Captain Scott and Roath Park

On 15^th June 1910 Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his British Antarctic Expedition left from Cardiff Docks on the Terra Nova. Scott aimed to be the first to reach the South Pole. Welsh companies donated fuel and oil. Cardiff was named ‘home port’ of the Terra Nova. Scott and his four companions reached the South Pole but died trying to return. The ship returned to Cardiff in 1913.

The wooden figurehead from the Terra Nova was presented to Cardiff Corporation in 1913 by Liverpool shipbuilder Frederick Charles Bowring, Esq. It is now safely stored by the Museum of Wales.

During the ceremony, Mr Bowring announced that he would donate a clocktower as a memorial to Scott and the 1910 expedition. This would be constructed on the lake, roughly opposite where the Terra Nova figurehead stood. John Smith Clockmakers of Derby produced a clock for the tower, the design of which was agreed by the City’s Parks and Open Spaces Committee in March 1914.

The Scott Memorial (also known as the Lighthouse and the Clock Tower) was built between 1914 and 1915, with the lake being drained in 1914 to facilitate building the foundations. The memorial wasn’t officially presented to the City until October 14^th, 1918.

There is a plaque on the side of the Memorial facing the Promenade, which states that it is dedicated to the memory of Captain Scott and the members of the crew of S.S Terra Nova who sailed from Cardiff in 1910 and died in the Antarctic in 1912.

The tower is built over 3 levels, with the upper 2 separated by a concrete landing. Wooden ladders once connected the levels, but these have since been replaced by metal ones. A wind vane tops the tower, with a ship that is thought to be a replica of one of Scott’s ships.

The original clock mechanism had to be wound manually and this was a weekly task. Winding the clock was a physically difficult and time-consuming task. Access was awkward and required a head for heights. In the late 1970s, the mechanism was upgraded, with an electricity cable from the promenade installed to power the clock and light the clock faces.

In the autumn of 2020 the Scott Memorial was repainted after a local resident made a kind donation towards its restoration.

Roath park dam with lighthouse and play park