Cooling to Cliffe Kent Circular walk 27.12.24

GPX File here.

On Friday the 27th December 2024, Ian and I drove the hours drive to Cooling in Kent for a walk.

We parked outside St James Church on Main Road and walked over to look at the church.

St James Church was used in Charles Dickens Book 'Great Expectations'.

This is an excerpt from the first chapter of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It’s full of atmosphere and mystery as the hero, Pip, conscious that he is alone in the world, contemplates the graves of his family in a Kent churchyard. Then Magwitch, the escaped convict, comes up from the marshes and finds him. Pip’s life will never be the same again.

"I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister — Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, “Also Georgiana Wife of the Above,” I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine — who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle — I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers—pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence.

Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip."

In the churchyard is a row of 13 children's gravestones, measuring about 18 inches (46 cm) long; these have come to be known as "Pip's Graves".

The church originates from the 13th century, with its building continuing into the following century. The upper part of the tower was added later, and was completed by about 1400. The church was restored in the 19th century, when a vestry was added, and the porch was rebuilt. It was declared redundant on 19 November 1976 and vested in the Churches Conservation Trust on 31 May 1978. It is now cared for by a group known as the Friends of St James' Church. The church is open daily to visitors.

The churchyard provided the inspiration for the opening chapter of Charles Dickens' book Great Expectations, in which the hero of the story, Pip, meets the convict, Magwitch. In 2005 the musician Jools Holland married the sculptor Christabel McEwan in the church.

St James' is constructed in a variety of stone, including ragstone, flint and chalk, with some repairs in sandstone. The roofs are tiled. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel with a south vestry, and a west tower. The windows in the nave date from the early 14th century, and those in the chancel from the 15th century.

We leave the Church and walk along Cooling Road.

We pass Cooling Castle.

Cooling Castle is a 14th-century quadrangular castle in the village of Cooling, Kent on the Hoo Peninsula about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Rochester. It was built in the 1380s by the Cobham family, the local lords of the manor, to guard the area against French raids into the Thames Estuary. The castle has an unusual layout, comprising two walled wards of unequal size next to each other, surrounded by moats and ditches. It was the earliest English castle designed for the use of gunpowder weapons by its defenders.

Despite this distinction, the use of gunpowder weapons against the castle proved devastating. It was captured after only eight hours when Sir Thomas Wyatt besieged it in January 1554 during his unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary. His attack badly damaged the castle, and it was subsequently abandoned and allowed to fall into disrepair. A farmhouse and outbuildings were constructed among the ruins a century later. Today the farmhouse is the home of the musician Jools Holland, while the nearby barn is used as a wedding venue.

It was built between 1381 and 1385 to protect the River Thames. It has a double bailey, the eastern side having a tower in each corner and earth walls in between surrounded by a dry moat and accessed through the ornate gateway. The smaller western bailey has stone walls which are still at least half their original height with a tower in each corner and a wet moat on three sides. The entrance is through the eastern bailey on the fourth side. It is now in ruins with a more recent house inside the grounds but the gatehouse remains in good condition. The castle was besieged in 1554 and suffered damaged by cannon fire.

Private, but can be seen from the road. The barns next to the castle are now used as a wedding venue.

Just a short way pass the castle we take a footpath on our right marked Saxon Shore Way.

We follow this over farmland alongside an orchard and out onto Rye Street. We follow this for a short way before we take a footpath not sign posted over Port View farm.

We follow along farmland and Cliffe comes into view. We walk through an estate of houses on Swingate avenue Very uninteresting before reaching a community shop where we turned right.

We come out opposite the Six Bells Pub, sadly far too early for it to be open. 

The Six Bells has been in the village since the 16th century, it was once accompanied by twelve other pubs, however we are now the last functioning public house. The reason for the name of the establishment is The St Helens Church which is located next door, which holds 6 bells.

We are now walking along Church Street.

Cliffe is on the Hoo Peninsula, reached from the Medway Towns by a three-mile (4.8 km) journey along the B2000 road. Situated upon a low chalk escarpment overlooking the Thames marshes, Cliffe offers views of Southend-on-Sea and London. In 774 Offa, King of Mercia, built a rustic wooden church dedicated to St Helen, a popular Mercian saint who was by legend the daughter of Coel ("Old King Cole") of Colchester. Cliffe is cited in early records as having been called Clive and Cliffe-at-Hoo. In 1961 the parish had a population of 2239. On 1 April 1997 the parish was abolished to form "Cliffe & Cliffe Woods", part of which consisting of Frindsbury Extra.

