Whitchurch, Cardiff
Encyclopedia
Whitchurch is a suburb
in the north
of Cardiff
, capital of Wales
. It is approximately 3 miles north of the centre of the city on the A470 road
and A4054 road
. Its estimated population
as of 2004 was 15,649. It falls within the Whitchurch & Tongwynlais
ward.
and a chapel was built where Old Church Road now stands. It remained a dependency of the cathedral until 1845 when it became a separate parish.
After much resistance to the Norman conquest of England
, the area succumbed to the Normans in 1266 who created the manor of Whitchurch which included Llandaff North
and Rhiwbina
, and who built Castell Coch
to protect the approach to Cardiff in Tongwynlais
. The castle became a ruin by the 16th century, possibly attacked by Owain Glyndwr
.
Until the early 18th century there were no more than around 300 people living in about 50 farms and cottages in Whitchurch, but by the end of the 19th century, this had risen to nearly 5,000.
An education report of 1847 reported that 8% of Whitchurch's children attended school. In 1854, the area's first national school was built, charging 2d a week. Whitchurch High School
opened in 1937.
In the 19th century, the Bute family
assumed responsibility of Whitchurch Common. Their attempt to produce wine on the slopes below Castell Coch was short-lived, bottling 40 gallons in 1887.
The modern Cardiff Mental Hospital, later Whitchurch Hospital
, opened in 1908 accommodating 750 patients and quickly gaining a national reputation for its research.
In 1898 and 1922, parts of Whitchurch were absorbed into Cardiff, becoming amalgamated as a suburb of the City of Cardiff in 1967.
Between 1951 and 1961, the population of the parish rose from 19,827 to 27,325.
opposite Radyr
, was built on or near the site of an old corn mill that had operated as far back as the late 12th century. Melingriffith was the largest working tin factory in the UK, until the much later construction of the Treforrest Tin Works.
The tin mills were powered exclusively by water drawn from the River Taff down the Melingriffith feeder stream, a water course that doubled as a canal
that carried raw iron ore from the Pentyrch
Iron Works until around 1815, when the Pentrych tramroad was completed. The tramroad crossed the River Taff over the Iron Bridge. The feeder’s lock was permanently closed in 1871 when it was bridged over, but traces of it still remain.
The tin works closed in 1957, and today the only signs that the works ever existed at all are the mostly dry bed of the original Melingriffith feeder stream that still runs down from the River Taff from just above the Radyr weir, and the recently restored water pump standing opposite Oak Cottage. The works site itself has been completely cleared, and is now a modern housing estate.
The Melingriffith feeder stream made its way to the original Glamorganshire Canal
, where they ran in parallel through the tin works and out the other side at Melingriffith Lock. Where they had come together north of the tin works, any overflow from the canal was originally designed to empty into the feeder. This point is now at the southern end of the Glamorganshire Canal Local Nature Reserve and all the water from the canal runs into the feeder before disappearing into a piped water course that passes under the modern housing estate.
At the southern end of the housing estate, the feeder re-emerges at the point where the Melingriffith water pump stands, the pump originally designed to pump water from the feeder into the Canal at Melingriffith Lock. Today, the Glamorganshire Canal has been almost totally overbuilt. Ty Mawr Road has replaced the route of the canal from Melingriffith all the way to Whitchurch.
, a psychiatric hospital originally built in the Edwardian era. In addition, adjacent to Whitchurch Hospital
is Velindre Hospital, a major cancer hospital in Wales. Whitchurch High School
is the largest school in Wales.
The national office of the Presbyterian Church of Wales
is located at the Tabernacle Church, Whitchurch.
The Conservative Party
in Wales headquarters are located on Penlline Road, Whitchurch.
Whitchurch also boasts its very own community magazine, which was launched in December 2008. 'Whitchurch and Llandaff Living' has a distribution of 6000 copies across Whitchurch, Llandaff North and Llandaff and is published bimonthly.
network. The Merthyr Line
runs through neighbouring Llandaff North
stopping at Llandaf railway station
, near Whitchurch. Trains run between the Cardiff Valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan via Cardiff city centre. Whitchurch (Cardiff) railway station is located on the Coryton Line
where trains run between Coryton and Radyr
via the city centre.
Cardiff Bus
services 21, 23, 24, 25 and 35 run through parts of Whitchurch to Cardiff city centre
.
The A470 road
runs through the east of Whitchurch towards Merthyr Tydfil
and North Wales
.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
in the north
Cardiff North
Cardiff North or North Cardiff can refer to the collections of mainly middle class suburban communities in the north of Cardiff, Wales. The population of the north of Cardiff is around 85,000 and is represented by the Conservative Party on most levels of government...
of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, capital of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It is approximately 3 miles north of the centre of the city on the A470 road
A470 road
The A470 is a major long-distance connective spine road in Wales, running from Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. It covers approximately 186 miles , over a zig-zagging route through the entirety of the country's mountainous central region, including the Brecon Beacons and...
and A4054 road
A4054 road
The A4054 is an A Road connecting Llandaff, Cardiff with Cefn-Coed-y-Cymmer in Wales.Settlements served by the road include:*Llandaff*Llandaff North*Whitchurch*Coryton*Tongwynlais*Taff's Well*Rhydyfelin*Treforest*Pontypridd*Abercynon*Quakers Yard...
