The areas later known as Newtown and Adamsdown were the first significant areas of housing that developed outside of Cardiff's old town boundaries in the early nineteenth century, clearly evident by the 1830s. In the years following the Great Famine of Ireland of 1845 hundreds of Irish families began to arrive in Cardiff, often travelling as 'ballast' in ships from Cork and Waterford. They were generally housed in Newtown, which had been purposely expanded by the Marquess of Bute to house construction workers for Cardiff's new docks. In 1850 the South Wales Railway (from Swansea to Chepstow) had been opened, separating Adamsdown from Newtown. Newtown came to consist of six streets – Ellen Street, North Williams Street, Pendoylan Street and Pendoylan Place, Roland Street, Rosemary Street – immediately south of the railway and north of Tyndall Street. A footbridge gave access over the railway.