The Farms of Whitchurch - 2

A few weeks ago, we looked generally at the 16 or so farms which made up much of our early village, and we’ve had an incredible response. This time we’ll take a bit of a look at the individual farms and see who lived in them at various times. Whilst we’ve got information from the Tithe Map and the early census returns, there’s not much else. There are odd snippets in the local newspapers and historic gossip. If you’ve got anything more, please share it as we want to grow this story of ours.

I mentioned last time that Forest Farm was the only survivor in the village with the barns and outbuildings remaining. This isn’t completely true. As you drive up (or down) the A470, at the traffic lights with Pantmawr Road, you’ll pass two other farmhouses; Pentwyn on one side (now the club house of Whitchurch Golf Club) and Ashgrove on the little hill diagonally opposite.

So, using the turnpike road (the old Merthyr Road) as a dividing line, and starting at the north (the M4 for this list – sorry Tongwynlais!), we can have two lists of farms. This time we’ll look at the east side:

EAST OF THE TURNPIKE (starting from the north):
Pentwyn
Sometimes referred to as Pentwyn Ucha (Upper Hilltop) Farm. This is now the Whitchurch Golf Club, with the clubhouse based around the original farmhouse. In 1791, it belonged to the Jones family (of Fonmon), and then with John Sankey as tenant farmer in 1893. The southernmost farm fields now house the Rhiwbina Garden Village

Ashgrove
Pam has researched Ashgrove and has kindly shared the information. In 1760 it was called Pentwyn Isaf (Lower Pentwyn) with fields to the west and south. It gives its name to the upper part of the A470 adjacent. Many of the farm’s fields were given names, with one field fronting the old Merthyr Road called ‘Dwy Erw’r Ysgubor Ddegwn’, the two acres opposite the Tithe Barn. Daniel Evans tenanted the farm in the first half of the 1800s with his family, and we’ve been shown a copy of his will dated 1861. Truly wonderful!

Ty’n y Cae
Located in what is now Caedelyn Park, this ancient farm was adjacent to the Nant Gwaedlyd stream and had a wooden bridge as access (the stream has now been straightened). Mary James was farmer at the time of the Tithe Map, with William Morgan farming it later. The farmhouse was still in existence in the early years of the 20th century, and Ernie Broad describes it in in his jottings.

Glan y Nant
I can remember this farmhouse when we moved to Whitchurch in the early 1970s. It sat where the Masons Arms bedroom block now is. I’ve included a coloured photograph below of the farm to see if it jogs anyone’s memories. The farmhouse was probably early 1800s, but the farm itself was probably much older. According to the Tithe Map, the farms fields extended as far west as the crossroads (where the library now stands). Edward Lewis was farmer in the mid-19th century, with Thomas Stephens taking over later. Does anyone know who the later farmers were?

Ty’n y Parc
Edgar Chappell tells us that this was an ancient farm, developed into a ‘gentleman’s residence’ in Victorian times, and occupied by Count Antonio Lucovich and his family at the end of the 19th century. Previously, the extensive farm was listed on the Tithe Map, with Edward Lewis as the tenant farmer. By 1861, his faithful farm labourer Thomas Stephens had taken over the tenancy.

The Elms
This farm was located just adjacent to the Tesco petrol filling station on Ty’n y Parc Road. Victor Skeats was the farmer at the end of the 19th century and had fields to the south. There are two newspaper reports about the farm; in October 1901 there was a report of a fire at the farm with the headline ‘5 horses burnt alive’. The whole of the outbuildings and stabling were consumed. Three years later, the same paper reported that ‘Mr T Skeats of the Elms took first and champion prizes at the Maesteg Show on Monday with his Show Horse’. So, not all lost clearly.

Ty’n y Pwll
This farm was located where the Anton Court flats are on Ty’n y Pwll Road. The farmhouse and yard remained until the 1950s, and the Ordnance Survey maps show a duckpond in the corner of the yard. William Preston was the farmer in the mid-19th century. Ernie Broad tells of his exploits there, and a recently-discovered aerial photograph shows the farm yard.

Pentre (Village) Farm
This is a farm shown on the Tithe Map and so was of considerable age. It was located in the middle of the village (where Domino Pizza is now), and was only demolished in recent times
Edward Williams was farmer in the 1840s and 50s, and Barrie Wride (whose family farmed Graig Farm) was farmer later.

Tom Samuels was the farmer from the end of the 19th century and had fields on both sides of the main road. Cattle could always be seen crossing the thoroughfare! Ernie Broad tells of Tom Samuel’s son, who didn’t want to be a farmer, running a shop opposite the farm (where the newsagent/post office is now). He also had the very tall building behind constructed for a mangold-slicing machine, providing fodder for the local animals (what are mangolds you might ask!)

Other Farms
There are stories of a truly ancient farm called Treoda, which might, or might not, have been located behind Ararat Chapel on the Common. Certainly, there were old cottages still there at the time of the Tithe Map. Does anyone know anything?

And then there was Fred Hales’ farm. Ernie Broad refers to this farm as being just 300 yards from Pentre/Village Farm, but I cannot locate it. Can anyone help?

And then there was Penlline (so called because it was built on land owned by the Penlline Estate). Was this Fred Hales’ farm? Ernie Broad describes the house with great detail. Does anyone know about this?

Then there are the farms in Tongwynlais, Rhiwbina and Birchgrove. Just a little too remote for this blog, but if anyone knows about them, please help.

Next time, we’ll conclude this mini-series with a look at the farms on the west side of the turnpike.

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