This is something my dad would say from time to time. In a book called 'Newport First Stop - 100 Years of News Stories' the author Derrick Cyril Vaughan begins Chapter 4 with these two paragraphs.
'Well I'll Go To Cardiff" 1850-1860
The title of this book reflects the importance to South Wales and Newport in particular of the coming of the railway. It opened up a whole new world to the inhabitants who up till then had perforce to use the stage-coaches for long journeys which could entail days of travel. Now it was possible for many of the cities of the United Kingdom to be reached in a few hours.
The fact that Newport was going to be the first stop on the line caused a certain amount of jealousy in Cardiff which had overtaken Newport both in size and population in the early forties. The knowledge that Newport, purely by geographical location, would receive the first train irked the Cardiffians no end and the Newportonians knew it. From that time on the expression "Well I'll go to Cardiff" was born and is used, particularly by old Newportonians, to denote amazement or disbelief.
The title of this book reflects the importance to South Wales and Newport in particular of the coming of the railway. It opened up a whole new world to the inhabitants who up till then had perforce to use the stage-coaches for long journeys which could entail days of travel. Now it was possible for many of the cities of the United Kingdom to be reached in a few hours.
The fact that Newport was going to be the first stop on the line caused a certain amount of jealousy in Cardiff which had overtaken Newport both in size and population in the early forties. The knowledge that Newport, purely by geographical location, would receive the first train irked the Cardiffians no end and the Newportonians knew it. From that time on the expression "Well I'll go to Cardiff" was born and is used, particularly by old Newportonians, to denote amazement or disbelief.
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