capital of Wales

Between the end of Roman rule and the conquest by Edward I in the late 13th century, Wales was usually divided between four kingdoms. There were only brief periods where the land was dominated by a single ruler, most notably by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in the 11th century.{{cite book|author=K. L. Maund|title=Ireland, Wales, and England in the Eleventh Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nja0RSLWq-AC&pg=PA216|year=1991|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-0-85115-533-3|pages=64–67}} Rather than being based in a fixed location, Welsh kings would maintain an itinerant court,The Welsh King and his Court, T. M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd E. Owen, Paul Russell (2000), p.326-7 as was the norm in medieval Europe.

In the past, multiple places have served as a seat of the government of Wales, including:

• Abergwyngregyn the seat of the Kingdom of Gwynedd
• Strata Florida Abbey, the Cistercian abbey where Llywelyn the Great held council in 1238.Burton, Janet (2019) "Authority and Conflict at the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Florida." Welsh History Review, 29 (3).
• Machynlleth, where Owain Glyndŵr held a parliament in 1404.{{cite news |title=Owain Glyndwr Centre in Machynlleth reopens |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-13810193 |access-date=21 December 2013 |work=BBC News |date=18 June 2013}}
• Ludlow (Welsh Llwydlo, in Shropshire, England), seat of the Council of Wales and the Marches from 1473 to 1689.{{cite web |last=Carradice |first=Phil |title=The Council of Wales and the Marches |date=7 November 2012 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/posts/the-council-of-wales-and-the-marches |access-date=21 December 2013}}

The ecclesiastical capital of Wales is St Davids, the resting place of the country's patron saint, Saint David.

In the 19th century, Cardiff grew to become the largest settlement in Wales, due to its role as a port for exporting coal from the South Wales Valleys. By 1881, it had overtaken both Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil to become the country's most populous urban area,{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Francis Michael Longstreth |title=The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750–1950 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=311 |isbn=978-0-521-43816-2 |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eozO2RzSAVUC&pg=PA311}} and in 1905, it received city status.{{cite book |last=Beckett |first=J.V. |title=City Status in the British Isles, 1830–2002 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd |year=2005 |page=2 |isbn=978-0-7546-5067-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqqSSOyjBEoC&pg=PP8 |access-date=2 October 2008}} In subsequent years, an increasing number of Welsh national institutions were founded in the city, including the National Museum of Wales (chartered in 1907), Welsh National War Memorial (unveiled 1928), and the Registry Building (1903) of the University of Wales. However, the National Library of Wales (chartered 1907) is located in Aberystwyth.{{cite web |title=About NLW |url=http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=6 |publisher=National Library of Wales |access-date=21 December 2013}} This was partly because the library's founder, Sir John Williams, did not think that Cardiff was a Welsh city in character.{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Davies |first2=Nigel |last2=Jenkins |first3=Menna |last3=Baines |first4=Peredur I. |last4=Lynch |title=The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |date=17 April 2008 |isbn=978-0-7083-1953-6 |editor-first=John |editor-last=Davies}} The investiture of the Prince of Wales took place within the shell of Caernarfon Castle when the ceremony was revived in 1911 and 1969. Since 1920, the election of the Archbishop of Wales has taken place in Llandrindod Wells, chosen for its central location.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=91jSDwAAQBAJ&dq=Llandrindod+Wells+archbishop+1920&pg=PA103|title=A New History of the Church in Wales: Governance and Ministry, Theology and Society|first=Norman|last=Doe|date=5 March 2020|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108603201 |via=Google Books}}

In the 20th century, Welsh local authorities debated where a new capital of Wales should be, with 76 out of 161 opting for Cardiff in a 1924 poll, organised by the South Wales Daily News.{{cite journal |author=Prof. Martin Johnes |url=https://www.academia.edu/716868 |title=Cardiff: The Making and Development of the Capital City of Wales |year=2012 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=509–28 |journal=Contemporary British History |doi=10.1080/13619462.2012.676911 |s2cid=144368404}} The authorities were mostly split between Cardiff and Caernarfon, with a smaller faction supporting Aberystwyth. The discussions stalled and progress was not made until 1950.

