06 Canton Cross Vaults

History

Said to date from 1855¹ or 1860.²

It is clear from the OS map of 1879 that the inn was located within only a small portion of an extensive building (to its northernmost apsidal end). A brewery occupied much of the site at this time, located where existing warehouse buildings front Leckwith Road today (then known as Cross Street). To the west was a yard, partially enclosed by further buildings to the west and south, with a gated entrance to the north.

In 1891, alterations were undertaken to the brewery, by the Architect Gadlam & Son (Developer: Pearce & Co.)

In 1895, Canton Cross Brewery – still owned by Messrs. Pearce and Co. Ltd – went into liquidation. It was sold in 1904 to Messrs. W. Hancock and Co. and immediately shut down. Having been fitted out with the ‘latest machinery…to turn out 400 barrels a week’ (presumably as part of the alterations in 1891), the equipment was moved to Hancock’s own establishment and the empty brewery building leased out.

In the early hours of 27^th June 1908, the former brewery building (by this date in use as a furniture warehouse) was set ablaze. Fire spread rapidly to the stable building and to the roof of the Canton Cross Hotel, causing minor damage to both buildings. The former brewery building was ‘practically gutted’. Horses in the stable building were reportedly unharmed.

The former brewery was rebuilt the following year (1909), to designs by the Architects Veall & Saint (presumed to be those fronting Leckwith Road today) and it seems that at least some of the building was retained as an expanded public house. By the OS map of 1915, these replacement buildings clearly occupied much more of the rear yard and the early ancillary buildings were lost.

¹ See Pubs Cymru.

² See https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/309379?term=canton%20cross

Description

The Canton Cross vaults is a two-storey building with slated roof which terminates the terrace to Leckwith Road with an asymmetric apsidal end to its north. It is composed principally of random rubblestone, with dressed stone to its quoins and window surrounds.

The ground floor features an assortment of openings with segmental heads – large tripartite windows (surrounded by rounded chamfers with decorative stops), and 2 no. stopped-up doorways with a surviving entrance doorway to the very southern end of the eastern elevation.

Windows to the first floor have plain square stone surrounds, with a few surviving timber windows still in evidence.

A pitched roof two-storey outshot extends into the remainder of the yard to the west, where a number of other modern single-storey accretions are also in evidence.

The arched entrance to the rear yard still survives, formed in red brick and closed by framed-ledged-and-braced gates with ornate strap hinges.

Reason

Though diminutive and much amended, this building still holds Evidential and Historical Value for the later development of an early Canton Inn, said to be one of the oldest surviving public houses in the city.

Some 130 years of continuous use imparts strong Communal Value.

References

Documentary Evidence

Glamorgan Archives

BC/S/1/8283

1891 – Alterations to Brewery, Canton Cross Brewery, Canton – Architect: Gadlam & Son – Developer: Pearce & Co.

1 plan, no elevations

BC/S/1/9317

1893 – Sanitary Accommodation, Canton Cross Brewery, Alpha Street – Architect: Unknown – Developer: Pearce & Co.

1 Plan, no elevations.

BC/S/1/12042

1897 – Stables at Brewery, Canton Cross Brewery, Cross Street – Architect: J H Anderson – Developer: Bowden & Co.

4 Plans including Elevations.

BC/S/1/12347

1897 – Alterations to Brewery, Canton Cross Brewery, Cowbridge Road – Architect: J H Anderson – Developer: Bowden Wain & Watkins

3 Plans, no elevations

BC/S/1/12499

1897 – Alterations & Additions to Inn, Canton Cross Inn, Leckwith Road – Architect: J H Anderson – Developer: Bowden Wain & Watkins

2 Plans including Elevations

BC/S/1/17344

1909 – Rebuilding of Brewery, Canton Cross Brewery, Leckwith Road – Architect: Veall & Saint – Developer: W Hancock & Co Ltd.

2 Plans Inc. Elevations.

BC/S/1/19754

1917 – Stores to pub, Canton Cross Inn, Cowbridge Road – Architect: S Williams – Developer: W Hancock & Co Ltd

1 Plan, no elevation

BC/S/1/37752

1948 – Sign, Canton Cross Vaults, Leckwith Road – Architect: G R H Rogers – Developer: W Hancock & Co Ltd

2 Plans including elevations

DCONC/6/16a-d

1949-1958 – Canton Cross -Possible Plans

DX683/4/1-4

1961 – Photographs of floods in Canton, Cardiff in 1961. The following streets are shown: Atlas Road and Wellington Street, Cowbridge Road, Earl Place and Leckwith Road (showing the Boar’s Head Hotel), Leckwith Road (showing the Canton Cross Hotel)

Additional images

Posted on January 25, 2024.