"The Welsh Language in Cardiff: A History of Survival" completely demolishes the myth perpetuated by many that Cardiff has always been an English-speaking town.
With the use of sources as varied as personal and field names, cour records, diaries and legal documents, Owen John Thomas shows conclusively that while the Welsh and English languages waxed and waned in the small walled town of Cardiff, both were actually always present.
We learn that Cardiff's labouring classes and prostitutes living out their lives in the slums spoke Welsh, as well as the city's middle class and sober chapel-going Nonconformists.