. Its estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
as of 2004 was 15,649. It falls within the Whitchurch & Tongwynlais
Whitchurch & Tongwynlais
Whitchurch & Tongwynlais is an electoral ward of Cardiff, Wales. It covers some or all of the following areas: Coryton, Tongwynlais and Whitchurch in the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff North...
ward.
History
Whitchurch draws its name from White Church. The first mention of the area was in 1126 when the land was granted to Llandaff CathedralLlandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is situated in the district of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The current building was constructed in the 12th century over the site of an earlier church...
and a chapel was built where Old Church Road now stands. It remained a dependency of the cathedral until 1845 when it became a separate parish.
After much resistance to the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, the area succumbed to the Normans in 1266 who created the manor of Whitchurch which included Llandaff North
Llandaff North
Llandaff North , is a community in the north of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It is located in the north of Cardiff and can be considered a two part ward, each containing about half the population; a northern section of mainly middle class housing, and a southern section of mainly public...
and Rhiwbina
Rhiwbina
Rhiwbina is a prosperous northern suburb of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It used to be a separate village: its core is still locally called "the village" and is given a Welsh village appearance by Beulah United Reformed Church at the village crossroads.Capel Beulah/Beulah URC was a daughter chapel...
, and who built Castell Coch
Castell Coch
Castell Coch is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built on the remains of a genuine 13th-century fortification. It is situated on a steep hillside high above the village of Tongwynlais, to the north of Cardiff in Wales, and is a Grade I listed building as of 28 January 1963.Designed by William...
to protect the approach to Cardiff in Tongwynlais
Tongwynlais
Tongwynlais is a village in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, in the Taff Valley.- Overview :Tongwynlais lies in the River Taff Valley. Its population is 1946 people....
. The castle became a ruin by the 16th century, possibly attacked by Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
.
Until the early 18th century there were no more than around 300 people living in about 50 farms and cottages in Whitchurch, but by the end of the 19th century, this had risen to nearly 5,000.
An education report of 1847 reported that 8% of Whitchurch's children attended school. In 1854, the area's first national school was built, charging 2d a week. Whitchurch High School
Whitchurch High School
Whitchurch High School is a large, co-educational, comprehensive secondary school in the suburb of Whitchurch in Cardiff, Wales. It is considered to be one of the better secondary schools in Cardiff, and was described in its 2009 Estyn report as a 'good school' which is 'moving forward from...
opened in 1937.
In the 19th century, the Bute family
Marquess of Bute
Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute.-Family history:...
assumed responsibility of Whitchurch Common. Their attempt to produce wine on the slopes below Castell Coch was short-lived, bottling 40 gallons in 1887.
The modern Cardiff Mental Hospital, later Whitchurch Hospital
Whitchurch Hospital
Whitchurch Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Whitchurch, an area in the north of Cardiff. As well as general psychiatry, services include elderly psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, forensic psychiatry, rehabilitation and addiction services. It is part of the Cardiff and Vale University Health...
, opened in 1908 accommodating 750 patients and quickly gaining a national reputation for its research.
In 1898 and 1922, parts of Whitchurch were absorbed into Cardiff, becoming amalgamated as a suburb of the City of Cardiff in 1967.
Between 1951 and 1961, the population of the parish rose from 19,827 to 27,325.
Melingriffith Tin Works
Built in 1749, the Melingriffith Tinplate Works in north Whitchurch, on the bank of the River TaffRiver Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
opposite Radyr
Radyr
Radyr is an outer suburb of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The suburb is situated in the west of the city, although it was originally a separate village, and is located around 5 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. According to 2009 estimates, the suburb has a population of 6,000...
, was built on or near the site of an old corn mill that had operated as far back as the late 12th century. Melingriffith was the largest working tin factory in the UK, until the much later construction of the Treforrest Tin Works.
The tin mills were powered exclusively by water drawn from the River Taff down the Melingriffith feeder stream, a water course that doubled as a canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
that carried raw iron ore from the Pentyrch
Pentyrch
Pentyrch is a suburban community located on the western outskirts of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The village gives its name to a Cardiff local authority electoral ward, which covers the village and surrounding area.-Geography:...
Iron Works until around 1815, when the Pentrych tramroad was completed. The tramroad crossed the River Taff over the Iron Bridge. The feeder’s lock was permanently closed in 1871 when it was bridged over, but traces of it still remain.
The tin works closed in 1957, and today the only signs that the works ever existed at all are the mostly dry bed of the original Melingriffith feeder stream that still runs down from the River Taff from just above the Radyr weir, and the recently restored water pump standing opposite Oak Cottage. The works site itself has been completely cleared, and is now a modern housing estate.
