Llanishen: A history
Jul
The history of North Cardiff can be found in the roots beneath its soil.
Underneath villages that we are familiar today, lies the blood and toil of over 1,000 years of history. Llanishen, to the east of Rhiwbina, is no exception.
Over 1,500 years ago in AD 535, two monks headed to the area from Llandaff, in order to create new ‘llans’, or settlements. For one of the monks, Isan, the area at the southern base of Caerphilly Mountain was perfect. The location benefitted from fresh running water from the Nant Fawr stream nearby. The site remained largely untouched until the arrival William the Conqueror and his troops, twenty years after the Battle of Hastings.
Control was handed over to Robert FitzHamon, William’s Kinsman and Earl of Gloucester, who ensured that Welsh resistance was subdued. It was at a subsequent battle in North Rhiwbina, that Iestyn ap Gwrgant was killed. The battle was so ferocious that the local stream became overflowed with blood, giving us the ‘Bloody Brook’ that runs through Rhiwbina to this day.
The Normans set about enlarging Isan’s llan, constructing a church to the north in the 12th century (and dedicated to the now St Isan), and establishing an agricultural industry which remained largely untouched until the late 1800s. Until 1871, the Taff Vale Railway enforced an iron grip on the rail links between the coalfaces of the valleys to the docks at Cardiff. But that year, the Rhymney Railway was granted access to build a line from Caerphilly. The tunnel that was bored through Caerphilly Mountain caused a number of fatalities, many of whom are buried at St Isan’s Church.
The arrival of the railway had an almost immediate impact on the suburb – its population rose, the elatively quiet location becoming a draw to those from the city with wealth. Such was the rise in population that in 1887, two reservoirs were constructed and in 1922, Llanishen became officially part of Cardiff.
The Second World War left a profound effect on the village. At the outset, the Royal Ordnance Factory was established by the government to produce tank and anti-tank guns. Around its perimeters, defences were set up to stop any airborne German forces attacking. The RAF set up a Regiment base, introducing a glider training facility. The Glider Field, (opposite where Llanishen Leisure Centre now is) is where the gliders would launch, at first relying on a car tow to get them airborne, and later on in the war, balloon barrage winches. Wing Commander Guy Gibson (of Dambusters fame) visited the base in 1943, even taking to the skies in a glider with the trainees.
The unit was replaced soon after by the US Army, gliders replaced with Piper Cubs. The soldiers were billeted around the village, becoming regular and popular inhabitants until June 1944. The village suddenly became deserted of visitors as their American guests found themselves on the beaches of Northern France.
Post-war, Llanishen and the surrounding area lost its agricultural roots and welcomed an influx of housing and blue-collar businesses. Llanishen Business Park replaced farmland, and the ROF was turned into The Atomic Weapons Establishment in 1987. It was responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent before closing its doors in 1997. The area has now been developed for housing purposes.
St Isan’s Church is at the heart of the village. Its architecture is in the English style with a white-washed interior. It is formed from the original Norman Church with a15th Century tower. The south Aisle was the former Nave, and the Lady Chapel the Sanctuary. Very little changed over the course of the centuries, but the building did undergo extensive building work in 1908.
At the Oval Park, on the site of Llanishen’s first church, sits a tree. This is a replacement tree for the memorial tree had been planted in 1993 by the Llanishen Hitorical Society. This was uprooted and blown over by strong winds in 2010; Cardiff’s City Parks Department replaced the tree, which is Hungarian Oak.
Up until recently, a familiar sight in modern-day Llanishen were the HM Revenue and Customs buildings. Phase One, Gleider (Welsh for ‘glider’) House was an 11-storey strcuture which was over-looked by the 16-storey Phase Two building.
