Glamorgan
Encyclopedia
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire ( or ) is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales
. It was originally an early medieval kingdom
of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans
as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three preserved counties
of West Glamorgan
, Mid Glamorgan
and South Glamorgan
. The name also survives in that of the county borough
of the Vale of Glamorgan
.
Although initially a rural and pastoral area of little value, the area that became known as Glamorgan was a conflict point between the Norman
lords and the Welsh princes, with the area being defined by a large concentration of castles. After falling under English rule in the 16th century, Glamorgan became a more stable county, and exploited its natural resources to become an important part of the Industrial Revolution
. Glamorgan was the most populous and industrialised county in Wales and was once called the 'crucible of the Industrial Revolution', containing the world centres of three metallurgical industries, and its rich resources of coal.
The county of Glamorgan comprised several distinct regions: the industrial valleys, the agricultural Vale of Glamorgan
and the scenic Gower Peninsula
. The county was bounded to the north by Brecknockshire
, east by Monmouthshire
, south by the Bristol Channel
, and west by Carmarthenshire
and Carmarthen Bay
. Its total area was 2100 km² (811 sq mi), and the total population
of the three preserved counties of Glamorgan in 1991 was 1,288,309. In 1974 Glamorgan contained two cities, Cardiff
, the county town and from 1955 the capital city
of Wales, and Swansea
. The highest point in the county was Craig y Llyn
(600 metres (1,968.5 ft)) which is situated near the village of Rhigos
in the Cynon Valley
.
for over 200,000 years. Climate fluctuation
caused the formation, disappearance and reformation of glacier
s which, in turn, caused sea levels to rise and fall. At various times life has flourished, at others the area is likely to have been completely uninhabitable. Evidence of the presence of Neanderthal
s has been discovered on the Gower Peninsula
. Whether they remained in the area during periods of extreme cold is unclear. Sea levels have been 150 metres (492.1 ft) lower and 8 metres (26.2 ft) higher than at present, resulting in significant changes to the coastline during this period.
Archaeological
evidence shows that modern humans
settled in the area during an interstadial
period. The oldest known human burial in Great Britain – the Red Lady of Paviland
– was discovered in a coastal cave between Port Eynon
and Rhossili
, on the Gower Peninsula. The 'lady' has been radiocarbon dated
to c. 29,000 years before present (BP)
– during the Late Pleistocene
– at which time the cave overlooked an area of plain
, some miles from the sea.
From the end of the last ice age
(between 12,000 and 10,000 BP) Mesolithic
hunter-gatherer
s began to migrate
to the British Peninsula
– through Doggerland
– from the European mainland
. Archaeologist
Stephen Aldhouse-Green notes that while Wales has a "multitude" of Mesolithic sites, their settlements were "focused on the coastal plains", the uplands were "exploited only by specialist hunting groups".
Human lifestyles in North-West Europe
changed around 6000 BP; from the Mesolithic
nomadic lives of hunting and gathering, to the Neolithic agrarian
life of agriculture and settlement. They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land and developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production. A tradition of long barrow
construction began in continental Europe during the 7th millennium BP
– the free standing megalithic structures supporting a sloping capstone (known as dolmen
s); common over Atlantic Europe
. Nineteen Neolithic
chambered tombs
(or long barrows) and five possible henges have been identified in Glamorgan. These megalith
ic burial chambers, or cromlech
i, were built between 6000 and 5000 BP, during the early Neolithic period, the first of them about 1500 years before either Stonehenge
or the Egyptian Great Pyramid of Giza
was completed. Two major groups of Neolithic architectural traditions are represented in the area: portal dolmens
(e.g. St Lythans burial chamber
(Vale of Glamorgan
), and Cae'rarfau (near Creigiau
)); and Severn-Cotswold chamber tombs
(e.g. Parc Cwm long cairn
, (Parc le Breos Cwm, Gower Peninsula), and Tinkinswood burial chamber
(Vale of Glamorgan
)), as well as tombs that do not fall easily into either group. Such massive constructions would have needed a large labour force – up to 200 men – suggestive of large communities nearby. Archaeological evidence from some Neolithic sites (e.g. Tinkinswood) has shown the continued use of cromlechi in the Bronze Age
.
The Bronze Age
– defined by the use of metal – has made a lasting impression on the area. Over six hundred Bronze Age barrows
and cairn
s, of various types, have been identified all over Glamorgan. Other technological innovations – including the wheel
; harnessing oxen; weaving textiles
; brewing alcohol
; and skillful metalworking (producing new weapons and tools, and fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooch
es and torc
s) – changed people's everyday lives during this period. Deforestation
continued to the more remote areas as a warmer climate allowed the cultivation even of upland areas.By 4000 BP people had begun to bury, or cremate
their dead in individual cist
s, beneath a mound of earth known as a round barrow
; sometimes with a distinctive style of finely decorated pottery – like those at Llanharry
(discovered 1929) and at Llandaff
(1991) – that gave rise to the Early Bronze Age being described as Beaker culture
. From c. 3350 BP, a worsening climate began to make agriculture unsustainable in upland areas. The resulting population pressures appear to have led to conflict. Hill forts began to be built from the Late Bronze Age (and throughout the Iron Age
(3150–1900 BP)) and the amount and quality of weapons increased noticeably – along the regionally distinctive tribal lines of the Iron Age.
Archaeological evidence from two sites in Glamorgan shows Bronze Age practices and settlements continued into the Iron Age. Finds from Llyn Fawr
, thought to be votive offering
s, include weapons and tools from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The hoard has given its name to the Llyn Fawr Phase
, the last Bronze Age phase in Britain. Excavations at Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, indicate a settlement and "feasting site" occupied from the Late Bronze Age until the Roman occupation
. Until the Roman conquest of Britain
, the area that would become known as Glamorgan was part of the territory of the Silures
– a Celtic British tribe
that flourished in the Iron Age – whose territory also included the areas that would become known as Breconshire and Monmouthshire
. The Silures had hill forts throughout the area (e.g. Caerau
(Cardiff
), Caerau hill fort, Rhiwsaeson (Llantrisant
) and Y Bwlwarcau (Mynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg
)) and cliff castles along the Glamorgan coast e.g.
Burry Holms
(Gower Peninsula). Excavations at one – Dunraven hill fort, (Southerndown
, Vale of Glamorgan) – revealed the remains of twenty one roundhouses
.
Many other settlements of the Silures were neither hill forts nor castles. For example, the 3.2 hectares (8 acre) fort
established by the Romans
near the mouth of the River Taff
in 75 CE (Common Era)
, in what would become Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement established by the Silures in the 50s CE.
, who is said to have been descended from a Roman Governor in the region. Saint Paul Aurelian
was born in Glamorgan in the 6th century. The name Morgannwg or Glamorgan ('territory of Morgan') reputedly derives from the 8th century king Morgan ab Athrwys, otherwise known as "Morgan Mwynfawr" ('great in riches') who united Glywysing with the neighbouring kingdoms of Gwent and Ergyng
, although some have argued for the similar 10th century ruler Morgan Hen. It is possible it was only the union of Gwent and Glywysing that was referred to as Morgannwg. By virtue of its location and geography, Morgannwg or Glywysing was the second part of Wales, after Gwent, to fall under the control of the Normans
and was frequently the scene of fighting between the Marcher Lords
and Welsh princes.
hillside defences. All that remains of these fortifications are foundations that leave archaeological evidence of their existence, though many were built upon to create more permanent defensive structures. The earliest surviving structures within the region are early stone monuments, waypoints and grave markers dating between the 5th and 7th century, with many being moved from their original position to sheltered locations for protection. The most notable of the early stone markers still in its original place is on a high mountain ridge at Gelligaer
. Of the later plaitwork patterned standing crosses the finest and best preserved is the 9th century 'Houelt' stone at Llantwit Major
.
was established by Robert Fitzhamon
following the defeat of Iestyn ap Gwrgant
in the 1080s. The Lordship of Morgannwg was split after it was conquered; the kingdom of Glamorgan had as its caput
the town of Cardiff and took in the lands from the River Tawe to the River Rhymney. The Lordship took in four of the Welsh cantrefi, Gorfynydd
, Penychen
, Senghenydd and Gwynllwg
. The area later known as the Gower Peninsula was not under the Lordship of Glamorgan, and became the Gower Lordship
which had previously been the cantref of Gŵyr. The lowlands of the Lordship of Glamorgan were manorialized, while much of the sparsely populated uplands were left under Welsh control until the late 13th century. Upon the death of William, Lord of Glamorgan
, his extensive holdings were eventually granted to Gilbert de Clare
in 1217. The subjugation of Glamorgan, begun by Fitzhamon, was finally completed by the powerful De Clare family, and in 1486 the kingdom was granted to Jasper Tudor.
The kingdom of Glamorgan was also notable for the number of castles built during the time of the Marcher Lords
, many surviving to the present day though many are now ruinous. Of the castles built during the medieval period, those still standing above foundation level include, Caerphilly Castle
, Cardiff Castle
, Ogmore Castle
, St Quintins Castle
, Coity Castle
, Neath Castle
and Oystermouth Castle
. Many of the castles within Morgannwg were attacked by forces led by Owain Glyndŵr
during the Welsh Revolt
of 1400-1415. Some were captured, and several were damaged to such an extent they were never maintained as defences again.
When the Diocese of Llandaff
became incorporated into the Province of Canterbury, the Bishop of Llandaff rebuilt over the small church with the beginnings of Llandaff Cathedral
in 1120. In the western region of Morgannwg two monastic foundations were sited, a Savigniac
house in Neath
in 1130 and the Cistercian Margam Abbey
in 1147. In the Vale a Benedictine
monastery was founded in 1141, Ewenny Priory
, a community under the patronage of St. Peter's Gloucester
. The building of parish churches also began in the 12th century, densely in the Vale, but very sparsely in the upland and northern areas.
and Kilvey; the area that had previously been the cantref of Gwynllwg was lost to Monmouthshire
. With Wales finally incorporated with the English dominions, the administration of justice passed into the hands of the crown. The Lordship became a shire
and was awarded its first Parliamentary representative with the creation of the Glamorganshire constituency
in 1536. The Reformation
, which was closely followed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries
, led to vast social changes across Britain. These events, along with the Act of Union, allowed the leading Welsh families to gain in wealth and prosperity, allowing equal footing to those families of English extraction. Old monasteries, with their lands, were acquired by the wealthy and turned into country houses; their notable residents preferring to live in gentry houses rather than the fortified castles of the past. Major families in Glamorgan included the Carnes
at Ewenny
, the Mansels
at Margam
, Williams of Neath, the Herberts at Cardiff and Swansea and the Stradlings
of St Donats.
The main industry of Glamorgan during this period was agriculture. In the upland, or Blaenau area, the hilly terrain along with many areas being densely wooded, made arable farming unprofitable, so the local farming concentrated on the rearing of horses, cattle and sheep. The lowland, or Bro was devoted to more general branches of farming, cereal, grass for pasture, hay and stock raising. Non-agricultural industries were generally small scale, with some shallow coal pits, fulling mills
, weaving and pottery-making. The main heavy industry of note during this period was copper smelting, and this was centred around the towns of Swansea and Neath. Although copper had been mined in Wales since the Bronze Age, it was not until non-ferrous
metalworking became a major industry in the late 17th century that Glamorgan saw a concentration of works appearing in a belt between Kidwelly
and Port Talbot. Smelting of copper started around Neath under the Mines Royal Society
c. 1584 but the scale of the works increased dramatically from the early 18th century when Swansea displaced Bristol as Britain's copper smelting capital. Easy access to Cornish ores and a local outcropping of coal near the surface, gave Swansea economic advantages in the smelting industry.
Early iron smelting within Glamorgan was a localised and minor industry, with historical evidence pointing to scattered ironworks throughout the county. John Leland mentions a works at Llantrisant
in 1539, an operation in Aberdare existed during the reign of Edward VI
and two iron furnaces were recorded as being set up by Sir W. Mathew in Radyr
during the Elizabethan era
. By 1666 a furnace was in operation in Hirwaun
and in 1680 a smelting hearth was established in Caerphilly
. Despite the existence of these industries, the scale of production was small, and in 1740 the total output of iron from Glamorgan was reported at 400 tons per year.
Glamorgan, now falling under the protection of the crown, was also involved in the conflicts of the crown. With the start of the First English Civil War
, there was little support from the Welsh for the Parliamentarians. Glamorgan sent troops to join Charles I
at the Battle of Edgehill
, and their Member of Parliament Sir Edward Stradling
was captured in the conflict. In the Second English Civil War
, the war came to Glamorgan at the Battle of St Fagans (1648), where the New Model Army
overcame a larger Royalist
to prevent a siege of Cardiff.
, Oxwich Castle
, Llantrithyd and Ruperra Castle
are ruinous. Of the remaining two manors, The Van at Caerphilly was reconstructed in 1990 while Cefnmabli was gutted by a fire in 1994. The old castles became abandoned throughout this period due to the new security brought by Glamorgan coming under the protection of the crown, with only the Stradlings of St Donat's Castle
electing to remain in their old ancestral home.
By the 17th century, the availability of fine building stone permitted the construction of high-quality lime-washed rural cottages and farmhouses in the Vale of Glamorgan, which drew favourable remarks from travellers. A Glamorgan yeoman
of the time generally lived in greater comfort than his contemporaries of the more westerly or upland parts of Wales such as Cardiganshire
or north Carmarthenshire
.
From the mid-18th century onwards, Glamorgan's uplands underwent large-scale industrialisation and several coastal towns, in particular Swansea
and later Cardiff
, became significant ports. From the late 18th century until the early 20th century Glamorgan produced 70 per cent of the British output of copper
. The industry was developed by English entrepreneurs and investors such as John Henry Vivian
and largely based in the west of the county, where coal could be purchased cheaply and ores imported from Cornwall
, Devon
and later much further afield. The industry was of immense importance to Swansea in particular; in 1823 the smelting works on the River Tawe
, and the colleries and shipping dependent on them, supported between 8,000 and 10,000 people. Imports of copper ores reached a peak in 1880s, after which there was a steep fall until the virtual end of the trade in the 1920s. The cost of shipping ores from distant countries, and the growth of foreign competitors, ended Glamorgan's dominance of the industry. Some of the works converted to the production of zinc
and the Tawe valley
also became a location for the manufacture of nickel
after Ludwig Mond
established a works at Clydach in 1902.
Even at its peak, copper smelting
was never as significant as iron smelting, which was the major industrial employer of men and capital in south Wales before the rise of the sale-coal industry. Ironmaking developed in locations where ironstone
, coal and limestone were found in close proximity - primarily the northern and south-western parts of the South Wales coalfield
. In the second half of the 18th century four ironworks were built in Merthyr Tydfill. In 1759 the Dowlais Ironworks
were established by a partnership of nine men. This was followed by the Plymouth Ironworks
in 1763, which was formed by Isaac Wilkinson
and John Guest
, then in 1765 Anthony Bacon
established the Cyfarthfa Ironworks
. The fourth of the great ironworks, Penydarren Ironworks was built in 1784. These works made Merthyr Tydfil the main centre of the industry in Wales.
As well as copper and iron, Glamorgan became an important centre for the tinplate industry. Although not as famous as the Llanelli or Pontypool works, a concentrated number of works emerged around Swansea, Aberavon and Neath towards the late 19th century.
Other areas to house heavy industries include ironworks in Maesteg
(1826), tinplate works in Llwydarth and Pontyclun
and an iron ore mine in Llanharry
.
Alongside the metalworks, industries appeared throughout Glamorgan that made use of the works' output. Pontypridd was well known for the Brown Lenox Chainworks, which during the 19th century was the town's main industrial employer.
The largest change to industrial Glamorgan was the opening up of the South Wales coalfield
, the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, which occupied the greater part of Glamorgan, mostly north of the Vale. The coalfield provided a vast range in quality and type, but prior to 1750 the only real access to the seams was through bell pit
s or digging horizontally into a level where the seam was exposed at a river bank or mountainside. Although initially excavated for export, coal was soon also needed for the smelting process in Britain's expanding metallurgical industries. Developments in coal mining began in the north-eastern rim of Glamorgan around the ironworks of Merthyr and in the south-west around the copper plants of Swansea. In 1828 the South Wales coalfiled was producing an estimated 3 million tons of coal, by 1840 that had risen to 4.5 million, with about 70 percent consumed by local commercial and domestic usage.
The 1840s saw the start of a dramatic increase in the amount of coal excavated within Glamorgan. Several events took place to precipitate the growth in coal mining, including the discovery of steam coal in the Cynon Valley
, the building of a large masonry dock at Cardiff and the construction of the Taff Vale Railway
. In 1845, after trials by the British Admiralty
, Welsh steam coal replaced coal from Newcastle-upon-Tyne as the preferred fuel for the ships of the Royal Navy
. Glamorgan steam coal quickly became a sought-after commodity for navies all over the world and its production increased to meet the demand.
The richest source for steam coal was the Rhondda Valleys, and by 1856 the Taff Vale Railway had reached the heads of both valleys. Over the next fifty years the Rhondda would grow to become the largest producer of coal of the age. In 1874, the Rhondda produced 2.13 million tons of coal, which rose to 5.8 million tons by 1884. The coal now produced in Glamorgan far exceeded the interior demand, and in the later half of the 19th century the area became a mass exporter for its product. In the 1890s the docks of South Wales accounted for 38 percent of British coal exports and a quarter of global trade.
