The Cardiff suburb of Whitchurch is steeped in history and now a new project is aiming to bring some of the more hidden stories of the area to life.
Local group Awen, based at Whitchurch Library, has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to set up a Walking Whitchurch project. The aim is to devise a series of walks in the area featuring local people and personalities.
They are now asking local residents for help to share any stories they have of the area and to tell them what living in the area means to them.
The suburb has been the subject of recent debate not about its past but its present and future with the planned introduction of a Domino's pizza takeaway sparking significant discussion about the area's profile.
But it is the past that Walking Whitchurch is seeking to draw out. Discussing the project Awen spokesman Marc Palmer said: "In the autumn of last year we learned that Cadw and the Heritage Lottery Fund were offering grants under their 15-minute heritage project aiming to spread knowledge of local history throughout the Wales and all within a 15-minute walk from home
"The members of Awen are delighted to have been successful in being awarded a grant of over £8,500 from them for a new project of ours called Walking Whitchurch Heritage. In fact, we are the only group in Cardiff to have been successful."
The aim now is to introduce a series of digitally waymarked walks around the village with plaques at important locations that everyone can enjoy.
Here are some historical facts they have learnt about the area already.
1. Charles Ward
The British Army soldier is buried in the graveyard of St Mary's Church in the centre of the village. He was the last recipient of the gallantry medal, the Victoria Cross, to be awarded by Queen Victoria.
He was only 22 when his act of bravery took place. The award said: "On the 26th June, 1900, at Lindley, a picquet of the Yorkshire Light Infantry was surrounded on three sides by about 500 Boers, at close quarters. The two officers were wounded and all but six of their men were killed or wounded.
"Private Ward then volunteered to take a message asking for reinforcements to the signalling station about 150 yards in the rear of the post. His offer was at first refused owing to the practical certainty of his being shot; but, on his insisting, he was allowed to go. He got across untouched through a storm of shots from each flank, and, having delivered his message, he voluntarily returned from a place of absolute safety, and recrossed the fire-swept ground to assure his commanding officer that the message had been sent. On this occasion he was severely wounded. But for this gallant action the post would certainly have been captured "
Charles died in 1921 and was buried with full military honours in January 1922 but his grave was lost until being rediscovered in 1986.
The grave was given a new headstone and in January this year a commemoration was held at the church to mark the centenary of his death.
2. Melingriffith Mill
There are lots of references to the mill in old documents and clearly Melingriffith is very old but trying to work out how old has proved tricky.
Nigel Lewis, of Awen, said it was "in all likelihood, pre-conquest, and possibly even earlier".
"If there was a mill at Melingriffith for many hundreds of years until the 18th century it might easily have had a very early ancestor too. But this would be pure conjecture."
It is believed that Flatford Mill in Suffolk that was depicted in John Constable's Haywain paiting was around at the same time as Melingriffith.
It’s suggested that Willie Lott’s cottage and mill in Flatford dates from before the conquest and is mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is described as "probably a small timber building grinding corn after the harvest in the autumn and into the winter using water power from the River Stour".
Early water mills were normally sited beside a river and were powered by the water turning the wheel. The first mention of the mill in Whitchurch was in 1158 and old records have shown that it has suffered fire and war damage numerous times.
Farmers from the area would probably thresh their corn at the farm and deliver the sacks to the mill, collecting the milled flour later. The cost of milling would probably have been an amount of the grain. The only house in what is now Heol Don in the census of 1841 lists John Cornish as a flour merchant.
Until the 1940s the mill's water pump ensured there was a continuous water supply for the Glamorganshire Canal and Melingriffith Tin Plate Works. But when part of the canal closed in the 1940s the pump became redundant.
3. Presbyterians
There is a plaque high up on the front of Tabernacle church which says ‘Calvinistic Methodists’.
The plaque is dated 1866 so is quite early for a nonconformist chapel in the village. The history group know that a baptist chapel was established at Ararat on Whitchurch Common in 1824 but the Calvinistic methodists can claim an even earlier chapel.
