Rhydlafar
Rhydlafar is a small settlement in Wales located on the outskirts of Cardiff being around 5 miles west of the city centre and 5 miles south-east of Llantrisant. The village falls within the community and ward of Creigiau & St Fagans. It was formerly the site of the specialist Prince of Wales Orthopaedic Hospital, and the settlement essentially comprises a recent housing estate development built over the former hospital.
Location
The A4119 road lies just to the south, the dismantled railway of the Penrhos branch of the Barry Railway is immediately east, and the M4 bounds the settlement to the north.[1]
Etymology
The name probably originates from the Welsh language word rhyd ('ford': see also 'Rhydaman' or 'Ammanford', etc.) and the stream 'Llafar' ('spoken', 'voiced') which flows nearby; thus the meaning could be rendered 'Ford on the (river) Llafar' with Llafar being a common name for streams roughly equivalent to "babbling" in English (e.g. "a babbling brook"). Incidentally, 'llafar' is Welsh for 'speech' or 'chat'.[2]
The hospital
The Prince of Wales Orthopaedic Hospital was a specialist health facility which closed in 1998.[3] The site previously occupied by the hospital is now a housing development on a landscaped site.[4]
References
- Concise Road Atlas: Britain. AA Publishing. 2015. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0-7495-7743-8.
- Owen, Hywel Wyn; Morgan, Richard (2007). Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales. Gomer. pp. 215, 418. ISBN 978-1-84323-901-7.
- "The Prince of Wales Hospital 1953 - 1998". Parc Rhydlafar. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- "Cardiff Community Boundary Review" (PDF). City of Cardiff Council. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
External links
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