Along with the increase in coal production came a very large increase in the population, as people emigrated to the area to seek employment. In Aberdare the population grew from 6,471 in 1841 to 32,299 in 1851 while the Rhondda grew from 3,035 in 1861 to 55,632 in 1881, peaking in 1921 at 162,729. Much of this population growth was driven by immigration
. In the ten years from 1881–1891, net migration to Glamorgan was over 76,000, 63 per cent of which was from the non-border counties of England - a proportion that increased in the following decade.
Until the beginning of the 18th century, Glamorgan was almost entirely agriculture based. With the industrialisation of the county, farming became of far less importance, with industrial areas encroaching into farming lands. In Glamorgan, from the late 19th century, there was a significant reduction away from arable land towards pasture land. There were two main factors behind this trend; firstly the increase in the population of the county required more milk and other dairy produce, in an age before refrigeration. Secondly there was an employment shortage in farming due to the call of better paid industrial work, and pastoral land was less work intensive. Stock rearing became prominent with breeds such as Hereford
, Devon
and Shorthorn
cattle being bred in the Vale of Glamorgan, while the unenclosed wilds of the Gower saw Welsh Ponies
bred on the commons.
As well as the architecture of Glamorgan entering modernity
, there was also a reflection to the past, with some individuals who made the most from the booming industrial economy restoring symbols of the past, building follies
and commissioning Gothic-style
additions to ancient churches. Robert Lugar
's Cyfarthfa Castle
in Merthyr (1825) and the late 19th century additions to Cardiff Castle
, designed by William Burges
, exemplify how Gothic was the favoured style for rich industrialists and entrepreneurs. Greek Revival architecture
, popularised in France and Germany in the late 18th century, was used for a number of public and educational buildings in Wales including the Royal Institution of South Wales
in Swansea (1841) and Bridgend
Town Hall (1843).
In 1897, Cardiff Corporation acquired land from the Marquess of Bute
with the intention of erecting buildings to meet the administrative, legal and educational needs of Glamorgan's county town. From 1901 onwards, Cathays Park
was developed into "possibly the finest... civic centre in Britain" with a range of public buildings including the Baroque
City Hall and the rococo
-style University College
.
The majority of Nonconformist chapels were built in the 19th century. They progressed from simple, single-storey designs to larger and more elaborate structures, most built in the classical
style. Perhaps the most ambitious chapel was John Humphrey's Morriston Tabernacle (1872), incorporating Classical, Romanesque
and Gothic elements, which has been called the 'Noncomformist Cathedral of Wales'.
Industrial architecture tended to be functional, although some structures, such as the four-storey engine house at Cyfarthfa Ironworks
(1836), were built to impress. Coal mining eventually became the dominant industry in Glamorgan and tall winding towers
- originally made of timber or cast iron, later steel - became symbolic icons.
These structural problems were followed by the General Strike of 1926
and then most disastrously the interwar depression
of 1929-1931, which changed the face of industrial Glamorgan forever. In 1932, Glamorgan had an unemployment rate of more than 40 per cent, and one of the highest proportions of people receiving poor relief in the United Kingdom. This was a contrast with relatively recent prosperity: for example, in 1913 unemployment in Merthyr was below 2 per cent and the borough had 24,000 miners. By 1921, the number of employed miners had fallen to 16,000, and in 1934, it was down to 8,000.
Steel production was no less depressed than the coal industry. The inter-war years saw the closure of the old Cyfarthfa and Dowlais works, as steel-making became increasingly concentrated in the coastal belt. Both the coal and steel industries were increasingly dominated by large amalgamations, such as Powell Duffryn
and Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. The smaller companies progressively disappeared.
Glamorgan suffered disproportionately during the Great Depression because of the high proportion of its workforce employed in primary production rather than the manufacture of finished products. Other parts of Britain began to recover as domestic demand for consumer products picked up, but unemployment in the South Wales Valleys continued to rise: the jobless rate in Merthyr reached 47.5 per cent in June 1935. However, the coastal ports, Cardiff and Swansea, managed to sustain a "reasonable" level of economic activity, and the anthracite coalfield in western Glamorgan (and eastern Carmarthenshire) also managed to maintain production and exports above pre-war levels.
With the outbreak of World War II the coalfields of Glamorgan saw a sharp rise in trade and employment. Despite the demand the want for the youth to conscript in the war effort in the valley areas meant that there was a shortage of workers to run the mines; this in turn saw the introduction of the Bevin Boys
, workers conscripted to work in the mines. During the war both Cardiff
and Swansea
were targets for German air attacks due to their important docks.
rather than splendour with period features watered down. As the century progressed, symbols of the past industrial period were torn down and replaced with industrial estates populated by unadorned geometric factories. With concrete becoming the favourite post-war building material, larger office blocks began appearing within the cities, though few were of any architectural significance.
Despite entering a fallow period of architectural design, several structures of note did emerge. Although work began in 1911, The National Museum of Wales
(Smith and Brewer) was not completed until 1927 due to the First World War. Designed to reflect sympathetically in dimensions with its neighbouring city hall, the dome-topped museum combines many architectural motifs with Doric columns at its facade, while internally a large entrance hall with stairs, landings and balconies. Percy Thomas
' Guildhall
in Swansea, an example of the 'stripped modernist' style completed in 1936, was described as "Wales' finest interwar building".
Although functionality often deprived a building of interest, Sully Hospital (Pite, Son & Fairweather) is an example of a building which gained from its functional requirements. Initially built for tubercular patients, whose cure required the maximum amount of light and air, the Functional architecture left a striking glass fronted building, completed in 1936.
Another hospital to which Functionalism was applied was the University Hospital of Wales
(S.W. Milburn & Partners). Begun in the 1960s, and completed in 1971, the building is the third largest hospital in the United Kingdom and the largest in Wales. It was designed to bring the care of patients, research and medical teaching together under one roof.
The demands of modern living saw the growth of housing estates throughout Glamorgan, moving away from the Victorian terrace of Cardiff or the ribbon cottages of the valleys. Several of these projects were failures architecturally and socially. Of note were the Billybanks estate in Penarth and Penrhys Estate (Alex Robertson, Peter Francis & Partners) in the Rhondda, both described by Malcolm Parry
, the former Head of the School of Architecture at Cardiff University, as "...the worst examples of architecture and planning in Wales."
, virtually coterminous with the modern county borough of Vale of Glamorgan
, mainly comprising farmland and small villages stretching from Porthcawl
to Cardiff. The lowlands are geographically the best environment for agriculture of the three areas. Settlements in the area included Cardiff, Barry, Bridgend
, Cowbridge
, Penarth
and Porthcawl.
The northern part of the county is a mountain
ous area, dissected by deep narrow valley
s. At the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons
, the simple geological structure of Old Red Sandstone
gives way to Carboniferous
rocks; limestone
, shale
s and millstone grit
. In the 19th century, industrial and population growth in the coal-bearing valleys of the Rhymney
, Taff
, Dare
and Rhondda
gave rise to a form of urbanisation characterised as ribbon development
. The last deep mine, Tower Colliery
at Hirwaun
, closed in January 2008. A few small drift mines like Unity Mine (formerly Pentreclwydau South) near Glynneath
remain. Towns in the region included Aberdare
, Caerphilly
, Pontypridd
, Maesteg
, Merthyr Tydfil
and Mountain Ash
.
Further west is Swansea Bay
and the Gower Peninsula
, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
. Of all the areas, Gower was the least affected by heavy industry and the ancient landscape was the least impaired. The high ground that runs centrally through the Gower was largely uncultivated common land and its beaches and rocky coastal headlands showed little signs of the tourist trade that played an increasing role on the local economy. The major settlements of the region include Swansea, Neath
and Port Talbot
.
in the east to Gower in the west. It divides naturally into three distinct sections. The coast of the Vale of Glamorgan is mainly characterised by cliffs, while from Porthcawl to Swansea Bay wide sandy shores prevail. The final section, the Gower coast, is made up of a rugged and serrated peninsula.
From the east the first major coastline feature is the Rhymney River
, once seen as the natural border between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, until the absorption of Trowbridge into the Cardiff district in 1936. Heading west, the coast is an expanse of alluvial
deposits stretching to the mouth of Glamorgan's most well known river, the River Taff
. Once marshland, the area was consumed by the rapid growth of the Cardiff Docks
during the industrial revolution, but with the downturn in Glamorgan's iron and coal industries, the docks declined. Also flowing into Cardiff Docks is the River Ely
, which separates Cardiff from the headland and seaside resort of Penarth
in the Vale of Glamorgan. Here the coast stretches southwards for two and a half miles from Penarth Head to Lavernock Point
, hidden from vessels travelling up the Bristol Channel
. South easterly from Lavernock Point, roughly three miles out in the Channel Estuary is Flat Holm
, an island which although geographically is within the Vale, is administered as part of the city of Cardiff. Flat Holm is the most southerly point of Glamorgan and Wales.
From Lavernock Point the coast heads sharply west to the town of Barry, a well known seaside resort, Barry is most notable for its rapid expansion during the late 19th century to become an important dock, at one stage surpassing Cardiff Dock for the tonnage of coal exported. Passing the cliffs of Barry Island the coastline becomes a low-lying promontory called the Lays, which continues west taking in the villages of Rhoose
and Aberthaw
before reaching Breaksea Point
, the most southerly point of mainland Wales. Beyond the point is Limpert Bay, which is overlooked by the village of Gileston
and the ancient encampment of Summerhouse Point. Here the cliffs rise and run for eleven miles as far as the estuary of the Ogmore
. Along this run of cliffs the coast passes Llantwit Major
and St Donats, before heading in a rough north west direction at Nash Point
.
The coastline remains as steep cliffs until after Dunraven Head, where the cliff face drops away to expose Southerndown
Beach. Two miles beyond, the Ogmore River runs out into a sand-locked bay which can been seen as commencing the second section of the Glamorgan coast, as here the scenery undergoes an abrupt change; from a series of unbroken cliffs to vast regions of sandy beaches. The Ogmore Bay at Ogmore-by-Sea
is not only floored with sand but is also backed by high and extensive sand dune system, these impressive natural sand features are commonly known as the Merthyr Mawr
sand dunes. Beyond the bay the underlying rocks emerge from the sand to form the promontory of Porthcawl Point. Porthcawl
town, once possessing a small dock, abandoned the trade in favour of tourism. The coast continues to the north west as a low rocky formation for three miles to Sker Point
, after which the sand line begins again, forming an arid wilderness all the way to Port Talbot
. Port Talbot
was one of the later industrial towns of Glamorgan, and grew out of the medieval village of Aberavon
, a settlement built on the banks of the River Afan
. To the west of the mouth of the Afan is the new district of Sandfields
, built over the holiday dunes of Aberavon beach in the 1950s to house the workforce of Port Talbot Steelworks
.
The River Afan commences the wide sweep of Swansea Bay
, which from Port Talbot arcs around taking in Baglan Bay
, Briton Ferry
, Swansea and ending in Mumbles
. The whole bay is shut in by high hills and is thickly encircled with sands. Within the bay are two of the major estuaries of Glamorgan; from Port Talbot the first is the River Neath
, which is protected by long breakwaters. The second is the Tawe
, the central river of Swansea. Beyond the Tawe the bay sweeps for six miles before reaching Mumbles Head, its most westerly point. Mumbles Head is served by Mumbles Lighthouse
, which sits on the further of two small islands off the head.
At The Mumbles, the coastline begins its third phase, commencing the wild and rugged cliffs of the Gower. From Mumbles Head to Worm's Head, 20 miles to the west, the coast consists of a series of precipitous cliffs, interrupted by a number of sandy bays. The most notable of the bays include Langland Bay
, Caswell Bay
, Pwlldu Bay
, Three Cliffs Bay
and Oxwich Bay
. Three Cliffs Bay and the adjoining Oxwich Bay are overlooked by three medieval defences, Pennard Castle
, Penrice Castle
and Oxwich Castle
, all three now ruinous. Oxwich Bay ends in the large wooded promontory of Oxwich Point, which leads west to the beach front villages of Horton and Port Eynon
. From Port Eynon Point, a five mile stretch of wild and impressive cliffs leads to Worm's Head and the western termination of the peninsula. This rock face is pierced in places by caverns, the most notable being Culver Hole a bone cave near Port Eynon Point.
Worm's Head is one of the stand out features of the Glamorgan coastline, a long narrow ledge of limestone, projecting into the sea, ending in a 200 foot high wedge shaped crag; the Head takes its name from its resemblance to a dragon. On the northern side of the Worm's Head is the village and Bay of Rhossili, a westerly facing bay that leads backwards to a series of downs, some of the highest land in the Gower. Rhossili Bay ends in the northern formation of Llangenydd Burrows and the islet of Burry Holms
. The final stretch of Glamorgan coastline turns north east to form the Burry Inlet, a shallow and sand-choked estuary which leads to a tract of salt marsh
es which stretch to the mouth of the River Loughor
. The Loughor forming the border between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.
, the Ely
, the Ogmore
, the Neath
, Dulais
, the Tawe
, the Rhymney
(which forms the historic boundary with Monmouthshire), and the Loughor
(which forms the historic boundary with Carmarthenshire).
in 1091, the region became the English
Lordship of Glamorgan, sometimes called the Lordship of Glamorgan and Morgan because it was divided into the Norman settled Plain or Vale of Glamorgan and the Welsh upland area called Morgannwg, anglicized to Morgan. Both areas were under the control of the Norman Lords of Glamorgan (often the Earls of Gloucester
). As well as building a military and defensive network, the Normans also undertook an ecclesiastical reorganisation on Glamorgan. In Llandaff there was a small monastic community based on a small church; which was made the headquarters of the diocese, incorporated into the Province of Canterbury
. The Diocese of Llandaff
covered almost the entirety of Glamorgan and continued throughout the history of the county of Glamorgan, and through to modern times.
In 1536, the Laws in Wales Act 1535 attached the Lordship of Gower and Kilvey
to Glamorgan and created the historic county of Glamorgan. Along with gaining parliamentary representation in 1536, Glamorgan became part of the King's circuit, with judges from England administering law at the Great Session or Assizes
. Local magistrates were appointed to deal with petty sessions while Lords Lieutenant
were appointed as the King's representative. Law enforcement within the confines of the shire was the responsibility of the High Sheriff of Glamorgan
.
From the 1790s a call was made for parliamentary reform to address the imbalance between the number of Members of Parliament for each Welsh county and the population each seat represented. Radnorshire
had only a tenth of the population of Glamorganshire, though Radnorshire had one MP to Glamorganshire's two (Glamorgan and the District of Cardiff
). The First Reform Act (1832)
gave five more seats to Wales, three went to Glamorganshire. The Act increased the number of MPs for Glamorganshire from one to two, it created the separate District of Swansea
and Merthyr Tydfil
became a borough constituency. Reflecting the increased importance and wealth of Merthyr the borough was given a second MP after the Reform Act 1867
.
The next major redistribution of MPs occurred with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
. Glamorganshire was split from its two Members of Parliament to five, with the creation of constituencies for East
, Mid
and South Glamorganshire
, Gower
and Rhondda
.
An administrative county of Glamorgan was created under the Local Government Act 1888
, excluding Swansea and Cardiff, which became independent county borough
s. In 1908, county borough status was also granted to Merthyr Tydfil
, despite protests from the southern part of the borough, where it was claimed that links were stronger with Pontypridd
. In 1935, a Royal Commission
argued that Merthyr County Borough, then heavily burdened by the cost of maintaining many unemployed people, should be abolished and merged with Glamorgan. The county council refused the proposal.
The first chairman of the County Council was Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea
. The county council's coat of arms, granted in 1950, was: Or, three chevronels gules between as many Tudor roses barbed and seeded proper. The red chevronels on a gold shield were the arms of the De Clare
Marcher Lords
, while the roses recorded the shiring of Glamorgan by Henry VIII
. The crest above the shield was a Welsh dragon
rising from flames, symbolising the revival of the county's industry following a period of economic depression. The dragon supported a flag bearing a clarion from the arms of the De Granville family, lords of Neath. The supporters
of the arms were a coalminer and a steel worker. The motto
adopted by the county council: A Ddioddefws A Orfu or "He Who suffered, conquered" was that of the lineage of Iestyn ap Gwrgant
, and was considered appropriate to an area whose wealth depended on great hardship.
Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough - West Glamorgan
, Mid Glamorgan
, South Glamorgan
. It 1996 these areas were reorganised into several unitary authorities
by the Local Government Act of 1994
. The South Wales Police
force covers an area that is similar to Glamorgan.
established a route, Via Julia Maritima, to service their garrisons across South Wales and this is followed largely by the present A48
. However, for 1,000 years after the Romans there was little need for major roads. Early roads were not systematically managed, and in Glamorgan as in the rest of Wales, they were in a very poor state. Towards Tudor times the upkeep and repair of the roads came under the administration of each parish, with six days of the week during the summer allowed for track repairs. These repairs were rarely completed and the roadways continued to suffer. An Act of 1555 required each landowner to produce a cart, horses or bullocks, and two men to work 4 days on roads. Supervision was by two unpaid surveyors appointed by the parish. By the late 1600s the situation improved as surveyors were appointed by the magistrates, who were allowed to levy a rate to pay for some of the work.