St Helens Church

The Grade I listed St Helen's Church at Cliffe was built about 1260 and was constructed in the local style of alternating layers of Kent ragstone and squared black flint. It is one of the largest parish churches in Kent, and the only one dedicated to St Helen, the size of the church revealing its past importance. It contains wall paintings of the martyrdom of St. Edmund, a Jacobean pulpit, and fine stone carvings.

Above the porch is a muniments room containing important historical documents.

During the 14th century Cliffe was the site of a farm owned by the monks of Christ's Church, Canterbury, when the village had a population of about 3,000. In the late Middle Ages the village of Cliffe supported a port, which thrived until a disastrous fire in 1520 stifled its growth, marking a period of decline, accentuated by the silting of the marshes of the Thames Estuary. Cliffe-at-Hoo was still considered a town in the 16th century, but by the middle of the 19th century the population had slumped to about 900.

Clovesho, or Clofeshoch, was an ancient Saxon town, in Mercia and near London, where the Anglo-Saxon Church is recorded as holding the important Councils of Clovesho between 742 and 825. These had representation from the archbishopric of Canterbury and the whole English church south of the Humber. The location of Cloveshoo has never been successfully identified, but in the 18th century Cliffe was thought to be one possible location.

We follow a track called Pickles Way, an unmade road full of potholes and the marshes to one side.

The rise of the Kent cement industry brought a new prosperity to the ancient settlement during the Victorian era.

Alfred Francis (second son of Charles), with his son, established the firm of Francis and Co. at the Nine Elms office at Vauxhall, London, and then built the cement works at Cliffe in about 1860. Francis and Co instituted the Nine Elms cement works . These works were built on Cliffe marsh, to the west of the village where the chalk cliffs came almost to within a mile of the River Thames. The area also proved a useful source of clay.

Alfred Francis died in 1871, but in partnership his son continued to produce "Portland, Roman, Medina and Parian cement, Portland stucco and Plaster of Paris", also shipping chalk, flints and fire bricks, from the site.

The riverside location provided ease of transport and wharves were duly built at the mouth of Cliffe creek. A canal was constructed from the works, which gave its name to a tavern built nearby, now long demolished but remembered as the Canal Tavern.

1870–71 saw further developments to the cement works, which were rebuilt and extended, with an elaborate tramway added. Methods of extracting the chalk were basic, involving the labourer being suspended by a rope (around his waist) secured at the cliff top, from which position he would hack out the chalk, so that it fell to the ground below to be collected in a waiting railway wagon.

Further to the north of the Francis and Company works near the river, an explosive works (Curtis and Harvey) opened in 1901. Over the factory's 20-year history, 16 people were to lose their lives in explosions.

Francis and Company was taken over about 1900 by the British Portland Cement Company, but after the Great War the cement works began to decline, and was finally phased out in 1920–21.

By 1901 the population of Cliffe exceeded 3,000.

Pickles Way eventually reaches RSPB Cliffe Pools.

We marvel at the magnificent array of water birds that rest, breed and feed at Cliffe Pools, with a backdrop of lagoons, pools and the River Thames beyond.

The open horizons of Cliffe Pools provide a brilliant birdwatching backdrop. Look out across the pools, lagoons and the River Thames beyond as waders and wildlfowl make the most of the wetland landscape. Spring sees breeding Avocets and Common Terns enjoying the saltwater pools, while summer brings a mix of migrant birds to the reserve. Autumn marks the arrival of winter thrushes and wintering waders, as songbirds depart for sunnier shores. As for winter, it’s busy season as vast flocks of ducks, Dunlins and Lapwings gather.

Coastguard Radar Tower, Cliffe

Located on a low ridge of chalk, this radar station covers the Thames Estuary.

We follow the road around the pools.

We pass Car parks, Quarries and a aggregate plant. Not the most picturesque, hard to judge when mapping route out on the OS map.

Eventually passing the Eternal lake reserve, which looks nice with the Pure planet café, stone circle etc but sadly all closed and gates locked so we couldn't look about or grab a cuppa from the café!