A first society met in 1808 in an old barn in Pantmawr Road, just up from the Hollybush pub, and they named it Ebenezer.
The early Calvinistic methodists were Welsh-speaking and worshipped at Ebenezer for the next 70 years or so with lay preachers leading services.
Mr Lewis said: "These early days of nonconformist worship would have consisted of Bible readings and preaching with very little singing. The Bible had been translated from Latin into Welsh in 1588 but was frowned upon by the established church.
"Nonconformist worship was clearly popular in the area and the membership of Ebenezer outgrew their barn – they needed more room. By the mid-1860s they obtained a lease on land adjacent to Whitchurch Brook and built Tabernacle. The membership and supporters at Ebenezer provided materials and haulage without cost."
The small membership were saddled with a debt of £600 but by 1870 there were 71 members and a Sunday school of 123 children.
As a small congregation Tabernacle were unable to sustain a permanent minister and relied on visiting preachers. It wasn’t until 1875 that Tabernacle had its first minister, Rev David Evans, from Brecon, and he stayed for the next 18 years.
Not long after his appointment, with world trade suffering and difficulties at Melingriffith, there was much unemployment in the village. Rev David Evans gave up his paid pastorate but still fostered spiritual care until 1893 when it was again in a position to support a minister.
After the difficulties of the latter part of the 19th century Tabernacle flourished again with an ever-increasing membership and Sunday school. An organ chamber was built in 1909 by Edwin Williams, the son-in-law of the original builder, and a schoolroom at the rear was built in 1929 by Taliesin Williams, the grandson. Gas lighting was installed in 1903 and electricity provided in 1920.
Tabernacle remained Welsh-speaking for the first 30 years with English services introduced by the 1890s. By 1895 all services were in English.
The building is now Grade II listed by Cadw and even the front boundary walls and railings are listed.
3. The Glamorganshire Canal
The canal still runs through the area and is popular today with walkers and forms an important part of the Forest Farm nature reserve. It took four years to build the Glamorganshire Canal beginning in 1790 with an army of navigators with picks and shovels.
The 25-mile-long canal had 50 locks and dropped 165m (about 500ft) from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff.
Mr Lewis said: "It wasn’t the best construction and in the early years there were many breaches and collapses with squabbles between the builders, designers, and the canal owners. The defects were mostly repaired and, whilst more money had to be found, the canal was completed
"Once resolved the canal became an overnight success. Even though the canal company could by law only pay dividends of 8% they were making so much money that they reduced their barge tolls by 75% as well."
Of the 50 locks on the canal there were three locks in Whitchurch, two upstream in Tongwynlais (including a barge-weighing machine), and three downstream in Llandaff Yard.
At Melingriffith there was a basin and a branch canal to allow barges to enter the works. At Tongwynlais and Llandaff Yard were wharves where barges could be maintained and repaired.
Almost as soon as the canal opened around Whitchurch Richard Blakemore of the Melingriffith Tinplate Works complained about water shortage to his works. The canal company paid for a water pump to be installed at the works to help alleviate the problem but it took more than 30 years to financially resolve the problem.
With the opening of the railways in the 1840s the canal started to lose business and began a slow decline. The Marquess of Bute acquired the canal business in 1885 and by 1898 closed the top section from Abercynon to Merthyr Tydfil. However, at the southern end, he built an extension in 1888 with a sea-lock to connect the canal to his shiny new docks in Cardiff.
The terminal decline however, continued, and the last barge travelled on the canal in 1942. Cardiff Council bought the canal in 1944 and wanted to close the whole thing but some traders objected so some limited trade continued. In December 1951 a sand-dredger crashed into the inner lock-gate at the dock end and all of the water drained out. The gate was never repaired so the canal finally ceased.
When Cardiff Council acquired the canal they explored the possibility of utilising the canal north of Cardiff as an amenity with sailing and boating through the countryside. There was never any money for this in the immediate post-war years and Whitchurch was outside the city boundaries at the time so it never happened.