The Melingriffith feeder stream made its way to the original Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
, where they ran in parallel through the tin works and out the other side at Melingriffith Lock. Where they had come together north of the tin works, any overflow from the canal was originally designed to empty into the feeder. This point is now at the southern end of the Glamorganshire Canal Local Nature Reserve and all the water from the canal runs into the feeder before disappearing into a piped water course that passes under the modern housing estate.
At the southern end of the housing estate, the feeder re-emerges at the point where the Melingriffith water pump stands, the pump originally designed to pump water from the feeder into the Canal at Melingriffith Lock. Today, the Glamorganshire Canal has been almost totally overbuilt. Ty Mawr Road has replaced the route of the canal from Melingriffith all the way to Whitchurch.
Contemporary Whitchurch
With the expansion of Cardiff in the 20th century, Whitchurch is no longer a separate village; although residents, old and new, refer commonly to "The Village" in preference to acknowledging its suburban status. The modern suburb contains a number of schools, a shopping centre, Whitchurch Library, Whitchurch HospitalWhitchurch Hospital
Whitchurch Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Whitchurch, an area in the north of Cardiff. As well as general psychiatry, services include elderly psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, forensic psychiatry, rehabilitation and addiction services. It is part of the Cardiff and Vale University Health...
, a psychiatric hospital originally built in the Edwardian era. In addition, adjacent to Whitchurch Hospital
Whitchurch Hospital
Whitchurch Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Whitchurch, an area in the north of Cardiff. As well as general psychiatry, services include elderly psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, forensic psychiatry, rehabilitation and addiction services. It is part of the Cardiff and Vale University Health...
is Velindre Hospital, a major cancer hospital in Wales. Whitchurch High School
Whitchurch High School
Whitchurch High School is a large, co-educational, comprehensive secondary school in the suburb of Whitchurch in Cardiff, Wales. It is considered to be one of the better secondary schools in Cardiff, and was described in its 2009 Estyn report as a 'good school' which is 'moving forward from...
is the largest school in Wales.
The national office of the Presbyterian Church of Wales
Presbyterian Church of Wales
The Presbyterian Church of Wales , also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church , is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. It was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival and the preaching of Hywel Harris Howell Harris in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811...
is located at the Tabernacle Church, Whitchurch.
The Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
in Wales headquarters are located on Penlline Road, Whitchurch.
Whitchurch also boasts its very own community magazine, which was launched in December 2008. 'Whitchurch and Llandaff Living' has a distribution of 6000 copies across Whitchurch, Llandaff North and Llandaff and is published bimonthly.
Transport
Whitchurch lies between two urban rail line on the Valley LinesValley Lines
Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes is the busy network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glamorgan and the South Wales Valleys....
network. The Merthyr Line
Merthyr Line
The Merthyr Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from central Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. The line is part of the Cardiff urban rail network, known as the Valley Lines...
runs through neighbouring Llandaff North
Llandaff North
Llandaff North , is a community in the north of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It is located in the north of Cardiff and can be considered a two part ward, each containing about half the population; a northern section of mainly middle class housing, and a southern section of mainly public...
stopping at Llandaf railway station
Llandaf railway station
Llandaf railway station is located in Llandaff North, Cardiff, Wales. It serves the areas of Llandaff North and Whitchurch.The station was opened by the Taff Vale Railway in 1840....
, near Whitchurch. Trains run between the Cardiff Valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan via Cardiff city centre. Whitchurch (Cardiff) railway station is located on the Coryton Line
Coryton Line
The Coryton Line is a commuter railway line in Cardiff from the city centre to Heath, Birchgrove, Rhiwbina, Whitchurch and Coryton.The line is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales as part of the Valley Lines network. ATW replaced the previous franchise, Wales & Borders Trains in December...
where trains run between Coryton and Radyr
Radyr
Radyr is an outer suburb of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The suburb is situated in the west of the city, although it was originally a separate village, and is located around 5 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. According to 2009 estimates, the suburb has a population of 6,000...
via the city centre.
Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. Its hub is Cardiff central bus station...
services 21, 23, 24, 25 and 35 run through parts of Whitchurch to Cardiff city centre
Cardiff city centre
Cardiff city centre is the central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bounded by the River Taff to the west, the Civic centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations - Central and Queen Street - to the south and east respectively...
.
The A470 road
A470 road
The A470 is a major long-distance connective spine road in Wales, running from Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. It covers approximately 186 miles , over a zig-zagging route through the entirety of the country's mountainous central region, including the Brecon Beacons and...
runs through the east of Whitchurch towards Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
and North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
.
External links
- MyWhitchurch community website
- Whitchurch and Llandaff Living Magazine
- Eglwys Newydd Primary School Web Site
- Eglwys Wen Primary School Web Site
- Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd (Welsh Primary School) Web Site
- Whitchurch High School Web Site
- Whitchurch Village Practice Web Site
- Whitchurch-Heath Cricket Club
- Whitchurch Hockey Club
- 1st Whitchurch Scout Group Web Site