Windsor Square and Stockland Square, Caerphilly
What began as a pragmatic bin storage strategy quietly ended up transforming two central public spaces under Caerphilly’s 2035 Placemaking Plan.
Windsor and Stockland Squares provide vital links between residential streets and Caerphilly’s main shopping area, but over time they’d started to feel neglected. Waste bins cluttered the corners, tree roots had upheaved the paving, and public artwork was hidden from view. And so the council’s brief—better bin storage—prompted a broader question: could these small squares become places people actually want to spend time?
Softening the squares
Working with Cowshed Communication, we introduced a new visual palette that aligns with the town’s wider regeneration and the nearby Ffos Caerffili market.
A muted green—’Caerphilly Mountain Green’—runs through the new street furniture, while design motifs of reeds and geese offer a subtle nod to the castle and surrounding landscape.
The design also tackles surface water through rain gardens, with low-maintenance grasses and moisture-tolerant perennials providing seasonal texture without demanding intensive upkeep.
A public realm with poetry and purpose
We also took the opportunity to refresh the artworks that had long defined the squares: The Jackdaws of Caerphilly and The Gossiping Geese. Commissioned in the ‘90s, artist Julie Westerman created them to reflect local stories and civic identity. Drawing from an 18th-century reference that Caerphilly residents were nicknamed “jackdaws,” she cast the birds in bronze and placed them into the fabric of Stockland Square, while the geese sat on tall brick plinths, echoing the chatter of Windsor Square.
To give the sculptures more presence, the geese now sit among the people at street level, where teenagers pat them on the head, children clamber beside them, and older residents stop for conversation—mirroring the original artwork’s ethos.
Julie also contributed new poetry, inscribed on the benches and gently backlit at night, creating a more reflective layer to the space as day turns to night.
artwork by Julie Westerman
It’s a perfect place to sit, people watch and gossip. What a great compliment to see that the sculptures have become part of the town’s story.
Julie Westerman, Artist
Image Courtesy of Cowshed
A pilot for wider improvements
Though modest in scale, the squares offer a live testing ground for future public realm improvements—giving the council a chance to trial materials, layouts, and engagement approaches ahead of the placemaking plan’s wider Streets and Open Spaces Strategy.