In 1756, after the shire of Glamorgan had come under the rule of the crown, Wales adopted a toll system for the maintenance of the roads; with the governance falling under the control of the turnpike trusts. Further Turnpike Acts came into force in 1799 and 1810, and these Acts allowed trustees to collect a toll for the use of certain roads within a district. In South Wales there were turnpikes along the coast, more or less following the present motorway line, up the Merthyr Valley and across the hills to Abergavenny
, Brecon
, Llandovery
and down to Carmarthen
. This system improved travelling conditions, allowing for stage coaches which were then coming into general use. Although the roads improved there were those who felt that the tolls were unjust, and there was a popular uprising between 1839 and 1843 known as the Rebecca Riots
where agitators attacked and destroyed the toll house
s. Although most of these attacks occurred in Carmarthenshire, there were reports of attacks within Glamorgan, most notably in Swansea. In 1846, County Highway Boards were established in south Wales, to buy out the turnpike trusts and take over their functions. In 1878 all roads that had ceased to be turnpiked after 1870 were deemed as 'main roads' by the Highways and Locomotives Act of 1878
. The turnpike system was eventually abolished by the Local Government Act 1888
and the roads were placed under the management of the local county council. County Highway Boards were disbanded. There were, however, a number of urban areas within Glamorgan that retained the right to control their own highways, and the county council never achieved control of the whole highway network.
Proposals for a high-quality new road across South Wales were first made in the 1930s. However, the dualling
of the A48 Neath bypass was only completed in 1960, with the A48(M) Port Talbot bypass following in 1966. The latter road, an early example of dual carriageway construction through a built-up area, was the first length of motorway opened to traffic in Wales. The Ministry of Transport initially envisaged that the new M4 motorway
would terminate at Tredegar Park near Newport
, with a series of bypasses to improve the A48 further west. The creation of the Welsh Office
led to a re-appraisal of policy and a decision to extend the M4 further into Glamorgan. By 1970, the Welsh Office was committed to building a new route all the way to Pont Abraham in Carmarthenshire. The 1960s also saw the construction of the first road across the Heads of the Valleys, with the A465 Neath
-Abergavenny
trunk road opening in 1964. However, even at the outset there were complaints about the capacity and safety of its single carriageway, three-lane design.
was the capital town of the Vale, and the centre of agricultural trade, with surplus stock being shipped to the coastal village of Aberthaw and to a lesser extent Newton. Where there were breaks in the rocky coastline, small fishing and cockling communities existed, such as Port Eynon and Penclawdd
.
The event that changed the face of coastal Glamorgan was the growth of the Merthyr iron industry. Merthyr needed a coastal export point for its iron and Cardiff was the obvious choice being at the mouth of the River Taff. A road was built to connect the two towns, but with only horses to move the cargo, transportation was cumbersome; therefore an alternative was planned. Although Glamorgan had a large number of rivers, few were navigable for any considerable length. Between 1790 and 1794, Acts of Parliament were obtained for the construction of three canals within Glamorgan, the Glamorganshire Canal
(1790), Neath Canal
(1791) and the Swansea Canal
(1794). All three were vital in increasing the transportation of iron, copper, steel and coal from the uplands of the county to the ports at Swansea and Cardiff. Although the first stages of all three canals were completed by 1800 and revolutionised the commercial transportation systems of Glamorgan; in 1804 at Penydarren Ironworks, Richard Trevithick
's "Pen-y-Darren" locomotive became the first engine to pull a load along rails; heralding the coming of the railways, which would eventually replace the canals.
The port at Cardiff
grew quickly during the 19th century, not as a mass exporter of iron but of coal, transported from Pontypridd and the Cynon
and Rhondda Valleys. From 1840 to 1870 Cardiff's export tonnage of coal increased from 44,350 to 2,219,000. By 1871, Cardiff had outgrown all of its Welsh rivals to become the most populous town in the country Swansea Docks
continued to be the world's leading exporter of copper, but did not experience the growth of Cardiff due to poor links to the coalfields. Ambitious attempts were made to link Swansea's docks to coal rich areas, such as the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
, but these plans were never truly economically successful. The biggest threat to Cardiff's dominance came in the early 20th century at Barry. In 1881, Barry had 484 inhabitants, after an 1884 Parliamentary Act authorising the construction of a docks and railway link, the town grew to over 27,000 by 1901. The chief advocate of Barry's growth as a dock was David Davies
, and in 1901 Barry was exporting more coal than Cardiff, peaking in 1913 when it shipped 11.41 million tons.
The interwar depression
experienced by Great Britain brought an end to the prosperity of the Glamorgan ports. During the Second World War, the main ports of Glamorgan were heavily targeted by German bombing raids, though exports were not severely disrupted. By the second half of the 20th century none of the county's docks showed any growth, and with the collapse of the coal trade in South Wales Cardiff and Barry Docks became near derelict, shipping mainly general cargo. Swansea also suffered a vast reduction on trade with the end of the area as a world leader in copper smelting. The only dock to remain a viable exporter was the Port of Port Talbot. First built in 1839, the docks at Port Talbot were a minor concern in relation to the more established ports, but exports increased after the 1916 with the completion of the Margam Steelworks. Exports continued strongly when the Abbey Works
were built in 1952. Port Talbot would eventually become the biggest exporting port in Glamorgan, and the second largest in Wales, only surpassed by Milford Haven
.
built a private tram-road to the Glamorganshire Canal from his coal mine in Gyfeillion. The Gyfeillion site was extended further in 1811 to link Walter Coffin
's mine at Dinas Rhondda
, allowing the first viable transport link from the Rhondda coal fields to the ports of Cardiff.
The first railway network to be built in Glamorgan, the Taff Vale Railway
, was also the first in Wales. Linking the ironworks of Merthyr to the ports of Cardiff, the Taff Vale line was given royal assent in 1836, with work commencing the same year. It was completed in 1840, and as well as carrying goods the trains made limited passenger trips from the very beginning. By 1856 the Taff Vale Railway was extended to service the top of the Rhondda Valleys at Treherbert
and Maerdy
, which allowed the exploitation of the minefields in one of the most coal-rich areas of Britain. The second major railway to open was the South Wales Railway
, linking Gloucester in England to Neyland
. The line was designed to link the coalfields of Glamorgan to London, and was also part of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
's vision of a transport link from London to New York. The South Wales Railway serviced Cardiff, Bridgend, Neath and Swansea, with its final destination within Glamorgan being Loughor
, before continuing through Carmarthenshire. Other railway lines that opened during the mid to late 19th century included the Vale of Neath Railway
, the Swansea Vale Railway
and the Rhymney Railway
; all designed with the primary purpose of transporting metals and coal from the uplands of the county to the ever expanding ports. The cargo carried on these lines was of an incredibly high volume, and in 1850 the Taff Vale Railway was transporting 600,000 tons of coal per annum.
Towards the turn of the 19th century, two notable events occurred connected to the Taff Vale Railway. In 1888, the Barry Railway Company
was formed as part of David Davies'
plan to create an alternative export port in south Wales at Barry Docks. As a threat to the monopoly of the TVR, the plans were heavily contested in Parliament, and more parliamentary time was spent on the Barry bill than on any other railway bill in British history. The second event saw the Taff Vale Railway Strike of 1900, an event that saw the House of Lords, in the Taff Vale Case, deem trade union
s accountable for the financial losses caused by strike action. The need to reverse the decision was a central factor in the creation of the British Labour Party
.
In the 20th century, the railways saw a gradual drop in usage as the heavy industrial works and mines began to reduce output and close and many stations became redundant. Following the Second World War, the railways were nationalised in 1948. In the 1960s the main line services in Wales underwent dieselisation
, but this modernisation failed to save the rail system and by 1968 many passenger lines were discontinued by the Beeching Axe
.
built in 1942 at Rhoose
, and was originally known as Rhoose Airport. In 1970 it became 'Glamorgan, Rhoose Airport' before becoming 'Cardiff-Wales airport' in the 1980s.
Glamorgan's second commercial airport was Swansea Airport
which also began as an RAF station, before being released to commercial usage in 1956. The airport saw varying degrees of success until regular flights ceased in 1969. Several other airports and aerodromes have serviced Glamorgan, but usually for private flights. The most notorious aviation disaster in Wales occurred in Glamorgan in 1950, when a privately hired Avro Tudor
crashed at Llandow Aerodrome
. The Llandow air disaster
was, at the time, the world's worst aviation disaster.
, a variant of bandy. The game was very popular in Glamorgan between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before losing in popularity to rugby football. The most notable team to carry the name Glamorgan, is Glamorgan County Cricket Club
. Although cricket
had been established in Glamorgan since the creation of Cardiff Cricket club in 1845; county team Glamorgan CCC did not form until 1888. The team gained first-class
status in 1921, and still play under the name of Glamorgan. The other bat and ball team sport of note in the area was baseball
, which was very popular in Cardiff, reaching its peak in the 1930s.
One of the most popular sports in Glamorgan was rugby union
, producing some of the oldest rugby clubs in the world. Swansea RFC
, Cardiff RFC
and Merthyr RFC
were founding members of the Welsh Rugby Union
in 1881, and both St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground (Swansea) and the Cardiff Arms Park
(Cardiff), have been sporting venues for international rugby. Like cricket, rugby union was also played at county level, with Glamorgan represented by Glamorgan County RFC
, an invitational team which faced the likes of the All Blacks and the Springboks
in the early part of the 20th century. Other rugby clubs of note from the region include Bridgend RFC
, Glamorgan Wanderers RFC, Neath RFC
and Pontypridd RFC
. Although never finding any lasting appeal within Glamorgan, a number of rugby league
teams emerged in the early 1900s; and on 1 January 1908, the first true international rugby league game took place in Aberdare
between Wales
and New Zealand
.
As well as rugby and cricket, association football was a very popular sport in Glamorgan, producing two teams with a long tradition in British football, Swansea Town F.C. (formed 1912) and Cardiff City
(formed 1899 as Riverside AFC). Both clubs played in the English football league system
, rather than the Welsh leagues
, though Cardiff were more successful during this period, spending 15 seasons in the First Division
and winning the FA Cup
in 1927. Other teams of note include Merthyr Tydfil F.C.
(1945), who have won the Welsh Cup
on three occasions.
Of all the individual sports, arguably boxing
was Glamorgan's most prolific. From the northern coalfields and ironworks a string of world class boxers were produced, which was later matched by notable fighters from Cardiff. Of note were Rhondda's Percy Jones
(World Flyweight Champion), Tom Thomas
(British Middleweight Champion), Jimmy Wilde
(World Flyweight Champion) and Tommy Farr
(Empire Heavyweight Champion) ; Merthyr's Eddie Thomas
(European Welterweight Champion) and Howard Winstone
(European Featherweight Champion); Pontypridd's Freddie Welsh
(World Lightweight Champion) and Frank Moody
(Empire Middleweight Champion). From Cardiff came 'Peerless' Jim Driscoll
(British Featherweight Champion) and Jack Petersen
(British Heavyweight Champion). Other fighter of note include Dai Dower
(European Flyweight Champion) from Abercynon
and Bill Beynon
(Empire Bantamweight Champion) from Taibach
.
, but after conflicts in mainland Europe, British travellers looked for 'wild' destinations within their own country. These first tourists were important archivists in their writings, paintings and sketches but there was no real tourist trade to receive them. The coming of industrialisation in the early 19th century gave rise to a new prosperous middle-class and improved communications; both led to a burgeoning tourist trade. The late 19th century, with improving rail links, saw the coastal areas of Glamorgan that benefited from a beachfront grow as tourist destinations. These towns, most notably Barry Island
, Porthcawl, Aberavon and Mumbles, owed their existence as tourist locations to the development of the south Wales coal field and the introduction of the workers' annual holidays. By the mid 20th century these locations improved the number of visitors they could accommodate with the introduction of caravan parks and chalet parks.
As the 20th century progressed, and people's leisure activities extended beyond a once-a-year weeks holiday, the county responded with county parks, museums, art galleries and activity centres.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It was originally an early medieval kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three preserved counties
Preserved counties of Wales
The preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of Lieutenancy and Shrievalty. They are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and other purposes between 1974 and 1996.-Usage:The Local Government ...
of West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan is a preserved county and former administrative county of Wales, one of the divisions of the ancient county of Glamorgan.West Glamorgan was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 from the county borough of Swansea, the municipal boroughs of Neath and Port Talbot,...
, Mid Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996, it was also an administrative county, with a county council.Mid Glamorgan was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972...
and South Glamorgan
South Glamorgan
South Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales.It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area...
. The name also survives in that of the county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
of the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
.
Although initially a rural and pastoral area of little value, the area that became known as Glamorgan was a conflict point between the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
lords and the Welsh princes, with the area being defined by a large concentration of castles. After falling under English rule in the 16th century, Glamorgan became a more stable county, and exploited its natural resources to become an important part of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Glamorgan was the most populous and industrialised county in Wales and was once called the 'crucible of the Industrial Revolution', containing the world centres of three metallurgical industries, and its rich resources of coal.
The county of Glamorgan comprised several distinct regions: the industrial valleys, the agricultural Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
and the scenic Gower Peninsula
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...
. The county was bounded to the north by Brecknockshire
Brecknockshire
Brecknockshire , also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county.-Geography:...
, east by Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
, south by the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
, and west by Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
and Carmarthen Bay
Carmarthen Bay
Carmarthen Bay is an inlet of the south Wales coast. The coastline includes famous beaches, including the Pendine Sands and Cefn Sidan sands, and is partially covered by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park....
. Its total area was 2100 km² (811 sq mi), and the total population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of the three preserved counties of Glamorgan in 1991 was 1,288,309. In 1974 Glamorgan contained two cities, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, the county town and from 1955 the capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of Wales, and Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
. The highest point in the county was Craig y Llyn
Craig y Llyn
Craig y Llyn is a mountain situated in Rhigos on the west side of the upper Cynon Valley in South Wales; it is the highest point in the traditional county of Glamorgan and the highest in the South Wales Valleys...
(600 metres (1,968.5 ft)) which is situated near the village of Rhigos
Rhigos
Rhigos is a village in the north of the Cynon Valley, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. For postal purposes it comes under the town of Aberdare, although it is some from Aberdare town centre....
in the Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
.
Origins
Glamorgan's terrain has been inhabited by humankindHomo (genus)
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old, evolving from australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis....
for over 200,000 years. Climate fluctuation
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
caused the formation, disappearance and reformation of glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s which, in turn, caused sea levels to rise and fall. At various times life has flourished, at others the area is likely to have been completely uninhabitable. Evidence of the presence of Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
s has been discovered on the Gower Peninsula
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...
. Whether they remained in the area during periods of extreme cold is unclear. Sea levels have been 150 metres (492.1 ft) lower and 8 metres (26.2 ft) higher than at present, resulting in significant changes to the coastline during this period.
Archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
evidence shows that modern humans
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
settled in the area during an interstadial
Stadial
A stadial is a period of lower temperatures during an interglacial separating the glacial periods of an ice age. Such periods are of insufficient duration or intensity to be considered glacial periods...
period. The oldest known human burial in Great Britain – the Red Lady of Paviland
Red Lady of Paviland
The Red Lady of Paviland is a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic-era human male skeleton dyed in red ochre. It was the first human fossil to have been found anywhere in the world and is also the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in Western Europe so far discovered. The bones were discovered between...
– was discovered in a coastal cave between Port Eynon
Port Eynon
Port Eynon is a village and community in the city and county of Swansea, Wales. The community has its own elected community council...
and Rhossili
Rhossili
Rhossili is a small village and community on the southwestern tip of the Gower Peninsula near Swansea in Wales. Since the 1970s it has fallen within the boundaries of Swansea. It is within an area designated as the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the United Kingdom...
, on the Gower Peninsula. The 'lady' has been radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
to c. 29,000 years before present (BP)
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
– during the Late Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
– at which time the cave overlooked an area of plain
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...
, some miles from the sea.
From the end of the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
(between 12,000 and 10,000 BP) Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s began to migrate
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
to the British Peninsula
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
– through Doggerland
Doggerland
Doggerland is a name given by archaeologists and geologists to a former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe during and after the last Ice Age, surviving until about 6,500 or 6,200 BCE, though gradually being swallowed by rising sea levels...
– from the European mainland
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. Archaeologist
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
Stephen Aldhouse-Green notes that while Wales has a "multitude" of Mesolithic sites, their settlements were "focused on the coastal plains", the uplands were "exploited only by specialist hunting groups".
Human lifestyles in North-West Europe
North-West Europe
North-West Europe is a term that refers to a northern area of Western Europe, although the exact area or countries it comprises varies.-Geographic definition:...
changed around 6000 BP; from the Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
nomadic lives of hunting and gathering, to the Neolithic agrarian
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
life of agriculture and settlement. They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land and developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production. A tradition of long barrow
Long barrow
A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal tumuli or earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs...
construction began in continental Europe during the 7th millennium BP
5th millennium BC
The 5th millennium BC saw the spread of agriculture from the Near East throughout southern and central Europe.Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia,...
– the free standing megalithic structures supporting a sloping capstone (known as dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
s); common over Atlantic Europe
Atlantic Europe
Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit and/or as an biogeographical region....
. Nineteen Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
chambered tombs
Chamber tomb
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
(or long barrows) and five possible henges have been identified in Glamorgan. These megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
ic burial chambers, or cromlech
Cromlech
Cromlech is a Brythonic word used to describe prehistoric megalithic structures, where crom means "bent" and llech means "flagstone". The term is now virtually obsolete in archaeology, but remains in use as a colloquial term for two different types of megalithic monument.In English it usually...
i, were built between 6000 and 5000 BP, during the early Neolithic period, the first of them about 1500 years before either Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
or the Egyptian Great Pyramid of Giza
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact...
was completed. Two major groups of Neolithic architectural traditions are represented in the area: portal dolmens
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
(e.g. St Lythans burial chamber
St Lythans burial chamber
The St Lythans burial chamber is a single stone megalithic dolmen, built around 6,000 BP as part of a chambered long barrow, during the mid Neolithic period, in what is now known as the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales....
(Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
), and Cae'rarfau (near Creigiau
Creigiau
Creigiau is a dormitory settlement in the north-west of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The village currently has about 1,000 houses and a population of approximately 2,400 people.- History :...
)); and Severn-Cotswold chamber tombs
Severn-Cotswold tomb
Severn-Cotswold is a name given to a type of Megalithic chamber tomb built by Neolithic peoples in Wales and South West England around 3500 BC.-Description:...
(e.g. Parc Cwm long cairn
Parc Cwm long cairn
Parc Cwm long cairn , also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber , is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb, identified in 1937 as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. The cromlech, a megalithic burial chamber, was built around 5850 years before present , during the early...
, (Parc le Breos Cwm, Gower Peninsula), and Tinkinswood burial chamber
Tinkinswood
Tinkinswood or its full name Tinkinswood Burial Chamber , also known as Castell Carreg, Llech-y-Filiast and Maes-y-Filiast, is a megalithic burial chamber, built around 6,000 BP , during the Neolithic period, in the Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales.The structure is called a dolmen, which was...
(Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
)), as well as tombs that do not fall easily into either group. Such massive constructions would have needed a large labour force – up to 200 men – suggestive of large communities nearby. Archaeological evidence from some Neolithic sites (e.g. Tinkinswood) has shown the continued use of cromlechi in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
.
The Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
– defined by the use of metal – has made a lasting impression on the area. Over six hundred Bronze Age barrows
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
and cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
s, of various types, have been identified all over Glamorgan. Other technological innovations – including the wheel
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
; harnessing oxen; weaving textiles
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
; brewing alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
; and skillful metalworking (producing new weapons and tools, and fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooch
Brooch
A brooch ; also known in ancient times as a fibula; is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold but sometimes bronze or some other material...
es and torc
Torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Smaller torcs worn around...
s) – changed people's everyday lives during this period. Deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
continued to the more remote areas as a warmer climate allowed the cultivation even of upland areas.By 4000 BP people had begun to bury, or cremate
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
their dead in individual cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....
s, beneath a mound of earth known as a round barrow
Round barrow
Round barrows are one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe they are found in many parts of the world because of their simple construction and universal purpose....
; sometimes with a distinctive style of finely decorated pottery – like those at Llanharry
Llanharry
Llanharry is a small village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.Historically Llanharry has been inextricably linked with iron mining as far back as the Roman period and Elizabethan era, and for a period in the 20th century it boasted the only iron mine in Wales.-Employment:Llanharry...
(discovered 1929) and at Llandaff
Llandaff
Llandaff is a district in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, having been incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Church in Wales Bishop of Llandaff, whose diocese covers the most populous area of South Wales. Much of the district is covered by parkland known as Llandaff...
(1991) – that gave rise to the Early Bronze Age being described as Beaker culture
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...
. From c. 3350 BP, a worsening climate began to make agriculture unsustainable in upland areas. The resulting population pressures appear to have led to conflict. Hill forts began to be built from the Late Bronze Age (and throughout the Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
(3150–1900 BP)) and the amount and quality of weapons increased noticeably – along the regionally distinctive tribal lines of the Iron Age.
Archaeological evidence from two sites in Glamorgan shows Bronze Age practices and settlements continued into the Iron Age. Finds from Llyn Fawr
Llyn Fawr
Llyn Fawr is a lake in the Cynon Valley , South Wales, best known as the site of an important hoard of weapons and tools from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age...
, thought to be votive offering
Votive offering
A votive deposit or votive offering is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural...
s, include weapons and tools from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The hoard has given its name to the Llyn Fawr Phase
Llyn Fawr Phase
The Llyn Fawr Phase is the name given by archaeologists to the final metalworking phase of the Bronze Age in Britain, dating to between c. 800 BC and c. 700BC, when the transition to the Iron Age was underway....
, the last Bronze Age phase in Britain. Excavations at Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, indicate a settlement and "feasting site" occupied from the Late Bronze Age until the Roman occupation
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. Until the Roman conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
, the area that would become known as Glamorgan was part of the territory of the Silures
Silures
The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire of present day South Wales; and possibly Gloucestershire and Herefordshire of present day England...
– a Celtic British tribe
Iron Age tribes in Britain
The names of the Iron Age tribes in Britain were recorded by Roman and Greek historians and geographers, especially Ptolemy, although information from the distribution of Celtic coins has also shed light on the extents of the territories of the various groups that occupied the island.It is...
that flourished in the Iron Age – whose territory also included the areas that would become known as Breconshire and Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
. The Silures had hill forts throughout the area (e.g. Caerau
Caerau
Caerau may refer to:*Caerau, Bridgend, near Maesteg in the River Llynfi valley, south Wales*Caerau, Cardiff, a district of the city of Cardiff, Wales...
(Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
), Caerau hill fort, Rhiwsaeson (Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
) and Y Bwlwarcau (Mynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg
Maesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
)) and cliff castles along the Glamorgan coast e.g.
Burry Holms
Burry Holms
Burry Holms is a small tidal island located at the northern end of the Gower Peninsula, Wales. 9,000 years ago it was up to 12 miles away from the sea and inhabited by nomadic Mesolithic hunters...
(Gower Peninsula). Excavations at one – Dunraven hill fort, (Southerndown
Southerndown
Southerndown is a village in South Wales to the southwest of Bridgend, close to St Brides Major, Llantwit Major and Ogmore-by-Sea. It is mostly known for its beach , which is a popular tourist destination during the summer months and since 1972 has been designated a Heritage Coast and is part of...
, Vale of Glamorgan) – revealed the remains of twenty one roundhouses
Roundhouse (dwelling)
The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m...
.
Many other settlements of the Silures were neither hill forts nor castles. For example, the 3.2 hectares (8 acre) fort
Cardiff Roman Fort
Cardiff Roman Fort was a coastal fort in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, of which Roman Wales was a part. Its original Latin name is uncertain. Its remains are incorporated into Cardiff Castle in the modern capital city of Wales.-Name:...
established by the Romans
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
near the mouth of the River Taff
River Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
in 75 CE (Common Era)
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, in what would become Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement established by the Silures in the 50s CE.
History AD 500–1080
The region originated as an independent petty kingdom named Glywysing, believed to be named after a 5th century Welsh king called GlywysGlywys
Glywys is described in Welsh genealogies as an early 5th century Welsh king who is seen as an important character in early Welsh history. The kingdom of Glywysing is believed to have been named after Glywys, and is the earliest place name for the land between the Rivers Tawe and Usk...
, who is said to have been descended from a Roman Governor in the region. Saint Paul Aurelian
Paul Aurelian
Paul Aurelian is a 6th century Welsh saint, who became one of the seven founder saints of Brittany....
was born in Glamorgan in the 6th century. The name Morgannwg or Glamorgan ('territory of Morgan') reputedly derives from the 8th century king Morgan ab Athrwys, otherwise known as "Morgan Mwynfawr" ('great in riches') who united Glywysing with the neighbouring kingdoms of Gwent and Ergyng
Ergyng
Ergyng was a Welsh kingdom of the sub-Roman and early medieval period, between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was later referred to by the English as Archenfield.-Location:...
, although some have argued for the similar 10th century ruler Morgan Hen. It is possible it was only the union of Gwent and Glywysing that was referred to as Morgannwg. By virtue of its location and geography, Morgannwg or Glywysing was the second part of Wales, after Gwent, to fall under the control of the Normans
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
and was frequently the scene of fighting between the Marcher Lords
Marcher Lords
A Marcher Lord was a strong and trusted noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border between England and Wales.A Marcher Lord is the English equivalent of a margrave...
and Welsh princes.
Buildings of note, 500–1080
The earliest buildings of note included earthwork dykes and rudimentary motte-and-baileyMotte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
hillside defences. All that remains of these fortifications are foundations that leave archaeological evidence of their existence, though many were built upon to create more permanent defensive structures. The earliest surviving structures within the region are early stone monuments, waypoints and grave markers dating between the 5th and 7th century, with many being moved from their original position to sheltered locations for protection. The most notable of the early stone markers still in its original place is on a high mountain ridge at Gelligaer
Gelligaer
Gelligaer is a town and parish in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales, in the Rhymney River valley. The parish also includes the villages of Cefn Hengoed and Hengoed to the south.- History :...
. Of the later plaitwork patterned standing crosses the finest and best preserved is the 9th century 'Houelt' stone at Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major is a small coastal town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the Bristol Channel coast. A small stream, the Afon Col-huw, runs through the town.-Local government:...
.
History, 1080–1536
The Lordship of GlamorganLord of Glamorgan
The Lordship of Glamorgan was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships. Established by the conquest of Glamorgan from its last Welsh ruler the Anglo-Norman lord of Glamorgan like all Marcher lords ruled his lands directly by his own law, thus they could amongst other...
was established by Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...
following the defeat of Iestyn ap Gwrgant
Iestyn ap Gwrgant
Iestyn ap Gwrgant was the last ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Morgannwg, which encompassed the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire .- Lineage :...
in the 1080s. The Lordship of Morgannwg was split after it was conquered; the kingdom of Glamorgan had as its caput
Caput
The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...
the town of Cardiff and took in the lands from the River Tawe to the River Rhymney. The Lordship took in four of the Welsh cantrefi, Gorfynydd
Gorfynydd
Gorfynydd was a cantref in Morgannwg, Wales lying between the rivers Thaw and Neath . The name survived in ecclesiastical use until recently as the rural deanery of Gronneath ....
, Penychen
Penychen
Penychen was a possible minor kingdom of early mediæval Wales and later a cantref of the Kingdom of Morgannwg. Penychen was one of three cantrefs that made up the kingdom of Glywysing, the other two being Gwynllwg and Gorfynydd...
, Senghenydd and Gwynllwg
Gwynllwg
Gwynllŵg was a kingdom of mediæval Wales and later a Norman lordship and then a cantref.-Location:It was named after Gwynllyw, its 5th century or 6th century ruler and consisted of the coastal plain stretching between the Rhymney and Usk rivers, together with the hills to the north...
. The area later known as the Gower Peninsula was not under the Lordship of Glamorgan, and became the Gower Lordship
Gower (Lordship)
thumb|350px|right|Map of the Lordship, showing the area detached , the area added and the Town and Franchise of Swansea. The language boundary is shown as a dotted line....
which had previously been the cantref of Gŵyr. The lowlands of the Lordship of Glamorgan were manorialized, while much of the sparsely populated uplands were left under Welsh control until the late 13th century. Upon the death of William, Lord of Glamorgan
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester
William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was the son and heir of Sir Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester, and Mabel FitzHamon of Gloucester, daughter of Robert Fitzhamon.- Lineage :...
, his extensive holdings were eventually granted to Gilbert de Clare
Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, 5th Earl of Gloucester was the son of Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford, from whom he inherited the Clare estates. He also inherited from his mother, Amice Fitz William, the estates of Gloucester and the honour of St. Hilary, and from Rohese, an...
in 1217. The subjugation of Glamorgan, begun by Fitzhamon, was finally completed by the powerful De Clare family, and in 1486 the kingdom was granted to Jasper Tudor.
Buildings of note, 1080–1536
The legacy of the Marcher Lords left the area scattered with historic buildings including Norman castles, Cistercian Abbeys, churches and medieval monuments.The kingdom of Glamorgan was also notable for the number of castles built during the time of the Marcher Lords
Marcher Lords
A Marcher Lord was a strong and trusted noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border between England and Wales.A Marcher Lord is the English equivalent of a margrave...
, many surviving to the present day though many are now ruinous. Of the castles built during the medieval period, those still standing above foundation level include, Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle
Caerphilly Castle is a medieval castle that dominates the centre of the town of Caerphilly in south Wales. It is the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in Britain after Windsor Castle...
, Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...
, Ogmore Castle
Ogmore Castle
Ogmore Castle is located near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea, south of the town of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales. It is situated on the south bank of the River Ewenny and the east bank of the River Ogmore. Cowbridge is nearby. Its construction might have begun in 1106...
, St Quintins Castle
St Quintins Castle
St Quintins Castle is a castle located in the village of Llanblethian, Cowbridge, Wales under the care of Cadw.-Initial fortifications:...
, Coity Castle
Coity Castle
Coity Castle in Glamorgan, Wales is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville , one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon, Lord of Gloucester. Now in ruins, it stands in the Community of Coity...
, Neath Castle
Neath Castle
Neath Castle is a Norman castle located in the town centre of Neath, Wales.-Sources:**...
and Oystermouth Castle
Oystermouth Castle
Oystermouth Castle is a Norman stone castle in Wales, overlooking Swansea Bay on the east side of the Gower Peninsula near the village of the Mumbles.- The early castle :...
. Many of the castles within Morgannwg were attacked by forces led by Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
during the Welsh Revolt
Glyndwr Rising
The Glyndŵr Rising, Welsh Revolt or Last War of Independence was an uprising of the Welsh, led by Owain Glyndŵr, against England. It was the last major manifestation of a Welsh independence movement before the incorporation of Wales into England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542.- The Fall of...
of 1400-1415. Some were captured, and several were damaged to such an extent they were never maintained as defences again.
When the Diocese of Llandaff
Diocese of Llandaff
The Diocese of Llandaff is a Church in Wales diocese. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff...
became incorporated into the Province of Canterbury, the Bishop of Llandaff rebuilt over the small church with the beginnings of Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is situated in the district of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The current building was constructed in the 12th century over the site of an earlier church...
in 1120. In the western region of Morgannwg two monastic foundations were sited, a Savigniac
Congregation of Savigny
The monastic Congregation of Savigny started in the abbey of Savigny, situated in northern France, on the confines of Normandy and Brittany, in the Diocese of Coutances. It originated in 1105 when Vitalis of Mortain established a hermitage in the forest at Savigny in France.-Founding:Vitalis was a...
house in Neath
Neath Abbey
Neath Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located near the present-day town of Neath in southern Wales, UK.It was once the largest abbey in Wales. Substantial ruins can still be seen, and are in the care of Cadw...
in 1130 and the Cistercian Margam Abbey
Margam Abbey
Margam Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.-History:The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The abbey was dissolved by King...
in 1147. In the Vale a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery was founded in 1141, Ewenny Priory
Ewenny Priory
Ewenny Priory, in Ewenny in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, was a monastery of the Benedictine order, founded in the 12th century.The building was unusual in having military-style defences. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the priory, like many of its kind, was converted into a private...
, a community under the patronage of St. Peter's Gloucester
Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter .-Foundations:The foundations of the present...
. The building of parish churches also began in the 12th century, densely in the Vale, but very sparsely in the upland and northern areas.
History 1536-1750
The Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 established the County of Glamorgan through the amalgamation of the Lordship of Glamorgan with the lordships of GowerGower (Lordship)
thumb|350px|right|Map of the Lordship, showing the area detached , the area added and the Town and Franchise of Swansea. The language boundary is shown as a dotted line....
and Kilvey; the area that had previously been the cantref of Gwynllwg was lost to Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
. With Wales finally incorporated with the English dominions, the administration of justice passed into the hands of the crown. The Lordship became a shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
and was awarded its first Parliamentary representative with the creation of the Glamorganshire constituency
Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Glamorganshire was a parliamentary constituency in Wales, returning two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 divided it into five new constituencies: East Glamorganshire, South Glamorganshire, Mid Glamorganshire, Gower and Rhondda.- MPs...
in 1536. The Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, which was closely followed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, led to vast social changes across Britain. These events, along with the Act of Union, allowed the leading Welsh families to gain in wealth and prosperity, allowing equal footing to those families of English extraction. Old monasteries, with their lands, were acquired by the wealthy and turned into country houses; their notable residents preferring to live in gentry houses rather than the fortified castles of the past. Major families in Glamorgan included the Carnes
Sir Edward Carne
Sir Edward Carne was a Welsh Renaissance scholar, diplomat and English Member of Parliament.-Life history:Carne was born around 1500 to Howell Carne of Cowbridge in Glamorgan, and his wife Cicily, the daughter of William Kemys. Carne was descended from Thomas Le Carne, who was the second son of...
at Ewenny
Ewenny
Ewenny is a village on the River Ewenny in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.Over the years the village has grown into the neighbouring village of Corntown to such an extent that there is no longer a clear boundary between the two. The nearest town of significant size is Bridgend, away.-Ewenny...
, the Mansels
Rice Mansel
Sir Rhys Mansel , also Sir Rice Mansel, also Sir Rice Manxell, also Sir Rice Maunsell, Vice-Admiral, was High Sheriff of Glamorgan, a Commissioner of Peace and served as Chamberlain of Chester to King Henry VIII of England.Sir Rice owned estates at Penrice and Oxwich, and at the Dissolution of the...
at Margam
Margam
Margam is a suburb of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway.- History :...
, Williams of Neath, the Herberts at Cardiff and Swansea and the Stradlings
Stradling Baronets
The Stradling Baronetcy, of St Donat's in the County of Glamorgan, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 22 May 1611 for John Stradling, later Member of Parliament for St Germans and Old Sarum and Glamorgan. The second Baronet also represented Glamorgan in Parliament. The...
of St Donats.
