to public after years underground . Wales Online . 24 November 2023 . 22 April 2024.