Cardiff's hidden canal uncovered as new city district takes shape

Work is underway to build two footbridges across the canal

It once helped transport supplies to Wales' capital, but for decades shoppers and visitors have been walking unaware of the canal below their feet.

After being hidden for more than 70 years, the paved-over history has been revealed as part of plans to create a "Canal Quarter" in Cardiff.

Around 70m of the canal, used to bring steel and iron to the city, is set to be uncovered by mid-September.

Work is also under way to build two footbridges across the canal.

Cardiff council said the new district would feature outdoor seating and help to manage traffic flow and surface water drainage in the city centre.

"A series of rain gardens will be built, with specific soil and planting to treat the surface water to remove pollutants before the water flows into the canal," councillor Dan De'Ath, cabinet member for strategic planning and transport said.

"This will ensure that 3,700 m2 of water will be diverted away from the sewage system each year, reducing the cost and energy of treating this water through the sewage pumping station at Cardiff Bay."

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The dock feeder on Churchill Way serviced the 25-mile-long Glamorganshire Canal from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff - which brought steel and iron down to the city.

It also provided water to the docks in Cardiff Bay, to ensure the docks could operate 24 hours a day, even at low tide.

It was paved over between 1948 and 1950 when the Glamorganshire Canal closed.