The main industry of Glamorgan during this period was agriculture. In the upland, or Blaenau area, the hilly terrain along with many areas being densely wooded, made arable farming unprofitable, so the local farming concentrated on the rearing of horses, cattle and sheep. The lowland, or Bro was devoted to more general branches of farming, cereal, grass for pasture, hay and stock raising. Non-agricultural industries were generally small scale, with some shallow coal pits, fulling mills
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
, weaving and pottery-making. The main heavy industry of note during this period was copper smelting, and this was centred around the towns of Swansea and Neath. Although copper had been mined in Wales since the Bronze Age, it was not until non-ferrous
Ferrous
Ferrous , in chemistry, indicates a divalent iron compound , as opposed to ferric, which indicates a trivalent iron compound ....
metalworking became a major industry in the late 17th century that Glamorgan saw a concentration of works appearing in a belt between Kidwelly
Kidwelly
Kidwelly is a town in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, approximately north-west of the main town of Llanelli.It lies on the River Gwendraeth Fach above Carmarthen Bay. The town is twinned with French village St Jacut de la Mer.-History:...
and Port Talbot. Smelting of copper started around Neath under the Mines Royal Society
Society of Mines Royal
The Society of Mines Royal was one of two mining monopoly companies incorporated by royal charter in 1568, the other being the Company of Mineral and Battery Works.-History:...
c. 1584 but the scale of the works increased dramatically from the early 18th century when Swansea displaced Bristol as Britain's copper smelting capital. Easy access to Cornish ores and a local outcropping of coal near the surface, gave Swansea economic advantages in the smelting industry.
Early iron smelting within Glamorgan was a localised and minor industry, with historical evidence pointing to scattered ironworks throughout the county. John Leland mentions a works at Llantrisant
Llantrisant
Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St...
in 1539, an operation in Aberdare existed during the reign of Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
and two iron furnaces were recorded as being set up by Sir W. Mathew in Radyr
Radyr
Radyr is an outer suburb of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The suburb is situated in the west of the city, although it was originally a separate village, and is located around 5 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. According to 2009 estimates, the suburb has a population of 6,000...
during the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
. By 1666 a furnace was in operation in Hirwaun
Hirwaun
Hirwaun is the name of a village at the northwest end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The village of Hirwaun is from the town of Aberdare, and comes under Aberdare for postal reasons...
and in 1680 a smelting hearth was established in Caerphilly
Caerphilly
Caerphilly is a town in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales, located at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, with a population of approximately 31,000. It is a commuter town of Cardiff and Newport, which are located some 7.5 miles and 12 miles away, respectively...
. Despite the existence of these industries, the scale of production was small, and in 1740 the total output of iron from Glamorgan was reported at 400 tons per year.
Glamorgan, now falling under the protection of the crown, was also involved in the conflicts of the crown. With the start of the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
, there was little support from the Welsh for the Parliamentarians. Glamorgan sent troops to join Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
at the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
, and their Member of Parliament Sir Edward Stradling
Sir Edward Stradling, 2nd Baronet
Sir Edward Stradling, 2nd Baronet was an English politician at the time of the Civil War.Stradling was the son of Sir John Stradling, 1st Baronet and Elizabeth Gage. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford...
was captured in the conflict. In the Second English Civil War
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
, the war came to Glamorgan at the Battle of St Fagans (1648), where the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
overcame a larger Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
to prevent a siege of Cardiff.
Buildings of note, 1536-1750
The period between the Laws in Wales Acts and the industrialisation of Glamorgan saw two distinct periods architecturally. From the 1530s throughout to 1650, the newly empowered gentry attempted to show their status by building stately homes to show their wealth; but the period from 1650 through to the mid 1750s was a fallow time for architectural grandeur, with few new wealthy families moving to the area. Of the eight major gentry houses of the time only St Fagans Castle survives with its interior intact; five, Neath Abbey, Old Beaupre CastleOld Beaupre Castle
Old Beaupre Castle is a ruined medieval fortified manor house located in the community of Llanfair, outside Cowbridge in Wales presently under the care of Cadw...
, Oxwich Castle
Oxwich Castle
Oxwich Castle occupies a position on a wooded headland overlooking Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, UK.Although it may occupy the site of an earlier fortification, this is a castle in name only as it is a grand Tudor manor house built in courtyard style. A product of the peaceful 16th...
, Llantrithyd and Ruperra Castle
Ruperra Castle
Ruperra Castle is a Grade II* Listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument, situated in Lower Machen in South East Wales. It is currently in a ruined condition, and up for sale....
are ruinous. Of the remaining two manors, The Van at Caerphilly was reconstructed in 1990 while Cefnmabli was gutted by a fire in 1994. The old castles became abandoned throughout this period due to the new security brought by Glamorgan coming under the protection of the crown, with only the Stradlings of St Donat's Castle
St Donat's Castle
St Donat's Castle is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, overlooking the Bristol Channel in the village of St Donat's near Llantwit Major, and about 25km west of Cardiff...
electing to remain in their old ancestral home.
By the 17th century, the availability of fine building stone permitted the construction of high-quality lime-washed rural cottages and farmhouses in the Vale of Glamorgan, which drew favourable remarks from travellers. A Glamorgan yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
of the time generally lived in greater comfort than his contemporaries of the more westerly or upland parts of Wales such as Cardiganshire
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
or north Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
.
Metals industry
From the mid-18th century onwards, Glamorgan's uplands underwent large-scale industrialisation and several coastal towns, in particular Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
and later Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, became significant ports. From the late 18th century until the early 20th century Glamorgan produced 70 per cent of the British output of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
. The industry was developed by English entrepreneurs and investors such as John Henry Vivian
John Henry Vivian
John Henry Vivian was a Welsh industrialist and politician of Cornish extraction.Vivian was the son of John Vivian, of Truro, Cornwall, and his wife Betsey, daughter of the Reverend Richard Cranch, and the brother of Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian...
and largely based in the west of the county, where coal could be purchased cheaply and ores imported from Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and later much further afield. The industry was of immense importance to Swansea in particular; in 1823 the smelting works on the River Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
, and the colleries and shipping dependent on them, supported between 8,000 and 10,000 people. Imports of copper ores reached a peak in 1880s, after which there was a steep fall until the virtual end of the trade in the 1920s. The cost of shipping ores from distant countries, and the growth of foreign competitors, ended Glamorgan's dominance of the industry. Some of the works converted to the production of zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
and the Tawe valley
Swansea Valley
The Swansea Valley , one of the South Wales Valleys is the name often given to the valley of the River Tawe area in South Wales, UK. It reaches southwest and south from the Brecon Beacons National Park down to the city of Swansea. Today, administration of the area is divided between the City and...
also became a location for the manufacture of nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
after Ludwig Mond
Ludwig Mond
Dr Ludwig Mond , was a German-born chemist and industrialist who took British nationality.-Education and career:...
established a works at Clydach in 1902.
Even at its peak, copper smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
was never as significant as iron smelting, which was the major industrial employer of men and capital in south Wales before the rise of the sale-coal industry. Ironmaking developed in locations where ironstone
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
, coal and limestone were found in close proximity - primarily the northern and south-western parts of the South Wales coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
. In the second half of the 18th century four ironworks were built in Merthyr Tydfill. In 1759 the Dowlais Ironworks
Dowlais Ironworks
The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in the UK...
were established by a partnership of nine men. This was followed by the Plymouth Ironworks
Plymouth Ironworks
The Plymouth Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located at Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales....
in 1763, which was formed by Isaac Wilkinson
Isaac Wilkinson
Isaac Wilkinson was an English industrialist, one of the founders of the iron industry and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. However, his business ethics were precarious and his commercial affairs frequently chaotic. He became much addicted to litigation.-Early life:Wilkinson was born in...
and John Guest
Guest family
The Guest family are a British family of the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries who, among other things built a huge industrial business in the Dowlais Iron Company and later in Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds.-John Guest:...
, then in 1765 Anthony Bacon
Anthony Bacon (industrialist)
Anthony Bacon was an English-born merchant and industrialist who was significantly responsible for the emergence of Merthyr Tydfil as the iron-smelting centre of Britain.-Background:...
established the Cyfarthfa Ironworks
Cyfarthfa Ironworks
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...
. The fourth of the great ironworks, Penydarren Ironworks was built in 1784. These works made Merthyr Tydfil the main centre of the industry in Wales.
As well as copper and iron, Glamorgan became an important centre for the tinplate industry. Although not as famous as the Llanelli or Pontypool works, a concentrated number of works emerged around Swansea, Aberavon and Neath towards the late 19th century.
Other areas to house heavy industries include ironworks in Maesteg
Maesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
(1826), tinplate works in Llwydarth and Pontyclun
Pontyclun
Pontyclun is a village in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is served by the South Wales Main Line and has its own local rugby union club...
and an iron ore mine in Llanharry
Llanharry
Llanharry is a small village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.Historically Llanharry has been inextricably linked with iron mining as far back as the Roman period and Elizabethan era, and for a period in the 20th century it boasted the only iron mine in Wales.-Employment:Llanharry...
.
Alongside the metalworks, industries appeared throughout Glamorgan that made use of the works' output. Pontypridd was well known for the Brown Lenox Chainworks, which during the 19th century was the town's main industrial employer.
Coal industry
The largest change to industrial Glamorgan was the opening up of the South Wales coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
, the largest continuous coalfield in Britain, which occupied the greater part of Glamorgan, mostly north of the Vale. The coalfield provided a vast range in quality and type, but prior to 1750 the only real access to the seams was through bell pit
Bell pit
A bell pit is a primitive method of mining coal, iron ore or other minerals where the coal or ore lies near the surface.. A shaft is sunk to reach the mineral which is excavated by miners transported to the surface by a winch and removed by means of a bucket, much like a well. It gets its name...
s or digging horizontally into a level where the seam was exposed at a river bank or mountainside. Although initially excavated for export, coal was soon also needed for the smelting process in Britain's expanding metallurgical industries. Developments in coal mining began in the north-eastern rim of Glamorgan around the ironworks of Merthyr and in the south-west around the copper plants of Swansea. In 1828 the South Wales coalfiled was producing an estimated 3 million tons of coal, by 1840 that had risen to 4.5 million, with about 70 percent consumed by local commercial and domestic usage.
The 1840s saw the start of a dramatic increase in the amount of coal excavated within Glamorgan. Several events took place to precipitate the growth in coal mining, including the discovery of steam coal in the Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
, the building of a large masonry dock at Cardiff and the construction of the Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
. In 1845, after trials by the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, Welsh steam coal replaced coal from Newcastle-upon-Tyne as the preferred fuel for the ships of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. Glamorgan steam coal quickly became a sought-after commodity for navies all over the world and its production increased to meet the demand.
The richest source for steam coal was the Rhondda Valleys, and by 1856 the Taff Vale Railway had reached the heads of both valleys. Over the next fifty years the Rhondda would grow to become the largest producer of coal of the age. In 1874, the Rhondda produced 2.13 million tons of coal, which rose to 5.8 million tons by 1884. The coal now produced in Glamorgan far exceeded the interior demand, and in the later half of the 19th century the area became a mass exporter for its product. In the 1890s the docks of South Wales accounted for 38 percent of British coal exports and a quarter of global trade.
Along with the increase in coal production came a very large increase in the population, as people emigrated to the area to seek employment. In Aberdare the population grew from 6,471 in 1841 to 32,299 in 1851 while the Rhondda grew from 3,035 in 1861 to 55,632 in 1881, peaking in 1921 at 162,729. Much of this population growth was driven by immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. In the ten years from 1881–1891, net migration to Glamorgan was over 76,000, 63 per cent of which was from the non-border counties of England - a proportion that increased in the following decade.
Agriculture
Until the beginning of the 18th century, Glamorgan was almost entirely agriculture based. With the industrialisation of the county, farming became of far less importance, with industrial areas encroaching into farming lands. In Glamorgan, from the late 19th century, there was a significant reduction away from arable land towards pasture land. There were two main factors behind this trend; firstly the increase in the population of the county required more milk and other dairy produce, in an age before refrigeration. Secondly there was an employment shortage in farming due to the call of better paid industrial work, and pastoral land was less work intensive. Stock rearing became prominent with breeds such as Hereford
Hereford (cattle)
Hereford cattle are a beef cattle breed, widely used both in intemperate areas and temperate areas, mainly for meat production.Originally from Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom, more than five million pedigree Hereford Cattle now exist in over 50 countries...
, Devon
North Devon cattle
The Devon is a breed of cattle from the south west of England. It is a rich red colour, and this gives rise to the popular nicknames of Devon Ruby or Red Ruby...
and Shorthorn
Shorthorn
The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late 18th century. The breed was developed as dual purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however there were always certain blood lines within the breed which emphasised one quality or the other...
cattle being bred in the Vale of Glamorgan, while the unenclosed wilds of the Gower saw Welsh Ponies
Welsh Pony
The Welsh Pony and Cob are closely related horse breeds including both pony and cob types, which originated in Wales in the United Kingdom...
bred on the commons.
Buildings of note 1750-1920
The industrial period of Glamorgan saw a massive building program throughout the uplands and in the coastal regions, reflecting the increasing population and the need for new cheap housing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of workers coming into the area. As the towns urbanised and the hamlets became villages, the trappings of modern life were reflected in the buildings required to sustain new and growing communities. The period saw the appearance, not only of the works and pits themselves, but of the terrace house or miners cottage, railway stations, hospitals, churches, chapels, bridges, viaducts, stadiums, schools, universities, museums and workingmen's halls.As well as the architecture of Glamorgan entering modernity
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
, there was also a reflection to the past, with some individuals who made the most from the booming industrial economy restoring symbols of the past, building follies
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
and commissioning Gothic-style
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
additions to ancient churches. Robert Lugar
Robert Lugar
Robert Lugar , was an English architect and engineer in the Industrial Revolution.Although born in Colchester, England, Lugar carried out much of his most important work in Scotland and Wales, where he was employed by several leading industrialists to design grand houses such as Balloch Castle and...
's Cyfarthfa Castle
Cyfarthfa Castle
Cyfarthfa Castle is the former home of the Crawshay family, historical ironmasters of Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Park, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Despite appearing superficially to be a fortified building it is a house built in the style of a large mansion...
in Merthyr (1825) and the late 19th century additions to Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...
, designed by William Burges
William Burges
William Burges may refer to:* William Burges * William Burges...
, exemplify how Gothic was the favoured style for rich industrialists and entrepreneurs. Greek Revival architecture
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
, popularised in France and Germany in the late 18th century, was used for a number of public and educational buildings in Wales including the Royal Institution of South Wales
Swansea Museum
The Swansea Museum in Swansea, Wales, UK is the oldest museum in Wales. The building was built for the Royal Institution of South Wales in 1841 in the neo-classical style.-Main museum:...
in Swansea (1841) and Bridgend
Bridgend
Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...
Town Hall (1843).
In 1897, Cardiff Corporation acquired land from the Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute KT, KSG, KGCHS was a landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron.-Early life:...
with the intention of erecting buildings to meet the administrative, legal and educational needs of Glamorgan's county town. From 1901 onwards, Cathays Park
Cathays Park
In addition to the large lawn in front of the City Hall, Cathays Park includes three formal gardens. All of the spaces are within conservation areas and many of the surrounding buildings are listed. The open spaces are very important to the image of the city. Several important buildings overlook...
was developed into "possibly the finest... civic centre in Britain" with a range of public buildings including the Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
City Hall and the rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
-style University College
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
.
The majority of Nonconformist chapels were built in the 19th century. They progressed from simple, single-storey designs to larger and more elaborate structures, most built in the classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
style. Perhaps the most ambitious chapel was John Humphrey's Morriston Tabernacle (1872), incorporating Classical, Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
and Gothic elements, which has been called the 'Noncomformist Cathedral of Wales'.
Industrial architecture tended to be functional, although some structures, such as the four-storey engine house at Cyfarthfa Ironworks
Cyfarthfa Ironworks
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...
(1836), were built to impress. Coal mining eventually became the dominant industry in Glamorgan and tall winding towers
Headframe
A headframe is the structural frame above an underground mine shaft. Modern headframes are built out of steel, concrete or a combination of both...
- originally made of timber or cast iron, later steel - became symbolic icons.
Late-period Glamorgan, 1920-1974
After the First World War, there was an initial drop in coal and iron production, there was still enough demand to push the coalfields to their limits, helped by events such as the American coal miners' strike. Cardiff Docks reached an exporting peak in 1923, but soon production fell and unemployment in the upland valleys began to increase at a dramatic rate. Between April 1924 and August 1925 the unemployment rate amongst South Wales miners jumped from 1.8% to 28.5%. Several factors came together to cause this collapse, including the over-valuation of sterling, the end of the coal subsidy, the growth of electric power, the adoption of oil as the fuel of choice for many industries, and over-expansion of the mines in the late nineteenth century. The Welsh coal owners had failed to invest mechanisation during the good years, and by the 1930s the South Wales Coalfield had the lowest productivity, highest production costs and smallest profits of all Britain's coal-producing regions.These structural problems were followed by the General Strike of 1926
1926 United Kingdom general strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
and then most disastrously the interwar depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
of 1929-1931, which changed the face of industrial Glamorgan forever. In 1932, Glamorgan had an unemployment rate of more than 40 per cent, and one of the highest proportions of people receiving poor relief in the United Kingdom. This was a contrast with relatively recent prosperity: for example, in 1913 unemployment in Merthyr was below 2 per cent and the borough had 24,000 miners. By 1921, the number of employed miners had fallen to 16,000, and in 1934, it was down to 8,000.
Steel production was no less depressed than the coal industry. The inter-war years saw the closure of the old Cyfarthfa and Dowlais works, as steel-making became increasingly concentrated in the coastal belt. Both the coal and steel industries were increasingly dominated by large amalgamations, such as Powell Duffryn
Powell Duffryn
PD Ports is a Middlesbrough-headquartered British ports operator.Formerly known as Powell Duffryn, it dug its first coal mine in South Wales in 1840, and later expanded into various sorts of manufacturing...
and Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. The smaller companies progressively disappeared.
