Place:Ely, Glamorgan, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ely (Welsh: Trelái tref="town" + Elái=River Ely) is a community (or civil parish) primarily dominated by council housing in western Cardiff, capital of Wales. It had a population of 14,603 in the UK census of 2011.

In 1855, the first horse race took place at Ely Racecourse, which took over from the Great Heath racecourse.

The Ordnance Survey map from the early 1880s shows just how isolated the ancient Ely village was from the rest of Cardiff. Reports about travelling along the main road over Ely Common to Cardiff talk of pot holes and no shelter and a terrible journey on foot. Most of Ely was still farmland feeding Cardiff's population. A railway station had only recently been constructed, and this gave the surrounding area further potential for mass housing development.

The 'Ely Industrial School' on Cowbridge Road East was home to orphaned children originally from Cardiff. It had been set up to accommodate "pauper children" from 1863.

Ely's rapid expansion of housing began in the 1920s to provide 'homes fit for heroes' after World War I. This came with the construction of council houses to rehouse people from Cardiff's inner-city slums.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Glamorgan Lots of leads to other sources and descriptions of former parishes.
• The FamilySearch Wiki on Glamorgan has recently been updated (early 2016) and looks remarkably like Wikipedia. Their map "Glamorgan Parish Map.jpg" enlarges to show all the original parishes. The sub-section "Parishes of Historic Glamorgan" lists all the parishes of Glamorgan and the newer preserved counties and principal areas in both English and Welsh. (Currently this website is still under construction.)

Maps

The first three maps are provided by A Vision of Britain through Time

• A map of 1832 showing larger towns and some villages (not as good as the England county maps in this series).
• Ordnance Survey map of Glamorgan illustrating the parishes, rural districts, urban districts and boroughs as revised to 1899.
• A 1930s Ordnance Survey map of Glamorgan illustrating the parishes, rural districts, urban districts and boroughs as revised to 1944.

These maps were found on Wikimedia Commons

• Glamorgan Administrative Map 1947 separating the various types of administrations with colour coding. These division were most likely in place until 1974.
• A map of Wales outlining the prinicipal areas of Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan
• A map of Wales outlining the prinicipal areas of West Glamorgan
• A map of the Vale of Glamorgan principal area with the western part of Cardiff included

These maps of Glamorgan post-1974 were found on another site and are very useful for sorting out the up-to-date geography of the area

• A map of West Glamorgan showing the two principal areas and the towns located in them.
• A map of South Glamorgan showing the two principal areas and the towns located in them.
• A map of Bridgend, Merthyr and Rhondda showing the three principal areas and the towns located in them. The description states that this is "formerly part of Mid Glamorgan".
• A map of Caerphilly, Blaenau and Torfean showing the three principal areas and the towns located in them.