Eternal Lake Reserve

So walking on we turn left at the top of the road and follow this for a short way before turning right onto Higham Road and we follow this back through Cliffe and across the roundabout onto Cooling Road.

We take a footpath across farmland that had two metal detectorists working the field.

We exit out onto Cooling Street.

Here we stopped to say hello to a horse that wasn't the slightest bit interested in us and continued to eat.

We leave Cooling Street via a stile and walk across the paddocks.

Due to poor signage we walked about and ended up taking the wrong path, so instead of backtracking we hopped fences and walked across rough ground and long grass which resulted with Ians walking shoes letting through water and getting wet feet.

We eventually make our way back onto Cooling Road and passing the Cooling Castle again and back to the church and car.

Cooling was recorded in the Domesday Book when it was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux (half-brother of William the Conqueror). The most notable surviving feature of the village is Cooling Castle, built on the edge of the marshes during the 12th century to defend the neighbouring port of Cliffe from the threat of French raiders.

Not the most exciting walks probably marred with the grey misty weather, but some points of this 6 mile walk were nice. Now to drive home!

Weekend away to Cardiff, Wales for Those Damn Crows 14-15th December 2024

On Saturday 14th December 2024, Mel and I drove down to Cardiff to see Those Damn Crows play a gig there.

We arrived at the room at 189 Cathedral Road CF11 9PN we had booked only to find there was no parking outside due to Rugby in town. I managed to find parking at Pontcanna Field Car Park that was free to park at the weekends and half a mile from the room.

 We unpacked in the room and then walked into town to see the Christmas markets before the gig.

We walked through Sophia Gardens and up to Cardiff Castle to see the Christmas Market here.

Cardiff Castle  is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. The castle was commissioned either by William the Conqueror or by Robert Fitzhamon, and formed the heart of the medieval town of Cardiff and the Marcher Lord territory of Glamorgan. In the 12th century the castle began to be rebuilt in stone, probably by Robert of Gloucester, with a shell keep and substantial defensive walls being erected. Further work was conducted by The 6th Earl of Gloucester in the second half of the 13th century. Cardiff Castle was repeatedly involved in the conflicts between the Anglo-Normans and the Welsh, being attacked several times in the 12th century, and stormed in 1404 during the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr.

After being held by the de Clare and Despenser families for several centuries, the castle was acquired by The 13th Earl of Warwick and Comte de Aumale in 1423. Lord Warwick conducted extensive work on the castle, founding the main range on the west side of the castle, dominated by a tall octagonal tower. Following the Wars of the Roses, the status of the castle as a Marcher territory was revoked and its military significance began to decline. The Herbert family took over the property in 1550, remodelling parts of the main range and carrying out construction work in the outer bailey, then occupied by Cardiff's Shire Hall and other buildings. During the English Civil War Cardiff Castle was initially taken by a Parliamentary force, but was regained by Royalist supporters in 1645. When fighting broke out again in 1648, a Royalist army attacked Cardiff in a bid to regain the castle, leading to the Battle of St Fagans just outside the city. Cardiff Castle escaped potential destruction by Parliament after the war and was instead garrisoned, probably to protect against a possible Scottish invasion.

In the mid-18th century, Cardiff Castle passed into the hands of the Stuart dynasty, Marquesses of Bute. John, 1st Marquess of Bute, employed Capability Brown and Henry Holland to renovate the main range, turning it into a Georgian mansion, and to landscape the castle grounds, demolishing many of the older medieval buildings and walls. During the first half of the 19th century the family became extremely wealthy as a result of the growth of the coal industry in Glamorgan. However, it was the 3rd Marquess of Bute who truly transformed the castle, using his vast wealth to back an extensive programme of renovations under William Burges. Burges remodelled the castle in a Gothic revival style, lavishing money and attention on the main range. The resulting interior designs are considered to be amongst "the most magnificent that the gothic revival ever achieved". The grounds were re-landscaped and, following the discovery of the old Roman remains, reconstructed walls and a gatehouse in a Roman style were incorporated into the castle design. Extensive landscaped parks were built around the outside of the castle.

