WHITCHURCH, a parish, in the union of CARDIFF, partly in the hundred of CAERPHILLY, and partly in the hundred of KIDDOR, county
of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 3 miles (N. N. W.) from Cardiff; containing 1356 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the
turnpike-road leading from Cardiff to Merthyr-Tydvil, and comprises the Upper, and Lower divisions, the former of which,
by a decision of the county magistrates at the quarter-sessions, in April 1831, is now in the hundred of Kibbor. It
includes an extensive tract of uninclosed arable and pasture land, part of which is an allotment of Cardiff heath, on its
enclosure many years ago: the soil is in general fertile, and favourable to the production of wheat and other grain; and
the surrounding scenery is agreeably enlivened by some handsome seats in the immediate vicinity. Green Meadow is a
spacious and handsome modern mansion, in the later style of English architecture, delightfully situated above the river
Tiff, and under the declivity of a lofty mountain; the grounds are tastefully laid out, comprehending a rich variety of
beautiful scenery, and embracing a fine prospect of the picturesque ruins of Casten COch, to the north, built by Ivor ab
Cadivor, called also Ivor Bach, to defend the pass up the valley of the Taf. Velindre, a pleasant seat on an eminence
above Melin Grufydd, commands some good views of the Tfif, and the flourishing plantations that ornament its banks in the
parish of Pentyrch. The extensive tin-plate works at Melin Grufydd are also in the parish, in which about five hundred
persons are constantly employed, and on the average about twenty-five thousand boxes of tin plates, and two thousand tons
of sheet-iron, are annually manufactured, the conveyance of which to their destination is facilitated by the
Glamorganshire canal, which passes close to the works. The living is annexed to that of Lltuidaf; and the tithes have been
commuted for a rent-charge of £493, of which a sum of £133 is payable to the Bishop, Archdeacon, and Chapter of that city,
and the remainder divided equally among the Bishop, the Precentor of the Cathedral, and the Prebendaries of Fairwell and
Fair-water. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a neat and substantial edifice, in good repair. There are places of
worship for Baptists, and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. A day school affords instruction to about thirty children
at the expense of their parents; three Sunday schools are gratuitously conducted by dissenters, and contain about one
hundred males and females; and about twenty children belonging to this parish attend the National schools at Llandaf. Joan
'Williams, in 1707, bequeathed £20, and Thomas Lewis, in 1724, £5, for the benefit of the poor, which sums having been
expended many years since for parochial purposes, the interest, £1.5, is distributed, on Good Friday, from the rates.
There are an encampment supposed to be of Roman construction, and a lofty tumulus; but nothing is known of their origin.