Wales and the Welsh are no longer a dismal joke
06 May 2009
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A decade after the first elections to the National Assembly of Wales, Harry Mount says that the principality is at last escaping its dire caricature. No, really
Cardiff itself has been spruced up, particularly the docks, home to the Assembly and its Senedd, or Senate, as Kingsley Amis would have called it. A great lover of Wales, Amis hated the gratuitous Welshification of English — taxi-tacsi and all that. Wales’s capital is once again the international hub it was when its old landlord, the Marquess of Bute, turned its docks into the world’s coal scuttle in the 19th century. Next to the grand new Millennium Stadium is the Marquess’s old home, Cardiff Castle, a unique palimpsest — Victorian splendour by William Burges, laid on top of a medieval castle, wrapped in a Norman motte and bailey, all on Roman foundations. A little further east are the finest baroque municipal buildings in Britain — the Edwardian city hall, law courts and National Museum of Wales (with a terrific Impressionist collection), built of gleaming white Portland stone.
The docks look onto Cardiff Bay and, beyond, to the Bristol Channel and the Somerset coast; behind the city, narrow green gulleys lead up to the valleys that produced the black gold that built the city. If you were in New York or London, you’d never stop banging on about this splendid combination of water, reclaimed industrial architecture and rural hinterland. Because it’s Wales, it must somehow be a lesser thing. It isn’t.
Harry Mount’s A Lust for Window Sills — a Lover’s Guide to British Buildings from Portcullis to Pebble-Dash is published by Little, Brown (£12.99).
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ian skidmore
May 7th, 2009 9:06am Report this commentIn modern Wales beauty is received more readily through he ear than th eye. You are right about the white buildings in Cardiff but do remember the Welsh Government turned them down as a headquarters an chose instead at great cost an example of the monstrous carbuncle school of architecture. It has made litle of its supreme gifts to the world, Ivor Novelo and Howard Spring and its history is largely fiction. The English are hated because it was successfully invaded by Edfward 1.This despite the fact his army of 15,000 included 11,000 Welshmen.ha
David Watkins
May 7th, 2009 2:57pm Report this comment"The English are hated". I really don't think so. It's true that a rugby victory over the English is particularly enjoyed in Wales - because England has more rugby players than any other country, and the English team is consequently the most formidable that Wales regularly encounters. (What would really gladden Welsh hearts is a victory over New Zealand - we've been waiting fir one for fifty-five years. Does this mean New Zealanders are hated in Wales?). When English teams play other countries most Welsh fans are either neutral or mildly pro-English - very unlike the Scots who notoriously will cheer for any team against England.
J
May 7th, 2009 11:30pm Report this commentGiven your reference to "Guinness-and-blarney Ireland and stags-and-malt-whisky Scotland" someone should point out that both stout and whisky were invented in Wales.
Good article.
Bill Corr
May 8th, 2009 8:38am Report this commentIan Skidmore observes that the Welsh political leadership jumped at the chance of occupying an example of the 'Monstrous Carbuncle' school of architecture.
Well, they would, wouldn't they what with being Third Worlders.
Plus the detested English were, and are, paying for it.
Wiliam Merrick
May 8th, 2009 10:25am Report this commentWhat rubbish is this? I was unaware that Wales had a bad reputation to live down - perfectly decent part of the UK. Glad to have them on board. This is just spin - part of fashionable victim mentality. It's time the Welsh realised that everyone else thinks they are perfectly normal!
JohnAnt
May 9th, 2009 4:18pm Report this commentYes, any Englishman venturing beyond the cities can't avoid noticing the manic anglophobia.
"Still, it has abolished NHS prescription charges in Wales, imposed a flat rate for residential care and charges lower fees for Welsh students at Welsh universities."
And all paid for by the generous English taxpayer. Gives me a warm feeling to think of it.(Or is that the cottage burning down?)
little boy blue
May 13th, 2009 8:59pm Report this commentQuote - JohnAnt
May 9th, 2009 4:18pm
.......
And all paid for by the generous English taxpayer. Gives me a warm feeling ...
end Quote.
you really have to wonder how the world would manage without the english, haven`t you.
Edward
June 9th, 2009 12:52pm Report this commentThe English as you put in were invaded and conquered by the French Normans.
Jane Pepper
June 16th, 2009 10:41am Report this commentAfter visiting Wales several times recently, I must admit that I have never seen such 'ugly' and bland housing. I ventured to look through the properties for sale and found page after page of rather neglected and unappealing properties. I am interested to know, where the Welsh architects have been hiding and why they still love the dreadful pebbledash that blights the beautiful countryside?
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