In the early 20th century, the 4th Marquess of Bute inherited the castle and construction work continued into the 1920s. The Bute lands and commercial interests around Cardiff were sold off or nationalised until, by the time of the Second World War, little was left except the castle. During the war, extensive air raid shelters were built in the castle walls; they could hold up to 1,800 people. When the Marquess died in 1947, the castle was given to the City of Cardiff. Today the castle is run as a tourist attraction, with the grounds housing the "Firing Line" regimental museum and interpretation centre. The castle has also served as a venue for events, including musical performances and festivals.

We had a wander through the Castle Arcade.

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Built in the late 18th century, Castle Arcade is famed for its beautiful balcony that offers spilt level shopping and superb views of its Victorian architecture.

Back out onto Castle Street we walk around towards Winter Wonderland.

But first we ducked back inside the Castle to see it lit up for some photos.

We leave the Castle, wander onto Duke Street and over to Gorsedd Gardens.

We approach Winter Wonderland.

As we walk to Winter Wonderland, we could see just how busy it was and decide not to enter, probably just like London's, over priced and silly busy.

We wander down St John Street and through a busy Christmas market.

St John The Baptist City Parish Church looks great lit up behind the market.

The church was built in 1180 as a chapel of ease for the larger St Mary's Church, itself founded by Benedictine monks from Tewkesbury Abbey. Originally constructed of blue Lias, a Jurassic stone with layers of fossilised shells, it was sourced from Aberthaw. The walls were then originally dressed with freestone - limestone sourced from Dundry.

St John's was sacked during a rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr in 1404. The church was rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century and given a perpendicular tower with a peal of ten bells. Today it still has a crown of openwork battlements, reminiscent of churches in the West Country of England, and is dated c. 1490 because of the similar Jasper Tower of Llandaff Cathedral which was built at this time.

After the foundations of St Mary's were destroyed by the Bristol Channel flood of 1607, the two churches were worked as a dual-location parish until all main services were moved to St John in 1620.

In 1843, the 2nd Marquess of Bute paid for the construction of the Church of St Mary and St Stephen in Bute Street as a permanent replacement for St Mary's. This allowed the reconstruction of St John, with extensions to the church made in 1886–1897 using carboniferous limestone quarried from Culverhouse Cross. The churchyard wall was also rebuilt, using original Lias mixed with red sandstone in the walls, topped with coping stones of Devonian sandstones from the Forest of Dean.

In 1851 the Cardiff firm of Messrs. Thomas & Norris were engaged for repewing of St John's with the work to be completed by Christmas that year.

St John's stained glass windows date from circa 1855, in the north chapel, with references to the Bute family. Those in the north inner aisle date to 1869, by Morris & Co, with a top row of apostles designed by William Morris himself.

The church was increased in width with outer aisles added to St John's in 1889 and 1891. The old aisle windows were re-set and all the new building was re-surfaced with Sweldon limestone.

The graveyard, already full, was divided by a new public pathway in the 1890s connecting Working Street with Cardiff Central Market. As part of the agreement for the new path, Cardiff Corporation agreed to take responsibility for the graveyard south of the path. This later became St John's Gardens. The path is still owned by the church and is closed every Good Friday. Brass numbers on the path mark the location of graves and family tombs.

In 1952 St John's became a Grade I listed building, of exceptional architectural and historical interest.

The church serves as the priory church for Wales of the Order of Saint John.

We reach Hayes Place where there is a huge advertisement for the new Squid Games 2.

We walk over and find the Utilita Stadium where the gig is, but we are too early for entry so we walk back to Hayes Place.

We then headed into St David's Shopping Centre to a Costa for a drink.

Eventually it was time and we walked back to the Utilita Stadium for the gig.

The first act was the Himalayas. Okay band but wasn't blown away by them.

Himalayas are a Welsh rock group from Cardiff, Wales, formed in 2015. The group currently consists of Mike Griffiths (lead guitar and backing vocals), Joe Williams (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Louis Heaps (bass) and James Goulbourn (drums).

The group are described as energetic live performers, offering music with "seductive guitar lines, hip bass parts that will groove you to the core all driven by an avalanche of drums."

Next up was Sophie Lloyd, and boy can she play, enjoyed this set!

Sophie Lloyd (born 22 October 1995) is a British guitarist. Since 2011, she has gained international recognition on YouTube as a rock and metal guitarist. She has been a guitarist in Machine Gun Kelly's touring band, which she joined in 2022. Her debut EP "Delusions" was released in 2018. Her debut solo album, Imposter Syndrome, was released in 2023.

