Yes indeed, and I've tried to do this before, and failed miserably still if at first you don't succeed (as a spider in a wenallt cave once said) then.. have another crack at it. Come on then who's first up!!

i may as well be the first and I'll start with a question?

why whitchurch....nothing against the place, spent a lot of my youth up there. I just thought our fuerher was from Strangetown thats all

Hi Jantra - firstly WELCOME!! and many thanks for being the first poster - that's a drink I owe you at our next gathering!

anyway.... Strangetown is indeed where I live now (and by the way that's on it's way pretty soon) but I was born in Kyle Avenue in Whitchurch, and other than some years in Lakeside did all my schooling and 'growing up' in whitchurch. I'm in Whitchurch every week as I visit my mum (st Margarets road) every saturday - so I'm still pretty much in touch with the place and have a great fondness for the area.

My dad lives in Whitchurch, on Kingsland Rd down by Llandaf Station.

I think Whitchurch is great, although its not the kind of place I'd want to live for a while yet - demographically it does lean a bit blue rinse.

But you've got a good mix of different kinds of housing from the really grand houses on Heol Don, Church Road etc, to more regular semis, to terraces, to quite a few small flat developments. And its not a rich enclave either as there is a fair bit of social housing up by Coryton and just off College Road.

The village has a lovely little shopping centre thats got all the basics you need, and a developing and thriving set of restaurants and bars, as well as traditional pubs.

I like the area my dad lives in particular. Really easy to get into town and in about 15 minutes you can be down in Fforest Farm country park, where apart from the sound of the M4, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the countryside.

If you have a fondness for the village I recommend a book that was re-released fairly recently. Originally written in 1946 its a history of the parish of Whitchurch to that time - forget the author, someone Chappel perhaps.

Whitchurch is a great place to live. As has been said the village covers most bases for the basics and has some real gems, I am thinking in particular of Chris Harris' bike shop, Siop y Felin and Martin Player the butcher.

Whitchurch is about the only place in north Cardiff with a bit of life. Some nice pubs, a few decent restaurants (the Thai Lounge was really nice last time I went) and the Fino Lounge is a bit different. And of course Top Gun chippy is the jewel in the crown. Some great period housing as well.

One downside for me is some of the architecture on the main shopping throughfare. Some of the brutes like Iceland, the building where the Fino lounge is etc have sort of ruined the village type ambience and really do break up the streetscape. Some of the older buildings look a bit down at heel as well. Taken as a whole I would say it is less attractive than Llanishen village for example and even Rhiwbina village although you have to weigh against that the fact that Whitchurch offers much more in the way of variety and at least has some life after 6.00pm.

Whitchurch is AMAZING!!!

Plus there are some cute boys...

... and other stuff

P.S. Love the site!

"If you have a fondness for the village I recommend a book that was re-released fairly recently. Originally written in 1946 its a history of the parish of Whitchurch to that time - forget the author, someone Chappel perhaps.[/quote]"

The book's "Old Whitchurch" by Edgar Chappel. I know it been re-released fairly recently, and I think I saw a copy in the window of the bookshop on Merthyr Rd a couple of months ago.(And there's a fair bit about Rhiwbina in it,too,for those a little to the east of Whitchurch!)

First edition 1945, facsimile edition 1994. Edgar Leyshon Chappell was a prominent socialist local politician and campaigner on social and housing reform. He was one of the pioneers of the Garden Village movement and one of the first residents of the Rhiwbina Garden Village ( Which of course was within Whitchurch parish) He also wrote the History of the Port of Cardiff ( 1939 - reprint still available from Merton Priory Press mertonpriory@btinternet.com). You can still get both the original 'Old Whitchurch'(abt £45) and the reprint ( abt £13.50) from Amazon.

Old Whitchurch is a fascinating book which covers a tremendous amount of detailed research into the area's history and society. Of particular interest to me are the changes in the chapels and churches - which chronicle in some detail how Whitchurch changed from a predominantly Welsh speaking village, and very much a village culture and society, in the later part of the 19th century, to being mainly English speaking, and more of a suburb of Cardiff, by the 1940s.

Indeed I personally remember when Whitchurch was still outside Cardiff's boundaries,and in the county of Glamorgan - it came under Cardiff Rural District council at the time (until at least 1950)

The book also outlines the role of Melingriffith, from the earliest watermill, recorded in 1295-6, through its later conversion from a corn mill into a water-driven tinplate works from 1750 onwards - possibly the oldest industrial works in South Wales to have survived into the late 20th century.

The interpretation of local placenames also make facinating reading. Get hold of it if you have an interst in local history!

A fascinating book, Old Whitchurch... I've mislaid my copy at the moment, unfortunately.
I agree, Alwyn, that the churches and chapels played a very important part in the development of this area- Beulah in Rhiwbina being a case in point - forming the central hub of the village as it developed from scattered farmsteads to the conurbation now seen.
Politically, Whitchurch shared its MP with (if I remember rightly) Penarth. (Raymond Gower for many years) That was before it became part of the Cardiff North constituency. Our postal address used to be .... Whitchurch, near Cardiff, Glamorgan.
The crossroads at Gabalfa seemed to be a "border crossing" from the city to the "independent" villages of Whitchurch, Rhiwbina etc. (Might have felt so because the trolleybus terminus was just off Whitchurch Road t Gabalfa).