The government of the Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, had not named a capital of Wales during his government. Attlee noted that a number of cities made claims to the status, and that the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire did not raise what he considered to be a "domestic issue" with the Government.{{Cite web |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1950/jun/13/capital-city |title=Capital City (Hansard, 13 June 1950) |website=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |date=13 June 1950 |access-date=20 December 2018}} In his inaugural speech as Lord Mayor of Cardiff, George Williams argued that Cardiff should be considered the capital of Wales.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1950-06-13a.23.5 |title=Capital City: 13 Jun 1950: House of Commons debates |website=TheyWorkForYou |language=en |access-date=20 December 2018}} David Llewellyn was elected MP for Cardiff North in 1950 and also campaigned for recognising Cardiff. Campaigning for Cardiff stepped up and the city took steps to promote its 'Welshness'. The stalemate over which city should be the new capital was broken when Cardiganshire County Council decided to support Cardiff and, in a 1955 poll of local authorities, 134 out of 161 voted for the city.

On 20 December 1955, Gwilym Lloyd-George, then Minister for Welsh Affairs and Home Secretary, proclaimed that Cardiff was the capital of Wales, in a reply to a Parliamentary question from David Llewellyn. Lloyd-George said that "no formal measures are necessary to give effect to this decision"[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1955/dec/20/capital-of-principality-cardiff Hansard 20 December 1955 vol 547 cc310-1W] The Encyclopedia of Wales says that the decision to recognise the city as the capital of Wales "had more to do with the fact that it contained marginal Conservative constituencies than any reasoned view of what functions a Welsh capital should have".

Cardiff only became a centre of national administration with the establishment of the Welsh Office in 1964, which later prompted the creation of various other public bodies such as the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Development Agency, most of which were based in Cardiff.

In a 1997 referendum, Wales narrowly voted in favour of establishing the National Assembly for Wales (now known as the Senedd), although only 44% supported the proposal in Cardiff.{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44411917 |title=The road to the National Assembly for Wales |date=2000 |publisher=University of Wales Press |last1=Jones |first1=J. Barry |last2=Balsom |first2=Denis |isbn=0-7083-1492-9 |location=Cardiff |oclc=44411917}}{{cite web |url=http://www.swansea.ac.uk/history/research/Wales%20the%20Postnation.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408201247/http://www.swansea.ac.uk/history/research/Wales%20the%20Postnation.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 April 2008 |title=Wales: The Post-Nation |access-date=20 May 2008}} Due to the relative lack of support for the Assembly locally, and disagreements between the Welsh Office and Cardiff Council over where it should sit, there was a brief period of speculation that the Assembly would be established elsewhere.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/34653.stm |title=Where To Now for the Welsh Assembly? |date=25 November 1997 |publisher=BBC Wales |access-date=20 May 2008}}{{cite web |url=http://ossw.wales.gov.uk/2006/foi/foi_20060920_15.pdf |title=Welsh Assembly Accommodation |date=2 October 1997 |access-date=20 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528025511/http://ossw.wales.gov.uk/2006/foi/foi_20060920_15.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2008}} However, the Assembly eventually located at Tŷ Hywel in Cardiff Bay in 1999. It has been based there ever since, moving to its present building in 2006.{{cite news |url=https://www.thenational.wales/environment/19795023.architect-richard-rogers-designed-senedd-died/ |title=Architect Richard Rogers who designed the Senedd has died |last=Owen |first=Twm |date=19 December 2021 |work=The National |access-date=19 December 2021}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Geography of Wales}}

Category:1955 introductions

Category:1955 establishments in Wales

Wales

Category:Politics of Wales

Category:History of Cardiff

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