4. The library
Whitchurch library was built in 1904 with money donated by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish American philanthropist who did so much to promote literacy, education, and the arts in Wales and beyond.
A listed building standing majestically behind the war memorial the library has made a huge contribution to the social and cultural life of Whitchurch over the 110 years of its existence.
When the library came under threat in 2014 local residents mounted a campaign against the closure. A new extension has recently been added to the side of the building.
5. Ghost stories
Local residents Edgar Chappell and Ernie Broad wrote down some local ghostly tales for the Awen group.
They told the story of a group of local lads who were exploring subterranean tunnels under the old ruined Castell Coch. They had been looking for an iron chest with Cavalier treasure that was rumoured to be buried there but they came back to tell how they were confronted by two ghostly royal eagles with burning red eyes protecting the treasure.
Glenys Evans shared the story of the ghostly apparition of a young servant girl spotted on dark nights, all in white, wandering near to the hedges on Whitchurch Common.
6. The Old St Mary's Church
Old St Mary’s was only demolished in 1904 and experts from Cardiff University carried out an archaeological study in 1973 on the remains of the demolished church.
The study surveyed the demolished church and excavated under the demolition debris, exposing a lot of very valuable detail.
It had been suggested that the demolished St Mary’s was built in the 14th century and this is corroborated by the Cardiff University report. They suggest that the chancel was 13-14th century and the nave possibly a little later. The archaeologists also found shards of pottery and construction that could pre-date the church.
There’s a possibility that ‘old’ St Mary’s was the site of an even older church and it could explain how the area is also referred to as Eglwys Newydd (New Church). The church was mentioned in report around from and 1536 and it is thought could have been well over 200 years old by then.
After 1974 all that is left is what is called ‘a garden of ease’ provided by Cardiff Council. The churchyard has been cleared with many of the headstones moved to the boundary walls and just the outline of the church left with an indication of the porch and entrance door.
In recent times the Friends of St Mary’s Churchyard has been formed to main the garden that is opposite the Fox and Hounds pub in Old Church Road.
7. Chelsea pensioners lived in the area
In the census of 1861 there were two separate families of Chelsea pensioners living in Whitchurch
William Richards, 75, was living with his wife Anne and daughter Margaret. He was old enough to have fought against Napoleon in the Peninsular Wars or even at the Battle of Waterloo.
Another called William Badger, aged 52, lived with his wife and seven children. His first three – John, George, and James – were all born in Gibraltar while the next, William, was born in the West Indies and the next, Joseph, in North America. The youngest two, Elizabeth and Caroline, were born in Gloucestershire and Durham. It would seem that William Badger took his wife and family with him wherever he was stationed around the empire.
By 1871 William Badger had left the area but his eldest son John was married with a two-year-old son and living in Sunnybanks. By 1881 John had left the area too to and was living near to his parents in Roath.
8. Building up to a row
Local builder. Edwin Williams built the Tabernacle chapel on the main street through Whitchurch in the 1860s.
He was one of the most well-known builders in Cardiff at the time and as well as being involved in the building of several homes in Whitchurch that still stand today he built the mansion Coryton House for Sir Herbert Cory in 1900. This is still standing, just south of the Village Hotel, and is now a special school.
Sir Herbert was a formidable businessman as a shipowner and with directorships to 35 companies. He would later become Sheriff of Glamorgan and MP for Cardiff South for many years. Edwin's great-grandaughter Janet told Awen that there was a big row between the builder and Sir Herbert about the cost of ‘extras’ that had been requested and this ended in court.
Awen say: "Sir Herbert had a large legal team whilst Edwin represented himself. Everything pointed to a victory for Sir Herbert but when Edwin presented all of his paperwork for the extras, with everything signed by Sir Herbert’s agent, their case collapsed and Edwin was awarded his full claim. A real David and Goliath victory for Edwin."
To find out more about the history project go here.
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