Tuesday 21 February 2017

The wild animals of Cardiff!

 We have just had a fantastic weekend in Wales catching up with Chris's brother which was lovely, quality family time, which was great.
We also got to explore Cardiff, city I had never spent time in before.  The castle is very impressive almost feels abit like a film set, well actually it has been a film set a few times,
 Dr Who, Game of Thrones etc.
But the thing that really wowed me was The Animal Wall that runs from the castle round the park.  Its so unusual, its beautiful.  
The wall was commissioned by the 3rd Marquess of Bute and the idea was put forward by the Victorian Architect William. But sadly he died before seeing it started.  It was the architect William Frame and sculptor Thomas Nicholls who finally brought the animals to life.
 There were nine animals originally which were completed in by 1892. 
These are easy to identify as they have glass eyes!






 Six more were added in the 1920s when the wall was extended, like this Beaver, 
and they dont have glass eyes!


Unusual, beautiful and surprising, I loved these, thank you Cardiff!!

2 comments:

  1. Those are wonderful photos. I knew I wanted to visit Wales.

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    1. They did totally take me by surprise, as I had never heard of them before! The best way of exploring I think. Thank you

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