Glamorgan suffered disproportionately during the Great Depression because of the high proportion of its workforce employed in primary production rather than the manufacture of finished products. Other parts of Britain began to recover as domestic demand for consumer products picked up, but unemployment in the South Wales Valleys continued to rise: the jobless rate in Merthyr reached 47.5 per cent in June 1935. However, the coastal ports, Cardiff and Swansea, managed to sustain a "reasonable" level of economic activity, and the anthracite coalfield in western Glamorgan (and eastern Carmarthenshire) also managed to maintain production and exports above pre-war levels.
With the outbreak of World War II the coalfields of Glamorgan saw a sharp rise in trade and employment. Despite the demand the want for the youth to conscript in the war effort in the valley areas meant that there was a shortage of workers to run the mines; this in turn saw the introduction of the Bevin Boys
Bevin Boys
Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines of the United Kingdom, from December 1943 until 1948. Chosen at random from conscripts but also including volunteers, nearly 48,000 Bevin Boys performed vital but largely unrecognised service in the mines, many of them...
, workers conscripted to work in the mines. During the war both Cardiff
Cardiff Blitz
The Cardiff Blitz refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II.At the time, Cardiff Docks was the biggest coal port in the world and, for a few years before World War I, it handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool....
and Swansea
Swansea Blitz
The Swansea Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of Swansea by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany on 19–21 February 1941.Swansea was selected as a legitimate target due to its importance as a port and docks and the oil refinery just beyond and its destruction was key to Nazi German war efforts as...
were targets for German air attacks due to their important docks.
Buildings and structures of note, 1920-1974
After the First World War, Glamorgan, as was typical for Britain as a whole, entered a period of modernity, which saw buildings built and designed for functionalityFunctionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
rather than splendour with period features watered down. As the century progressed, symbols of the past industrial period were torn down and replaced with industrial estates populated by unadorned geometric factories. With concrete becoming the favourite post-war building material, larger office blocks began appearing within the cities, though few were of any architectural significance.
Despite entering a fallow period of architectural design, several structures of note did emerge. Although work began in 1911, The National Museum of Wales
National Museum Cardiff
National Museum Cardiff is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales...
(Smith and Brewer) was not completed until 1927 due to the First World War. Designed to reflect sympathetically in dimensions with its neighbouring city hall, the dome-topped museum combines many architectural motifs with Doric columns at its facade, while internally a large entrance hall with stairs, landings and balconies. Percy Thomas
Percy Thomas
Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE , was an award-winning British architect based in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president ....
' Guildhall
Swansea Guildhall
The Guildhall is one of the main office buildings of the City and County of Swansea Council.Prior to local government re-organisation in 1996, it was the headquarters for the former Swansea City Council. The Guildhall complex comprises the City Hall, Brangwyn Hall and the County Law Courts for...
in Swansea, an example of the 'stripped modernist' style completed in 1936, was described as "Wales' finest interwar building".
Although functionality often deprived a building of interest, Sully Hospital (Pite, Son & Fairweather) is an example of a building which gained from its functional requirements. Initially built for tubercular patients, whose cure required the maximum amount of light and air, the Functional architecture left a striking glass fronted building, completed in 1936.
Another hospital to which Functionalism was applied was the University Hospital of Wales
University Hospital of Wales
University Hospital of Wales , opened in November 1971, is a major 1000-bed hospital situated in the inner city district of Heath in Cardiff, Wales...
(S.W. Milburn & Partners). Begun in the 1960s, and completed in 1971, the building is the third largest hospital in the United Kingdom and the largest in Wales. It was designed to bring the care of patients, research and medical teaching together under one roof.
The demands of modern living saw the growth of housing estates throughout Glamorgan, moving away from the Victorian terrace of Cardiff or the ribbon cottages of the valleys. Several of these projects were failures architecturally and socially. Of note were the Billybanks estate in Penarth and Penrhys Estate (Alex Robertson, Peter Francis & Partners) in the Rhondda, both described by Malcolm Parry
Malcolm Parry
C. Malcolm Parry is a Welsh architect, professor emeritus, and popular broadcaster.-Early Life:Parry left school at the age of 15 and trained as a Mining Surveyor. He intended to attend university to study Civil Engineering but was encouraged by the then Head of Architecture at Cardiff University...
, the former Head of the School of Architecture at Cardiff University, as "...the worst examples of architecture and planning in Wales."
Geography
Glamorgan divides into three distinct and contrasting geographical areas. To the south east is a gently undulating limestone plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
, virtually coterminous with the modern county borough of Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, mainly comprising farmland and small villages stretching from Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
to Cardiff. The lowlands are geographically the best environment for agriculture of the three areas. Settlements in the area included Cardiff, Barry, Bridgend
Bridgend
Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...
, Cowbridge
Cowbridge
Cowbridge is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, approximately west of Cardiff. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique department in northwestern France.-Roman times:...
, Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
and Porthcawl.
The northern part of the county is a mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
ous area, dissected by deep narrow valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
s. At the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons
Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of popular peaks south of Brecon, including South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan, and which together form the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park...
, the simple geological structure of Old Red Sandstone
Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is a British rock formation of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, 'ORS' is often used in literature on the subject.-Sedimentology:...
gives way to Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
rocks; limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s and millstone grit
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...
. In the 19th century, industrial and population growth in the coal-bearing valleys of the Rhymney
Rhymney Valley
The Rhymney Valley is a valley encompassing the villages of Abertysswg, Fochriw, Pontlottyn, Tirphil, New Tredegar, Aberbargoed, Rhymney, and Ystrad Mynach, and the towns of Bargoed and Caerphilly, in south-east Wales, formerly famous for its coal mining and iron industries.-Geography:Created as a...
, Taff
River Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
, Dare
Dare Valley Country Park
Dare Valley Country Park is a public park in Britain. It lies near the village of Cwmdare and the town of Aberdare, Cynon Valley, in Rhondda Cynon Taff, in south Wales. It comprises of woodlands, pasture and moorland mountainside...
and Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
gave rise to a form of urbanisation characterised as ribbon development
Ribbon development
Ribbon development means building houses along the routes of communications radiating from a human settlement. Such development generated great concern in the United Kingdom during the 1920s and the 1930s, as well as in numerous other countries....
. The last deep mine, Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
at Hirwaun
Hirwaun
Hirwaun is the name of a village at the northwest end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The village of Hirwaun is from the town of Aberdare, and comes under Aberdare for postal reasons...
, closed in January 2008. A few small drift mines like Unity Mine (formerly Pentreclwydau South) near Glynneath
Glynneath
Glynneath , also spelt Glyn Neath, is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in the historic county of Glamorgan...
remain. Towns in the region included Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
, Caerphilly
Caerphilly
Caerphilly is a town in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales, located at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, with a population of approximately 31,000. It is a commuter town of Cardiff and Newport, which are located some 7.5 miles and 12 miles away, respectively...
, Pontypridd
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
, Maesteg
Maesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
, Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
and Mountain Ash
Mountain Ash, Wales
Mountain Ash is a town and community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, deep in the South Wales Valleys of Wales. Mountain Ash is situated in the Cynon Valley and has a population of 7,039...
.
Further west is Swansea Bay
Swansea Bay
Swansea Bay is a bay on the Bristol Channel on the South Wales coast. Places on the bay include Mumbles, Swansea and Port Talbot. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan and Blackpill stream flow into the bay....
and the Gower Peninsula
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...
, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
. Of all the areas, Gower was the least affected by heavy industry and the ancient landscape was the least impaired. The high ground that runs centrally through the Gower was largely uncultivated common land and its beaches and rocky coastal headlands showed little signs of the tourist trade that played an increasing role on the local economy. The major settlements of the region include Swansea, Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
and Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
.
Coastline
The coastline of Glamorgan stretches for 88 miles from TrowbridgeTrowbridge, Cardiff
Trowbridge is an electoral ward in the east of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales.The ward includes some or all of the areas of Cefn Mably, St Mellons estate and Trowbridge in the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff South & Penarth....
in the east to Gower in the west. It divides naturally into three distinct sections. The coast of the Vale of Glamorgan is mainly characterised by cliffs, while from Porthcawl to Swansea Bay wide sandy shores prevail. The final section, the Gower coast, is made up of a rugged and serrated peninsula.
From the east the first major coastline feature is the Rhymney River
Rhymney River
The Rhymney River is a river in the Rhymney Valley, south-east Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn estuary.The river forms the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.-Path of the river:...
, once seen as the natural border between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, until the absorption of Trowbridge into the Cardiff district in 1936. Heading west, the coast is an expanse of alluvial
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
deposits stretching to the mouth of Glamorgan's most well known river, the River Taff
River Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
. Once marshland, the area was consumed by the rapid growth of the Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
during the industrial revolution, but with the downturn in Glamorgan's iron and coal industries, the docks declined. Also flowing into Cardiff Docks is the River Ely
River Ely
The River Ely is a river in South Wales flowing generally south east, from Tonyrefail to the capital city of Cardiff.-Course of the river:...
, which separates Cardiff from the headland and seaside resort of Penarth
Penarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
in the Vale of Glamorgan. Here the coast stretches southwards for two and a half miles from Penarth Head to Lavernock Point
Lavernock
Lavernock is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel.- Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea :...
, hidden from vessels travelling up the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
. South easterly from Lavernock Point, roughly three miles out in the Channel Estuary is Flat Holm
Flat Holm
Flat Holm is a limestone island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, but in the City and County of Cardiff. It includes the most southerly point of Wales....
, an island which although geographically is within the Vale, is administered as part of the city of Cardiff. Flat Holm is the most southerly point of Glamorgan and Wales.
From Lavernock Point the coast heads sharply west to the town of Barry, a well known seaside resort, Barry is most notable for its rapid expansion during the late 19th century to become an important dock, at one stage surpassing Cardiff Dock for the tonnage of coal exported. Passing the cliffs of Barry Island the coastline becomes a low-lying promontory called the Lays, which continues west taking in the villages of Rhoose
Rhoose
Rhoose is a village and community located near the sea in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, near Barry.The village is the location of Cardiff International Airport, formerly RAF Rhoose, a Holiday Park , some shops, two public houses , Rhoose Social Club, and an active Surf Life Saving Club Rhoose is...
and Aberthaw
Aberthaw
Aberthaw is a village of the Vale of Glamorgan west of Barry on the coast of South Wales.The village is split into two halves - East Aberthaw and West Aberthaw, separated by the River Thaw. It is home to Aberthaw Cement Works and Aberthaw Power Station a coal power station plant that was linked to...
before reaching Breaksea Point
Breaksea Point
Breaksea Point is the southernmost point of mainland Wales .- Location :Breaksea Point is located in the Vale of Glamorgan and is part of the Heritage Coast of South Wales....
, the most southerly point of mainland Wales. Beyond the point is Limpert Bay, which is overlooked by the village of Gileston
Gileston
Gileston is a small Welsh village near West Aberthaw in Bro Morgannwg on the coast of South Wales.- Location :It is located some 15 miles along the coast from Cardiff and lies between Barry and Llantwit Major....
and the ancient encampment of Summerhouse Point. Here the cliffs rise and run for eleven miles as far as the estuary of the Ogmore
River Ogmore
The River Ogmore is a river in South Wales popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Pentre, past Bridgend and Ogmore...
. Along this run of cliffs the coast passes Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major is a small coastal town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the Bristol Channel coast. A small stream, the Afon Col-huw, runs through the town.-Local government:...
and St Donats, before heading in a rough north west direction at Nash Point
Nash Point
Nash Point is a headland and beach in the Monknash Coast of the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. It is a popular location for ramblers and hiking along the cliffs to Llantwit Major beach....
.
The coastline remains as steep cliffs until after Dunraven Head, where the cliff face drops away to expose Southerndown
Southerndown
Southerndown is a village in South Wales to the southwest of Bridgend, close to St Brides Major, Llantwit Major and Ogmore-by-Sea. It is mostly known for its beach , which is a popular tourist destination during the summer months and since 1972 has been designated a Heritage Coast and is part of...
Beach. Two miles beyond, the Ogmore River runs out into a sand-locked bay which can been seen as commencing the second section of the Glamorgan coast, as here the scenery undergoes an abrupt change; from a series of unbroken cliffs to vast regions of sandy beaches. The Ogmore Bay at Ogmore-by-Sea
Ogmore-by-Sea
Ogmore-by-Sea is a seaside village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the western limit of the Glamorgan Heritage Coastline of south Wales....
is not only floored with sand but is also backed by high and extensive sand dune system, these impressive natural sand features are commonly known as the Merthyr Mawr
Merthyr Mawr
Merthyr Mawr is a village about 2½ miles from the centre of Bridgend in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales.- Buildings and landmarks of note :...
sand dunes. Beyond the bay the underlying rocks emerge from the sand to form the promontory of Porthcawl Point. Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
town, once possessing a small dock, abandoned the trade in favour of tourism. The coast continues to the north west as a low rocky formation for three miles to Sker Point
Sker Point
Sker Point is a headland of South Wales between Port Talbot and Porthcawl.On April 23, 1947 the Samtampa, a liberty ship, was wrecked at Sker Point. Her crew of 39 perished and all eight volunteer crewmen of the Mumbles RNLI lifeboat were lost while attempting to rescue her.Sker Point is also the...
, after which the sand line begins again, forming an arid wilderness all the way to Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
. Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
was one of the later industrial towns of Glamorgan, and grew out of the medieval village of Aberavon
Aberavon
Aberavon is a settlement in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a district of Port Talbot, covering the central and south western part of the town...
, a settlement built on the banks of the River Afan
River Afan
The River Afan is a river in southwest Wales whose river valley formed the territory of the medieval Lords of Afan. The town of Aberavon grew up on the banks of the river, and was later subsumed by the larger centre of population known as Port Talbot...
. To the west of the mouth of the Afan is the new district of Sandfields
Sandfields, Port Talbot
Sandfields is a mainly residential district of Port Talbot, Wales. The area is located in South Wales on a narrow coastal plain between Mynydd Dinas and the sea. The M4 motorway, A48 trunk road and South Wales Main Line run nearby...
, built over the holiday dunes of Aberavon beach in the 1950s to house the workforce of Port Talbot Steelworks
Port Talbot Steelworks
Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The...
.
The River Afan commences the wide sweep of Swansea Bay
Swansea Bay
Swansea Bay is a bay on the Bristol Channel on the South Wales coast. Places on the bay include Mumbles, Swansea and Port Talbot. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan and Blackpill stream flow into the bay....
, which from Port Talbot arcs around taking in Baglan Bay
Baglan Bay
Baglan Bay is a part of the Swansea Bay coastline and a district of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The area currently has no inhabitants and is entirely occupied by industrial and commercial developments. Baglan Bay is also the name of a local government community coterminous with the...
, Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....
, Swansea and ending in Mumbles
Mumbles
Mumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...
. The whole bay is shut in by high hills and is thickly encircled with sands. Within the bay are two of the major estuaries of Glamorgan; from Port Talbot the first is the River Neath
River Neath
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...
, which is protected by long breakwaters. The second is the Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
, the central river of Swansea. Beyond the Tawe the bay sweeps for six miles before reaching Mumbles Head, its most westerly point. Mumbles Head is served by Mumbles Lighthouse
Mumbles Lighthouse
Mumbles Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in Mumbles, near Swansea. The structure, which sits on the outer of two islands off Mumbles Head, is clearly visible from any point along the five mile sweep of Swansea Bay...
, which sits on the further of two small islands off the head.
At The Mumbles, the coastline begins its third phase, commencing the wild and rugged cliffs of the Gower. From Mumbles Head to Worm's Head, 20 miles to the west, the coast consists of a series of precipitous cliffs, interrupted by a number of sandy bays. The most notable of the bays include Langland Bay
Langland Bay
Langland Bay is a popular coastal holiday resort in Gower, near Swansea in south Wales. In the right conditions, it is one of the best surf beaches in Britain...
, Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay is a popular UK holiday resort in the south east of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales.Access to the beach is relatively easy and inland from the sandy beach is a recreational park. Caswell is ideal for surfing, holidays in the nearby Hotels and Chalet Park. The beach regularly...
, Pwlldu Bay
Pwlldu Bay
Pwlldu Bay is a small beach on the south Gower Peninsula coast in south Wales. It is one of the more remote beachs and is not easily accessible by car but there are three narrow footpaths leading down to the beach....
, Three Cliffs Bay
Three Cliffs Bay
Three Cliffs Bay , otherwise Three Cliff Bay, is a bay on the south coast of the Gower Peninsula in the City and County of Swansea, Wales. The bay takes its name from the three sea cliffs that jut out into the bay...
and Oxwich Bay
Oxwich Bay
thumb|Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula of South WalesOxwich Bay is a bay on the south of the Gower Peninsula, Wales.Its landscape features sand dunes, salt marshes and woodland. Oxwich Bay includes a 2.5-mile long sandy beach, accessible from the village of Oxwich. It is a popular spot for...
. Three Cliffs Bay and the adjoining Oxwich Bay are overlooked by three medieval defences, Pennard Castle
Pennard Castle
Pennard Castle is a ruined castle, west of the village of Pennard in the Gower Peninsula, in south Wales. The castle was established from the 12th century, likely commissioned by Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick, after being granted the Lordship of Gower...
