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St Fagans Golf Club, Cardiff. (1890s)

The St Fagans Golf Club appeared during the 1890s.

It seems that the St Fagans club mostly played inter-club matches during its short life. The course was laid out in Lord Windsor’s Park.

The following is an extract from the Illustrated Sporting Dramatic News in March 1892 – “There are a good many private courses, notably St Fagans (in Lord Windsor’s Park).

A contributor has shared his thoughts on the history of the club – “In 1893 it played two matches (home and away) against The Glamorganshire that year and the same with Porthcawl the following year. It continued having two fixtures a year against Porthcawl up until 1896 and The Glamorganshire until 1894 though it played The Glamorganshire’s Second team in 1895. It also had a fixture against Swansea in 1894. 

I haven’t found any information as to when or how the club was formed. The links were laid out in Lord Windsor’s Park whose family seat was St Fagans Castle. Lord Windsor (the Earl of Plymouth as he became known) owned substantial tracks of land around the Cardiff area and was known to be interested in promoting various sporting pursuits, particularly rugby, cricket, tennis and golf.

In  the town of Penarth, where he originally owned most of the land, he granted the right to various sporting clubs to use his land at a nominal rent. The Glamorganshire Golf Club, founded in 1890, was one such club and he was made President of the club in recognition of this. In 1895, when the Welsh Golfing Union was founded, he again was made their first President. St Fagans Golf Club did not become a member of the Union.

I haven’t found any record of Lord Windsor ever having played for St Fagans Golf Club though he and his son would occasionally put in an appearance for St Fagans Cricket Club. He certainly played golf as there are recordings of him playing at The Glamorganshire.

Many of the club’s membership retained membership at The Glamorganshire and/or Porthcawl. One, a certain William Hastings Watson, has the distinction of winning the competition at The Glamorganshire when Dr Stableford first trialled his unique point scoring system in September 1898.

St Fagans was well placed for railway transport as the main Cardiff to Swansea line passed within a quarter of a mile of the Castle and there would undoubtedly have been a halt at that juncture.”

Result of a match played in May 1893.

From "Golf" Friday 12 May 1893.

The club captain in 1894 was E David.

Result of a match played on the St. Fagans course against Glamorganshire Golf Club in February 1894.

Western Mail Monday 12 February 1894. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Result of a mach against Porthcawl played in March 1894.

South Wales Daily News Saturday 17 March 1894. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Result of a match against Glamorganshire played in April 1895.

Western Mail Monday 15 April 1895. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Mention of ladies’ section in the South Wales Daily News Tuesday 17 March 1896 – “The ladies of the Glamorganshire Club are to play the ladies of the St. Fagans club on Friday next. This is the match that was postponed the other day”. The match went on to be played in “awful conditions” with the St. Fagans team winning by 17 up. 

Result of a match played in December 1898 against the now defunct Bary Golf Club on the Leys Links. 

South Wales Echo Tuesday 13 December 1898. With thanks to the National Library of Wales. All rights reserved.

Picture of the field where the Battle of St Fagans was fought. The probable location of the golf course.

Ordnance Survey Map from the 1890/1900s showing St Fagans Park 

O.S. Map Revised 1898; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1900}.

The Google Map below pinpoints the probable location of the golf course.