Finally what we have waited for , for so long, Those Damn Crows!!

The band Those Damn Crows' biggest headline show to date was at Cardiff's Utilita Arena on Saturday, December 14, 2024. The show was the band's only UK headline show of 2024.

Those Damn Crows are a Welsh rock band formed in 2014 in Bridgend, Wales. We started following them in 2016!

The band quickly started building a loyal following and gaining traction through appearances at the likes of Steelhouse Festival, and receiving airplay on BBC Radio Wales as well as being declared "Ones to Watch" by the UK's Planet Rock radio station in November 2017 and "New Band of the Week" in Metal Hammer magazine in 2018. The band signed a worldwide, multi-album deal with Nottingham-based independent record label Earache Records on 14 May 2018 and released their debut album Murder and the Motive on 5 October 2018. The album landed at number 5 on the Official UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and number 5 on the Independent Album Breakers Chart. (The album had previously been released by the band in 2016 as a self-financed project with several different tracks. This copy is highly sought after by fans.)

The band formed in 2014 in Bridgend, Wales, with vocalist Shane Greenhall, guitarist Ian "Shiner" Thomas, bassist Lloyd Wood and drummer Ronnie Huxford, with second guitarist David Winchurch joining the band soon after. The band's name came from Huxford's father—himself a former musician who played with some of the most famous names of the day, including Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield and P.J. Proby—who was feeding the birds in his garden one day when he shouted "Those damn crows!". Ronnie took the idea to the other members and they quickly settled on it as their band name.

      

Albums

Murder and the Motive (2018)

Point of No Return (2020) No. 14 UK[10]

Inhale/Exhale (2023) No. 3 UK

Inhale/Exhale Expanded Edition (2024)

Singles

Blink Of An Eye (piano version) (2018)

Wake Up (Sleepwalker) (2022)

Man On Fire (2022)

This Time I'm Ready (2022)

See You Again (2023)

Takedown (2023)

Let's Go Psycho! (2024)

Glass Heart (2024)

Still (2024)

Eagerly awaiting the fourth Studio album in April 2025. The three released songs from this album are amazing!

 

Well what a gig! Fantastic set with pyrotechnics and more. Great to see TDC play such a big venue. Sad that the local gigs to me in March 2025 are sold out. Small venues and the first time since Ive followed them we haven't been able to get tickets :( 

We walked back to our room after a great gig. I retrieved the car and parked outside the room now the road has emptied.

Sunday 15th December 2024

We woke up the next day and drove over to Cardiff Bay, as Mel hasn't seen it before and we could grab some breakfast from the Wetherspoon there.

Cardiff Bay is a diverse waterfront built around a 200 hectare freshwater lake known as ‘the Bay’. Find a great mix of Cardiff attractions, entertainment and events, coupled with vibrant bars and shops that create a truly unique atmosphere worthy of any capital city!

The Norwegian Church Arts Centre (Welsh: Canolfan Gelfyddydau'r Eglwys Norwyaidd) is a point of cultural and historical interest located in Cardiff Bay (Tiger Bay), Wales. It was a Lutheran Church, consecrated in 1868. Under the patronage of The Norwegian Seamen's Mission it provided home comforts, communication with family and a place of worship for Scandinavian sailors and the Norwegian community in Cardiff for over a hundred years.

In the 19th century, Cardiff was one of Britain's three major ports, along with London and Liverpool. The Norwegian merchant fleet at the time was the third largest in the world, and Cardiff became one of the major centres of its operations.

Sjømannskirken – the Norwegian Church Abroad organisation, which is part of the Church of Norway – followed in its footsteps. Under Carl Herman Lund from Oslo, a Church was built in 1868 in Cardiff Bay between the East and West Docks on land donated by the John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, to serve the religious needs of Norwegian sailors and expatriates.

Consecrated in December 1868, the church was clad in iron sheets on the instruction of the harbourmaster, to allow it to be moved if necessary. However, the construction form allowed it to be extended many times:1883: Reading room enlarged

1885: Gallery and bell-tower added

1894: Reading room enlarged, reclad in wood

Known until this point as the Norwegian Iron Church, it now became known as the Little White Church, and became a welcome home point for sailors. Resultantly, and open to all sailors as a mission offering food and shelter, between 1867 and 1915 the number of visiting sailors to the church rose from 7,572 to 73,580 seamen per annum.