, Penrice Castle
Penrice Castle
Penrice Castle is a castle near Penrice on the Gower Peninsula in south Wales.- History :Penrice Castle is the 13th-century successor to a strong ringwork to the southeast, known as the Mountybank. It was built by the de Penrice family who were originally given land at Penrice for their part in the...
and Oxwich Castle
Oxwich Castle
Oxwich Castle occupies a position on a wooded headland overlooking Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, UK.Although it may occupy the site of an earlier fortification, this is a castle in name only as it is a grand Tudor manor house built in courtyard style. A product of the peaceful 16th...
, all three now ruinous. Oxwich Bay ends in the large wooded promontory of Oxwich Point, which leads west to the beach front villages of Horton and Port Eynon
Port Eynon
Port Eynon is a village and community in the city and county of Swansea, Wales. The community has its own elected community council...
. From Port Eynon Point, a five mile stretch of wild and impressive cliffs leads to Worm's Head and the western termination of the peninsula. This rock face is pierced in places by caverns, the most notable being Culver Hole a bone cave near Port Eynon Point.
Worm's Head is one of the stand out features of the Glamorgan coastline, a long narrow ledge of limestone, projecting into the sea, ending in a 200 foot high wedge shaped crag; the Head takes its name from its resemblance to a dragon. On the northern side of the Worm's Head is the village and Bay of Rhossili, a westerly facing bay that leads backwards to a series of downs, some of the highest land in the Gower. Rhossili Bay ends in the northern formation of Llangenydd Burrows and the islet of Burry Holms
Burry Holms
Burry Holms is a small tidal island located at the northern end of the Gower Peninsula, Wales. 9,000 years ago it was up to 12 miles away from the sea and inhabited by nomadic Mesolithic hunters...
. The final stretch of Glamorgan coastline turns north east to form the Burry Inlet, a shallow and sand-choked estuary which leads to a tract of salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es which stretch to the mouth of the River Loughor
River Loughor
The River Loughor in Carmarthenshire, Wales has its source at an underground lake at the Black Mountain. It flows past settlements like Ammanford and Hendy in Carmarthenshire and Pontarddulais in Swansea. The river divides Carmarthenshire from Swansea for much of its course and it separates Hendy...
. The Loughor forming the border between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.
Rivers
The major rivers of Glamorgan include the TaffRiver Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
, the Ely
River Ely
The River Ely is a river in South Wales flowing generally south east, from Tonyrefail to the capital city of Cardiff.-Course of the river:...
, the Ogmore
River Ogmore
The River Ogmore is a river in South Wales popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Pentre, past Bridgend and Ogmore...
, the Neath
River Neath
River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...
, Dulais
River Dulais
River Dulais is a river of Wales which has its source at Mynydd y Drum. It joins the River Neath after flowing over Aberdulais Falls.-External links:*...
, the Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
, the Rhymney
Rhymney River
The Rhymney River is a river in the Rhymney Valley, south-east Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn estuary.The river forms the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.-Path of the river:...
(which forms the historic boundary with Monmouthshire), and the Loughor
River Loughor
The River Loughor in Carmarthenshire, Wales has its source at an underground lake at the Black Mountain. It flows past settlements like Ammanford and Hendy in Carmarthenshire and Pontarddulais in Swansea. The river divides Carmarthenshire from Swansea for much of its course and it separates Hendy...
(which forms the historic boundary with Carmarthenshire).
Administration
After the fall of the Welsh kingdom of Morgannwg to Robert FitzHamonRobert Fitzhamon
Robert Fitzhamon , or Robert FitzHamon, Sieur de Creully in the Calvados region and Torigny in the Manche region of Normandy, was Lord of Gloucester and the Norman conqueror of Glamorgan, southern Wales...
in 1091, the region became the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Lordship of Glamorgan, sometimes called the Lordship of Glamorgan and Morgan because it was divided into the Norman settled Plain or Vale of Glamorgan and the Welsh upland area called Morgannwg, anglicized to Morgan. Both areas were under the control of the Norman Lords of Glamorgan (often the Earls of Gloucester
Earl of Gloucester
The title of Earl of Gloucester was created several times in the Peerage of England. A fictional earl is also a character in William Shakespeare's play King Lear. See also Duke of Gloucester.-Earls of Gloucester, 1st Creation :...
). As well as building a military and defensive network, the Normans also undertook an ecclesiastical reorganisation on Glamorgan. In Llandaff there was a small monastic community based on a small church; which was made the headquarters of the diocese, incorporated into the Province of Canterbury
Province of Canterbury
The Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England...
. The Diocese of Llandaff
Diocese of Llandaff
The Diocese of Llandaff is a Church in Wales diocese. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff...
covered almost the entirety of Glamorgan and continued throughout the history of the county of Glamorgan, and through to modern times.
In 1536, the Laws in Wales Act 1535 attached the Lordship of Gower and Kilvey
Gower (Lordship)
thumb|350px|right|Map of the Lordship, showing the area detached , the area added and the Town and Franchise of Swansea. The language boundary is shown as a dotted line....
to Glamorgan and created the historic county of Glamorgan. Along with gaining parliamentary representation in 1536, Glamorgan became part of the King's circuit, with judges from England administering law at the Great Session or Assizes
Assizes (England and Wales)
The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, were periodic criminal courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the Quarter Sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court...
. Local magistrates were appointed to deal with petty sessions while Lords Lieutenant
Lord Lieutenant
The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives in the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. Usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post...
were appointed as the King's representative. Law enforcement within the confines of the shire was the responsibility of the High Sheriff of Glamorgan
High Sheriff of Glamorgan
This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires who were from the earliest times officers of the crown...
.
From the 1790s a call was made for parliamentary reform to address the imbalance between the number of Members of Parliament for each Welsh county and the population each seat represented. Radnorshire
Radnorshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Radnorshire was created in 1542 as a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918...
had only a tenth of the population of Glamorganshire, though Radnorshire had one MP to Glamorganshire's two (Glamorgan and the District of Cardiff
Cardiff (UK Parliament constituency)
Cardiff was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Cardiff in South Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.- MPs 1542-1645 :- MPs 1645–1832 :...
). The First Reform Act (1832)
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
gave five more seats to Wales, three went to Glamorganshire. The Act increased the number of MPs for Glamorganshire from one to two, it created the separate District of Swansea
Swansea District (UK Parliament constituency)
Swansea District or Swansea District of Boroughs was a borough constituency. It was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
and Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
became a borough constituency. Reflecting the increased importance and wealth of Merthyr the borough was given a second MP after the Reform Act 1867
Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised the urban male working class in England and Wales....
.
The next major redistribution of MPs occurred with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equally populated constituencies, in an attempt to equalise representation across...
. Glamorganshire was split from its two Members of Parliament to five, with the creation of constituencies for East
East Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)
East Glamorganshire was a parliamentary constituency in Glamorganshire, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.-History:...
, Mid
Mid Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Mid Glamorganshire was a county constituency in Glamorganshire, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.-History:...
and South Glamorganshire
South Glamorganshire (UK Parliament constituency)
South Glamorganshire was a parliamentary constituency in Glamorganshire, Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.-History:...
, Gower
Gower (UK Parliament constituency)
Gower is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament , using the first-past-the-post voting system....
and Rhondda
Rhondda (UK Parliament constituency)
Rhondda is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
.
An administrative county of Glamorgan was created under the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
, excluding Swansea and Cardiff, which became independent county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
s. In 1908, county borough status was also granted to Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
, despite protests from the southern part of the borough, where it was claimed that links were stronger with Pontypridd
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
. In 1935, a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
argued that Merthyr County Borough, then heavily burdened by the cost of maintaining many unemployed people, should be abolished and merged with Glamorgan. The county council refused the proposal.
The first chairman of the County Council was Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea
Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea
Henry Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea was a Welsh industrialist and politician.-Biography:Born at Singleton Abbey, Swansea, Henry was the eldest son of industrialist and MP John Henry Vivian and his wife Sarah, daughter of Arthur Jones, of Reigate. His uncle was Sir Richard Hussey Vivian, first...
. The county council's coat of arms, granted in 1950, was: Or, three chevronels gules between as many Tudor roses barbed and seeded proper. The red chevronels on a gold shield were the arms of the De Clare
De Clare
The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent and Ireland. They were descended from Richard fitz Gilbert, who accompanied William the Conqueror into England during the Norman conquest of England.-Origins:The Clare family descends from Gilbert...
Marcher Lords
Marcher Lords
A Marcher Lord was a strong and trusted noble appointed by the King of England to guard the border between England and Wales.A Marcher Lord is the English equivalent of a margrave...
, while the roses recorded the shiring of Glamorgan by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. The crest above the shield was a Welsh dragon
Y Ddraig Goch
The Welsh Dragon appears on the national flag of Wales . The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 820, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders...
rising from flames, symbolising the revival of the county's industry following a period of economic depression. The dragon supported a flag bearing a clarion from the arms of the De Granville family, lords of Neath. The supporters
Supporters
In heraldry, supporters are figures usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. These figures may be real or imaginary animals, human figures, and in rare cases plants or inanimate objects...
of the arms were a coalminer and a steel worker. The motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
adopted by the county council: A Ddioddefws A Orfu or "He Who suffered, conquered" was that of the lineage of Iestyn ap Gwrgant
Iestyn ap Gwrgant
Iestyn ap Gwrgant was the last ruler of the Welsh kingdom of Morgannwg, which encompassed the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire .- Lineage :...
, and was considered appropriate to an area whose wealth depended on great hardship.
Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough - West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan
West Glamorgan is a preserved county and former administrative county of Wales, one of the divisions of the ancient county of Glamorgan.West Glamorgan was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 from the county borough of Swansea, the municipal boroughs of Neath and Port Talbot,...
, Mid Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996, it was also an administrative county, with a county council.Mid Glamorgan was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972...
, South Glamorgan
South Glamorgan
South Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales.It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area...
. It 1996 these areas were reorganised into several unitary authorities
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
by the Local Government Act of 1994
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994
The Local Government Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as principal areas in the Act, and abolished the previous two-tier structure of counties and districts...
. The South Wales Police
South Wales Police
South Wales Police is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. Its headquarters are based in Bridgend.Covering Wales' capital city, Cardiff, as well as Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea, and the western South Wales Valleys, it is the largest police force in Wales in terms of population,...
force covers an area that is similar to Glamorgan.
Roads
The earliest forms of transport within Glamorgan were mere paths or trackways linking one settlement to another. With continual use the tracks widened to allow different forms of travel, including the use by pack horses; and as the tracks became more recognisable the first primitive roads came into being. The RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
established a route, Via Julia Maritima, to service their garrisons across South Wales and this is followed largely by the present A48
A48 road
The A48 is a major trunk road in Great Britain. It runs from the A40 at Highnam west of Gloucester to the A40 at Carmarthen. Before the construction of the M4 motorway and the first Severn Bridge in the mid 1960s it was the principal route into South Wales. For most of its journey through Wales,...
. However, for 1,000 years after the Romans there was little need for major roads. Early roads were not systematically managed, and in Glamorgan as in the rest of Wales, they were in a very poor state. Towards Tudor times the upkeep and repair of the roads came under the administration of each parish, with six days of the week during the summer allowed for track repairs. These repairs were rarely completed and the roadways continued to suffer. An Act of 1555 required each landowner to produce a cart, horses or bullocks, and two men to work 4 days on roads. Supervision was by two unpaid surveyors appointed by the parish. By the late 1600s the situation improved as surveyors were appointed by the magistrates, who were allowed to levy a rate to pay for some of the work.
In 1756, after the shire of Glamorgan had come under the rule of the crown, Wales adopted a toll system for the maintenance of the roads; with the governance falling under the control of the turnpike trusts. Further Turnpike Acts came into force in 1799 and 1810, and these Acts allowed trustees to collect a toll for the use of certain roads within a district. In South Wales there were turnpikes along the coast, more or less following the present motorway line, up the Merthyr Valley and across the hills to Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
, Brecon
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
, Llandovery
Llandovery
Llandovery is a market town in Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the River Tywi and the A40 road.The town is served by Llandovery railway station, where there is a park and ride to Llanelli and Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales Line...
and down to Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
. This system improved travelling conditions, allowing for stage coaches which were then coming into general use. Although the roads improved there were those who felt that the tolls were unjust, and there was a popular uprising between 1839 and 1843 known as the Rebecca Riots
Rebecca Riots
The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1843 in South and Mid Wales. They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to perceived unfair taxation. The rioters, often men dressed as women, took their actions against toll-gates, as they were...
where agitators attacked and destroyed the toll house
Toll house
A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road or canal. Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and early 19th centuries...
s. Although most of these attacks occurred in Carmarthenshire, there were reports of attacks within Glamorgan, most notably in Swansea. In 1846, County Highway Boards were established in south Wales, to buy out the turnpike trusts and take over their functions. In 1878 all roads that had ceased to be turnpiked after 1870 were deemed as 'main roads' by the Highways and Locomotives Act of 1878
Locomotive Act
The Locomotive Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom to control the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century...
. The turnpike system was eventually abolished by the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
and the roads were placed under the management of the local county council. County Highway Boards were disbanded. There were, however, a number of urban areas within Glamorgan that retained the right to control their own highways, and the county council never achieved control of the whole highway network.
Proposals for a high-quality new road across South Wales were first made in the 1930s. However, the dualling
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
of the A48 Neath bypass was only completed in 1960, with the A48(M) Port Talbot bypass following in 1966. The latter road, an early example of dual carriageway construction through a built-up area, was the first length of motorway opened to traffic in Wales. The Ministry of Transport initially envisaged that the new M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
would terminate at Tredegar Park near Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, with a series of bypasses to improve the A48 further west. The creation of the Welsh Office
Welsh Office
The Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964...
led to a re-appraisal of policy and a decision to extend the M4 further into Glamorgan. By 1970, the Welsh Office was committed to building a new route all the way to Pont Abraham in Carmarthenshire. The 1960s also saw the construction of the first road across the Heads of the Valleys, with the A465 Neath
Neath
Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
-Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
trunk road opening in 1964. However, even at the outset there were complaints about the capacity and safety of its single carriageway, three-lane design.
Waterways and ports
Due to Glamorgan's long coastline, several settlements grew and prospered as harbour and port towns. In 1801, Swansea was Glamorgan's largest urban area with a population five times that of Cardiff's. CowbridgeCowbridge
Cowbridge is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, approximately west of Cardiff. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique department in northwestern France.-Roman times:...
was the capital town of the Vale, and the centre of agricultural trade, with surplus stock being shipped to the coastal village of Aberthaw and to a lesser extent Newton. Where there were breaks in the rocky coastline, small fishing and cockling communities existed, such as Port Eynon and Penclawdd
Penclawdd
Penclawdd is a village which is situated in the north of the Gower Peninsula in Swansea, Wales. Penclawdd is most famous for its local cockle industry which goes back for many years to Roman times. It falls within the Penclawdd electoral ward. It is one of the larger villages on the Gower Peninsula...
.
The event that changed the face of coastal Glamorgan was the growth of the Merthyr iron industry. Merthyr needed a coastal export point for its iron and Cardiff was the obvious choice being at the mouth of the River Taff. A road was built to connect the two towns, but with only horses to move the cargo, transportation was cumbersome; therefore an alternative was planned. Although Glamorgan had a large number of rivers, few were navigable for any considerable length. Between 1790 and 1794, Acts of Parliament were obtained for the construction of three canals within Glamorgan, the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
(1790), Neath Canal
Neath and Tennant Canal
The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales that are usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping...
(1791) and the Swansea Canal
Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for some from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were needed to enable it to rise over its length...
(1794). All three were vital in increasing the transportation of iron, copper, steel and coal from the uplands of the county to the ports at Swansea and Cardiff. Although the first stages of all three canals were completed by 1800 and revolutionised the commercial transportation systems of Glamorgan; in 1804 at Penydarren Ironworks, Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
's "Pen-y-Darren" locomotive became the first engine to pull a load along rails; heralding the coming of the railways, which would eventually replace the canals.
The port at Cardiff
Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
grew quickly during the 19th century, not as a mass exporter of iron but of coal, transported from Pontypridd and the Cynon
Cynon Valley
The Cynon Valley , is a famous former coal mining valley within the South Wales Valleys of Wales. The Cynon Valley lies between the other mining Valley of Rhondda and the iron industrial Valley of the Merthyr Valley. Its main towns are Aberdare located North of the Valley and Mountain Ash located...
and Rhondda Valleys. From 1840 to 1870 Cardiff's export tonnage of coal increased from 44,350 to 2,219,000. By 1871, Cardiff had outgrown all of its Welsh rivals to become the most populous town in the country Swansea Docks
Swansea docks
Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located immediately south east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe valley...
continued to be the world's leading exporter of copper, but did not experience the growth of Cardiff due to poor links to the coalfields. Ambitious attempts were made to link Swansea's docks to coal rich areas, such as the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway connected the coal mines of the Rhondda Valley to the Swansea Bay ports.Connecting with the Taff Vale Railway at Treherbert, it had branches to Aberavon and Port Talbot docks. It was later extended to Swansea and a branch to Neath was added, bringing the total...
, but these plans were never truly economically successful. The biggest threat to Cardiff's dominance came in the early 20th century at Barry. In 1881, Barry had 484 inhabitants, after an 1884 Parliamentary Act authorising the construction of a docks and railway link, the town grew to over 27,000 by 1901. The chief advocate of Barry's growth as a dock was David Davies
David Davies (industrialist)
David Davies was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1874 and 1886. Davies was often known as David Davies Llandinam , in order to differentiate him from others of the same name.Davies was the son of David Davies and his wife Elizabeth...
, and in 1901 Barry was exporting more coal than Cardiff, peaking in 1913 when it shipped 11.41 million tons.
