Island Cottage by Terry Chard Published 10.4.26

Island Cottage, Whitchurch, lies just behind The Three Elms pub on Whitchurch Common, just off the main Merthyr Road, once the old turnpike road from Cardiff travelling northwards to the Taff gorge and the higher lands and valleys beyond. It is currently the home of funeral directors D. J. Evans Forse and Co. It can be accessed from the Merthyr Road via a small bridge which spans the Whitchurch Brook, into a small car park. It is debatable which is considered to be the front and back of the building, but the opposite side of the building faces on to Brook Road looking in a northerly direction (shown above). These days, the south facing part of the building has a more ornate, cottage garden appeal.

The cottage is located on what would have been a prominent position on the banks of Whitchurch Brook when the building was originally constructed. Thirty metres further up stream are the remains of a ‘weir’, a stone structure that diagonally spanned the entire brook at that location. Most of that weir was demolished to provide unobstructed brook water flow. Part of the weir, however, still remains visible on the west side of the brook bank.
The purpose of the weir was to create a branch (bifurcation), to divert and channel water from the brook along a mill stream (leat) which flowed to Little Mill (Felin Fach) some distance away. This water supply was used to drive the old mill wheel. During the 1950’s and 60’s the farm at Little Mill was the home of the Stokes family. The entire length of the leat has since been filled in and the housing estate which includes parts of the Tynant flats, Tynewydd, Maes Glas and Felin Fach, was built over it c. early 1950’s.
The diversion of the brook, (continuing one way and mill stream the other), places the old cottage in between these two channels and this is almost certainly the reason for the Cottage getting its ‘island’ identity. The weir can be seen in this next old photograph c.1890. This old mill stream would also have acted as a convenient overflow by-pass at times of flood.

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