Early history The
Welsh language name Llys-faen means 'Stone Court' (
llys – court and
maen,
mutated to
faen – stone). There have been several alternative spellings in the English language over the centuries, such as Lysvayen, Lucyvene, Llisuine, Lyssefayn, Lysfayn, Lucyvine, Lucyvenye, Lucyveny, Leysvayen, Les Ffayne and Lliffeni. The village probably settled on the present name from around 1630. Each early Welsh kingdom was divided into lesser administrative units,
cantrefi, which were further subdivided into
cymydau (
commotes). In each commote the royal taxation house was a large building made almost certainly of stone because it had to be permanent, weather proof and thief proof. The commote of
Cibbwr/Kibbor was on land between
Cefn Onn ridge and the coast, and most historians agree that Llys-faen was its administrative centre, although
Roath has also staked a claim. There is now no indication of the actual whereabouts of the Llys Faen or Stone Court, although various theories have been advanced. The earthworks at Graig Llwyn is held to be the oldest artificial feature in Lisvane, proposed by several archaeologists to be the remains of an
Iron Age stronghold. No definite date or purpose can yet be confirmed for this earthwork. At the start of the 13th century the parish lands of Llanishen and Lisvane had been divided into Norman
manors that were expected to provide food for the
castle garrison at
Cardiff. The southern facing slopes of the ridge above Lisvane with their rich agricultural land soon became the grain growing area for the supplies which were transported to Roath Mill for processing. There is a local legend that
Oliver Cromwell once stayed at the Black Griffin Inn, prior to the
Battle of St Fagans in May 1648 and that the Cromwell family once lived there briefly. There is no evidence to support this, though Cromwell must have lodged somewhere, but it is more likely that the inn's only Cromwellian association is with soldiers of Cromwell's
New Model Army. Cromwell was, however, of Welsh ancestry (his real name was Williams) and
his great-grandfather came from this area.
The Tŷ Mawr Tŷ Mawr is a historic house on the Graig slope overlooking the village. It was built as a farmhouse in the 18th to early 19th centuries and was in the estate of the Lewis family. In 1900 part of the estate was let to Lisvane Golf Club, which established a 9-hole course there; but two years later, the club moved to
Radyr, taking the clubhouse with them. From just after the
Second World War, the
fox hounds of the local Lisvane Hunt were kennelled at Tŷ Mawr until it became a
public house in the 1960s. The Llanishen and Lisvane Hunt had several homes over the years, with the hunts most recently setting off from Llan Farm on Graig Llwyn Road. The village hunt disbanded around 1997 on the death of the hunt's Master. There is a local tradition that for a period during the 1800s, Erw-wen, on Rudry Road, was also a
pub or beer house, possibly called the Red Cow, although no documentary proof has been found.
Lisvane and the Cold War A few yards away from the
Ordnance Survey's
triangulation point on the Graig stands Lisvane's only
Cold War nuclear bunker. During
World War II the
Royal Observer Corps (ROC) observation post stood on the Graig with its clear views over the village and the city of Cardiff. The volunteer ROC observers spotted many German
Luftwaffe raids approaching across the channel and activated the air raid warnings in the Cardiff area. In early 1966 a protected nuclear
fallout shelter (or bunker) was completed on the site for the ROC (at OS Grid Ref: ST 1898 8508); by the 1960s they had switched from above ground aircraft spotting to underground operations with instruments to detect nuclear explosions and warn the public of approaching radioactive fallout in the event of
nuclear war. The only time observers were mobilised, and volunteers spent nearly ten days underground, was during the
Cuban Missile Crisis as the government prepared the country for the potential outbreak of war. The Lisvane nuclear bunker was abandoned by the ROC in 1991 when the Corps itself was disbanded with the end of the
Cold War and as a result of recommendations in the government's
Options for Change review of UK defence. The Lisvane nuclear bunker still exists, but it was purchased by a mobile phone communications company who built a radio mast inside the fenced compound and sited some of their equipment in the underground facility.
Notable domestic architecture Several properties in Lisvane are listed for their historical and architectural significance by
Cadw.
Ty Gwyn on Lisvane Road was built as the personal residence of builder James E. Turner of E. Turner and Sons and is listed Grade II. The firm was responsible for much of the construction of Cardiff's
Cathays Park civic centre. It was latterly the home of financier
Julian Hodge. Lisvane House on Mill Road was built in the
Arts and Crafts style by architect Edwin Seward. The Dingle is toward the upper end of Mill Road. It was designed by
Percy Thomas, and is also listed Grade II. ==Governance==