The interwar depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
experienced by Great Britain brought an end to the prosperity of the Glamorgan ports. During the Second World War, the main ports of Glamorgan were heavily targeted by German bombing raids, though exports were not severely disrupted. By the second half of the 20th century none of the county's docks showed any growth, and with the collapse of the coal trade in South Wales Cardiff and Barry Docks became near derelict, shipping mainly general cargo. Swansea also suffered a vast reduction on trade with the end of the area as a world leader in copper smelting. The only dock to remain a viable exporter was the Port of Port Talbot. First built in 1839, the docks at Port Talbot were a minor concern in relation to the more established ports, but exports increased after the 1916 with the completion of the Margam Steelworks. Exports continued strongly when the Abbey Works
Port Talbot Steelworks
Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The...
were built in 1952. Port Talbot would eventually become the biggest exporting port in Glamorgan, and the second largest in Wales, only surpassed by Milford Haven
Milford Haven (harbour)
Milford Haven Waterway is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The Haven is a ria or drowned valley flooded at the end of the last Ice Age. formed by the Pembroke River and the Daugleddau estuary, and winds west to the sea...
.
Rail
Before the use of locomotives, railway track was used at various stages of the canal system to link locations to which the waterways could not reach. These wagons on these tramlines would be pulled by horse over wooden rails, which later were replaced by wrought iron. In 1809 Richard GriffithsRichard Griffiths (industrialist)
Dr. Richard Griffiths was a Welsh industrial pioneer. Griffiths is notable for building the first recognised transport links into the Rhondda Valley paving the way for future coal exploration into one of the world's richest coal fields....
built a private tram-road to the Glamorganshire Canal from his coal mine in Gyfeillion. The Gyfeillion site was extended further in 1811 to link Walter Coffin
Walter Coffin
Walter Coffin was a Welsh coalowner and Member of Parliament. Coffin is recognised as the first person to exploit the rich coal fields of the Rhondda Valley on an industrial scale, pioneering the growth of one of the most wealthy coal mining areas in the world.-Early life:Born in 1784 he was the...
's mine at Dinas Rhondda
Dinas Rhondda
Dinas is a village near Tonypandy in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Dinas is often referred to as Dinas Rhondda as in the railway station such as to avoid confusion with Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan...
, allowing the first viable transport link from the Rhondda coal fields to the ports of Cardiff.
The first railway network to be built in Glamorgan, the Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
, was also the first in Wales. Linking the ironworks of Merthyr to the ports of Cardiff, the Taff Vale line was given royal assent in 1836, with work commencing the same year. It was completed in 1840, and as well as carrying goods the trains made limited passenger trips from the very beginning. By 1856 the Taff Vale Railway was extended to service the top of the Rhondda Valleys at Treherbert
Treherbert
Treherbert is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its economic peak between 1850 and 1920...
and Maerdy
Maerdy
Maerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...
, which allowed the exploitation of the minefields in one of the most coal-rich areas of Britain. The second major railway to open was the South Wales Railway
South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway with Neyland in Wales.-History:The need for the railway was created by the need to ship coal from the South Wales Valleys to London, and secondly to complete Brunel's vision of linking London with...
, linking Gloucester in England to Neyland
Neyland
Neyland is a town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Cleddau and the upstream end of the Milford Haven estuary. The nearby Cleddau Bridge crosses the river, linking Neyland to Pembroke Dock.-History:...
. The line was designed to link the coalfields of Glamorgan to London, and was also part of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's vision of a transport link from London to New York. The South Wales Railway serviced Cardiff, Bridgend, Neath and Swansea, with its final destination within Glamorgan being Loughor
Loughor
Loughor is a town in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Loughor. The town has a community council called Llwchwr....
, before continuing through Carmarthenshire. Other railway lines that opened during the mid to late 19th century included the Vale of Neath Railway
Vale of Neath Railway
The Vale of Neath Railway was a broad gauge railway line from Neath to Merthyr Tydfil, in Glamorgan, Wales, and also operated the Swansea and Neath Railway which gave it access to the docks at Swansea...
, the Swansea Vale Railway
Swansea Vale Railway
|-|colspan="2" width="320"|-History:First opened in 1816 as a tramroad for conveying coal from Scott's Pit, near Birchgrove, to wharves on the River Tawe nearly four miles to the south, the Swansea Vale route grew to become a feeder railway for several mines and metal-working industries in the...
and the Rhymney Railway
Rhymney Railway
The Rhymney Railway was virtually a single stretch of main line, some fifty miles in length, by which the Rhymney Valley was connected to the docks at Cardiff in the county of Glamorgan, South Wales.-History:...
; all designed with the primary purpose of transporting metals and coal from the uplands of the county to the ever expanding ports. The cargo carried on these lines was of an incredibly high volume, and in 1850 the Taff Vale Railway was transporting 600,000 tons of coal per annum.
Towards the turn of the 19th century, two notable events occurred connected to the Taff Vale Railway. In 1888, the Barry Railway Company
Barry Railway Company
The Barry Railway Company was a coal pit owner developed and owned railway company, formed to provide an alternate route for the sea export of coal mined in the South Wales valleys to the existing monopoly of the Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff Docks...
was formed as part of David Davies'
David Davies (industrialist)
David Davies was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1874 and 1886. Davies was often known as David Davies Llandinam , in order to differentiate him from others of the same name.Davies was the son of David Davies and his wife Elizabeth...
plan to create an alternative export port in south Wales at Barry Docks. As a threat to the monopoly of the TVR, the plans were heavily contested in Parliament, and more parliamentary time was spent on the Barry bill than on any other railway bill in British history. The second event saw the Taff Vale Railway Strike of 1900, an event that saw the House of Lords, in the Taff Vale Case, deem trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s accountable for the financial losses caused by strike action. The need to reverse the decision was a central factor in the creation of the British Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
In the 20th century, the railways saw a gradual drop in usage as the heavy industrial works and mines began to reduce output and close and many stations became redundant. Following the Second World War, the railways were nationalised in 1948. In the 1960s the main line services in Wales underwent dieselisation
Dieselisation
Dieselisation or dieselization is a term generally used for the increasingly common use of diesel fuel in vehicles, as opposed to gasoline or steam engines.-Water Transport:...
, but this modernisation failed to save the rail system and by 1968 many passenger lines were discontinued by the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
.
Airports
Glamorgan was served by several airports and airfields, with Cardiff Airport being the county's chief airport. Cardiff Airport grew from a former RAF stationRAF Rhoose
RAF Rhoose was a World War II Royal Air Force airfield, opened 7 April 1942 as an RAF training base for Supermarine Spitfire pilots.No 53 Operational Training Unit Llandow was the parent station, and Rhoose was a satellite landing ground.-See also:...
built in 1942 at Rhoose
Rhoose
Rhoose is a village and community located near the sea in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, near Barry.The village is the location of Cardiff International Airport, formerly RAF Rhoose, a Holiday Park , some shops, two public houses , Rhoose Social Club, and an active Surf Life Saving Club Rhoose is...
, and was originally known as Rhoose Airport. In 1970 it became 'Glamorgan, Rhoose Airport' before becoming 'Cardiff-Wales airport' in the 1980s.
Glamorgan's second commercial airport was Swansea Airport
Swansea Airport
Swansea Airport is an airport located at Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula west south-west of Swansea, Wales.-Operations:Swansea Airport has a CAA Ordinary Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee...
which also began as an RAF station, before being released to commercial usage in 1956. The airport saw varying degrees of success until regular flights ceased in 1969. Several other airports and aerodromes have serviced Glamorgan, but usually for private flights. The most notorious aviation disaster in Wales occurred in Glamorgan in 1950, when a privately hired Avro Tudor
Avro Tudor
Avro's Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on their four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner...
crashed at Llandow Aerodrome
RAF Llandow
RAF Llandow was a Royal Air Force airfield situated near the village of Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, 15 miles west of Cardiff. It opened in 1940 and closed in 1957....
. The Llandow air disaster
Llandow air disaster
The Llandow air disaster was an aircraft accident in Wales in 1950. At that time it was the world's worst air disaster with a total of 80 fatalities...
was, at the time, the world's worst aviation disaster.
Sport in Glamorgan
Sport was an important part of life in Glamorgan, and the county produced several individuals and teams of note. One of the first recorded team sports in Wales was bandoBando (sport)
Bando is a team sport – related to hockey, hurling, shinty, and bandy – which was first recorded in Wales in the eighteenth century. The game is played on a large level field between teams of up to thirty players each of them equipped with a bando: a curve-ended stick resembling that used in field...
, a variant of bandy. The game was very popular in Glamorgan between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before losing in popularity to rugby football. The most notable team to carry the name Glamorgan, is Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
. Although cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
had been established in Glamorgan since the creation of Cardiff Cricket club in 1845; county team Glamorgan CCC did not form until 1888. The team gained first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
status in 1921, and still play under the name of Glamorgan. The other bat and ball team sport of note in the area was baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, which was very popular in Cardiff, reaching its peak in the 1930s.
One of the most popular sports in Glamorgan was rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, producing some of the oldest rugby clubs in the world. Swansea RFC
Swansea RFC
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...
, Cardiff RFC
Cardiff RFC
Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, but soon relocated to Cardiff Arms Park where they have been based ever since...
and Merthyr RFC
Merthyr RFC
Merthyr RFC is a Welsh rugby union club based in Merthyr in South Wales. Merthyr RFC are presently members of the Welsh Rugby Union playing in the Division One East League and are a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues..-Early history:...
were founding members of the Welsh Rugby Union
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...
in 1881, and both St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground (Swansea) and the Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
(Cardiff), have been sporting venues for international rugby. Like cricket, rugby union was also played at county level, with Glamorgan represented by Glamorgan County RFC
Glamorgan County RFC
Glamorgan County RFC is a Welsh rugby union club that manages an invitational team, known as Glamorgan that originally played rugby at county level...
, an invitational team which faced the likes of the All Blacks and the Springboks
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
in the early part of the 20th century. Other rugby clubs of note from the region include Bridgend RFC
Bridgend RFC
Bridgend Ravens are a semi-professional rugby union club based in Bridgend, South Wales. They currently play in the Welsh Premier Division...
, Glamorgan Wanderers RFC, Neath RFC
Neath RFC
Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem...
and Pontypridd RFC
Pontypridd RFC
Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....
. Although never finding any lasting appeal within Glamorgan, a number of rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
teams emerged in the early 1900s; and on 1 January 1908, the first true international rugby league game took place in Aberdare
Aberdare
Aberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Dare and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,705...
between Wales
Wales national rugby league team
The Wales national rugby league team represent Wales in international rugby league football matches. Currently the team is seventh in the RLIF World Rankings. The team were run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, but an independent body, Wales Rugby League, now runs the team from...
and New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby league team
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...
.
As well as rugby and cricket, association football was a very popular sport in Glamorgan, producing two teams with a long tradition in British football, Swansea Town F.C. (formed 1912) and Cardiff City
Cardiff city
Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...
(formed 1899 as Riverside AFC). Both clubs played in the English football league system
English football league system
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in England, with six teams from Wales also competing...
, rather than the Welsh leagues
Welsh football league system
The Welsh football league system is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them.-Structure of Welsh football:...
, though Cardiff were more successful during this period, spending 15 seasons in the First Division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and winning the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
in 1927. Other teams of note include Merthyr Tydfil F.C.
Merthyr Tydfil F.C.
Merthyr Tydfil Football Club was a Welsh football club based at the Penydarren Park ground in Merthyr Tydfil. In 2010 the club was liquidated and reformed under the name Merthyr Town, which was accepted into Division One of the Western League.-History:...
(1945), who have won the Welsh Cup
Welsh Cup
The Welsh Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams from Wales.The Football Association of Wales is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1877-78...
on three occasions.
Of all the individual sports, arguably boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
was Glamorgan's most prolific. From the northern coalfields and ironworks a string of world class boxers were produced, which was later matched by notable fighters from Cardiff. Of note were Rhondda's Percy Jones
Percy Jones (boxer)
Rhondda's Percy Jones became the first Welshman ever to win a World Boxing title when he took the World Flyweight Championship from Bill Ladbury in 1914...
(World Flyweight Champion), Tom Thomas
Thomas Thomas (boxer)
Thomas Thomas , was a Welsh boxer, the first British middleweight boxing champion.-Early years:He was born at Glynarthen, Cardiganshire but moved to Carncelyn Farm, Penygraig, in the Rhondda Valley of South Wales at an early age.-Learning the noble art:He began boxing in a sideshow, touring with...
(British Middleweight Champion), Jimmy Wilde
Jimmy Wilde
Jimmy Wilde , was a Welsh world boxing champion. He was the first official world flyweight champion and was rated by American boxing writer Nat Fleischer, as well as many other professionals and fans including former boxer, trainer, manager and promoter, Charley 'Broadway' Rose, as "the greatest...
(World Flyweight Champion) and Tommy Farr
Tommy Farr
Thomas George Farr was one of the most famous Welsh and British boxers of all time. Born in Clydach Vale, Wales and nicknamed "the Tonypandy Terror", he became British and Empire heavyweight champion on 15 March 1937. Prior to 1936, he had boxed in the light heavyweight division in which he was...
(Empire Heavyweight Champion) ; Merthyr's Eddie Thomas
Eddie Thomas
Eddie Thomas MBE , was a Welsh boxing champion and boxing manager.Thomas was born in Merthyr Tydfil. After a highly successful amateur boxing career, he turned professional in 1946. He won the Welsh welterweight title in 1948, the British welterweight title in 1949, and the European welterweight...
(European Welterweight Champion) and Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone, MBE was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff-Boxing style:In his early...
(European Featherweight Champion); Pontypridd's Freddie Welsh
Freddie Welsh
Freddie Welsh was a Welsh lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, and christened Frederick Hall Thomas, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a middle-class background to make a name for himself in America...
(World Lightweight Champion) and Frank Moody
Frank Moody
Frank Moody was a Welsh boxer who fought between 1914 and 1936. He is most notable for winning the British and Empire middleweight boxing championship in 1927 and 1928 and the light-heavyweight title from 1927 to 1929....
(Empire Middleweight Champion). From Cardiff came 'Peerless' Jim Driscoll
Jim Driscoll
James "Jim" Driscoll commonly known as Peerless Jim was a Welsh boxer who learned his trade in the boxing ring and used it to fight his way out of poverty....
(British Featherweight Champion) and Jack Petersen
Jack Petersen
Jack Petersen was a Welsh boxer, who held the British heavyweight boxing title on two separate occasions.-Early life and career:...
(British Heavyweight Champion). Other fighter of note include Dai Dower
Dai Dower
David William "Dai" Dower MBE , former British, Empire and European Flyweight boxing champion, is one of the most successful Welsh boxers of all time.-Amateur career:...
(European Flyweight Champion) from Abercynon
Abercynon
Abercynon is a small village in the Cynon Valley in Mid Glamorgan, Wales. The unitary authority is now known as Rhondda Cynon Taff. It is composed of the village of Abercynon itself,Carnetown,Glancynon,Park View and Pontcynon. However, in recent years the sign to show motorists they are entering...
and Bill Beynon
Bill Beynon
Bill Beynon was a Welsh boxer who fought professionally between 1909 and 1931. He is most notable for winning the British and Empire bantamweight boxing championship in 1913.-Boxing career:...
(Empire Bantamweight Champion) from Taibach
Taibach
Taibach or Tai-Bach is a suburban district of Port Talbot, Wales. It is a settlement centered around the main A48 road, sandwiched between The river Ffrwdwyllt and Margam.- History :...
.
Tourism
Glamorgan, and Wales, were never exploited as a tourist destination until the late 18th century. The destination of choice for English gentlemen during the period was the Grand TourGrand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, but after conflicts in mainland Europe, British travellers looked for 'wild' destinations within their own country. These first tourists were important archivists in their writings, paintings and sketches but there was no real tourist trade to receive them. The coming of industrialisation in the early 19th century gave rise to a new prosperous middle-class and improved communications; both led to a burgeoning tourist trade. The late 19th century, with improving rail links, saw the coastal areas of Glamorgan that benefited from a beachfront grow as tourist destinations. These towns, most notably Barry Island
Barry Island
Barry Island may refer to:*Barry Island , Wales*Barry Island , Antarctica...
, Porthcawl, Aberavon and Mumbles, owed their existence as tourist locations to the development of the south Wales coal field and the introduction of the workers' annual holidays. By the mid 20th century these locations improved the number of visitors they could accommodate with the introduction of caravan parks and chalet parks.
As the 20th century progressed, and people's leisure activities extended beyond a once-a-year weeks holiday, the county responded with county parks, museums, art galleries and activity centres.
See also
- List of Lord Lieutenants of GlamorganLord Lieutenant of GlamorganThis is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan. After 1729, all Lords Lieutenant were also Custos Rotulorum of Glamorgan. The post was abolished on 31 March 1974.-Lord Lieutenants of Glamorgan to 1974:...
- List of High Sheriffs of GlamorganHigh Sheriff of GlamorganThis page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires who were from the earliest times officers of the crown...
- Glamorgan (UK Parliament constituency)
- Glamorgan County Cricket ClubGlamorgan County Cricket ClubGlamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
- University of GlamorganUniversity of GlamorganThe University of Glamorgan is a university based in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales with campuses in Treforest, Glyntaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Tyn y Wern and Cardiff...
- Glamorgan Bird ClubGlamorgan Bird ClubThe Glamorgan Bird Club is based in Glamorgan in South Wales, and is dedicated to the study and conservation of the county's avifauna. Membership ranges from beginners and back-garden birdwatchers to those who are professionally involved in conservation...