The walls were largely collapsed by the late 1500s and it was the Marquis of Bute who rediscovered the foundations when he was creating his great park in the mid-nineteenth century. Greyfriars, to the east, stayed the course for much longer. After the dissolution the buildings were turned into a town house by John Herbert and used by his family for two centuries until internecine dispute, decay and inevitable collapse set in. In terms of local history they were long lived. Developers, however, have no heart, no soul, no sense of the past.
Money is a matter for today.
When Pearl Assurance House, Cardiff's first genuine high-rise, was built in 1967 the builders arrived wearing white contagion suits and carrying oxygen. The JCBs had uncovered mass grave pits from the time of Black Death. The Plague could still be there, waiting its chance, still alive in the ancient bones. But there was nothing to fear. Cardiff's damp had seen the evil off.