We walk around the bay and pass the Welsh Senedd (Parliament).

The Senedd, officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was officially known as the National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) and was often simply called the Welsh Assembly.

The Senedd comprises 60 members who are known as members of the Senedd (Aelodau o'r Senedd), abbreviated as "MS" (Welsh: AS). Since 2011, members are elected for a five-year term of office under an additional member system, in which 40 MSs represent smaller geographical divisions known as "constituencies" and are elected by first-past-the-post voting, and 20 MSs represent five "electoral regions" using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation. Typically, the largest party in the Senedd forms the Welsh Government.

A National Assembly for Wales was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, following the result of the 1997 referendum. The Assembly initially had no powers to make primary legislation. Limited law-making powers were gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011, meaning that the UK Parliament or the Secretary of State for Wales were no longer consulted when passing acts of the National Assembly for Wales related to the 20 devolved areas. These powers were further extended by the Wales Act 2014 and Wales Act 2017, with the latter moving the Assembly to a reserved powers model of devolution like that of the Scottish Parliament. In May 2020, the Assembly was renamed to "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament" when section 2 of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 came into force. The Senedd's powers in economic matters are significantly restricted by the UK Internal Market Act 2020, a primary purpose of which is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy. Matters devolved to the Senedd include health, education, economic development, transport, the environment, agriculture, local government and some taxes.

We the pass The Pierhead Building another iconic building.

The Pierhead Building (Welsh: Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade I listed building of the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay. It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company.

The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben" or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum.The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the National Assembly for Wales, which also includes the Senedd and Ty Hywel.

Incorporating a French-Gothic Renaissance theme, the Pierhead boasts details such as hexagonal chimneys, carved friezes, gargoyles, and a highly ornamental and distinctive clock tower. Its exterior is finished in glazed terracotta blocks supplied at the end of the nineteenth century by JC Edwards & Co of Acrefair near Ruabon in Wrexham – once described as one of the most successful producers of terracotta in the world.These features, along with the Pierhead's role in the development of the docks, Cardiff and industrial Wales earned it the status of a Grade One listed building.

Merchant Seaman’s Memorial, Cardiff.

Merchant Seaman’s Memorial is an award winning sculpture, fusing together a sleeping head and a ship’s hull. The sculpture is sited in front of the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay. It was constructed using the traditional ship building technique of riveting plates of metal together.

We stopped in the Wetherspoons pub here (The Mount Stuart) for breakfast and a cuppa before a fleeting look at the bay.

This former dock building was erected in the 1880s and served as the long-time offices of the Mount Stuart Dry Docks Company Ltd. The offices were built alongside Graving Dock No.1, part of Cardiff Docks, built by the Marquesses of Bute. The now-demolished Mount Stuart public house stood just outside the dock gates. Both the dock offices and the pub were named after the Marquesses’ ancestral home on the Isle of Bute.

Mel and The Pierhead Building.

We leave the pub and a final walk around before heading back to the car.

We passed The Millennium Centre and had a quick look inside on our return to the car.

Wales Millennium Centre (Welsh: Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales.

The centre has hosted performances of Opera, Ballet, Dance, Theatre, comedy and Musicals.

The Centre comprises one large theatre and two smaller halls with shops, bars and restaurants. It houses the national orchestra and opera, dance, theatre and literature companies, a total of eight arts organisations in residence. It is also home to the Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre.

Inscribed on the front of the dome, above the main entrance, are two poetic lines, written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis in the Welsh and English languages. The lettering is formed by windows in the upstairs bar areas and is internally illuminated at night.

The idea of this monumental inscription comes from Roman classical architecture. The Romans brought Christianity to these islands, along with the custom of engraving stone. The form of the Celtic cross embodies the cross-fertilisation of indigenous and Roman cultures, from which the Welsh nation first emerged. The monumental inscription is a familiar feature of Roman architecture. The inscription over the entrance of the Wales Millennium Centre is a revival of this classical tradition, and also a recognition of the formative influence of Roman culture upon our nation. We’re lucky to have two languages; one that we share with half the world and one which belongs just to us. Words in songs, stories and poems have helped to make Wales the proud country that it is. —architect Jonathan Adams.

Now back at the car for the journey home. Another great weekend in Cardiff and a great gig as always with TDC!