Cowbridge
Encyclopedia
Cowbridge is a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 in 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...

 in Wales
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...

, approximately 7 miles (11.3 km) west of 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...

. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson
Clisson
Clisson , is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique département in western France.It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine southeast of Nantes ....

 in the Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean.-History:...

 department in northwestern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Roman times

The town lies on the site of a Roman
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...

 settlement identified by some scholars as the fort of Bovium (cow-place). Recent excavations have revealed extensive Roman settlement; the town lies alongside a Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

. There are 17th century references to a 'cow-bridge' over a tributary of the river Thaw (which flows through the town) but Cowbridge's Welsh name, Y Bont-faen, means literally 'the stone bridge'.

Middle Ages

The town centre is still arranged on its medieval plan, with one long street divided into "burgage plots". It is one of very few medieval walled towns in Wales, and substantial portions of the walls, together with the south gate, are still standing. On 13 March 1254, Cowbridge received its first borough charter from Richard de Clare
Richard de Clare
Richard de Clare may refer to:*Richard fitz Gilbert , lord of Clare and of Tonbridge, ancestor of the Clare family.*Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare Richard de Clare may refer to:*Richard fitz Gilbert (died 1090), lord of Clare and of Tonbridge, ancestor of the Clare family.*Richard fitz Gilbert de...

, the Lord of Glamorgan. Richard de Clare was one of the most powerful Barons of the day, having huge estates stretching across much of South Wales and also lands in southern and eastern England.

From 1243 de Clare was actively extending his authority in Glamorgan; in 1245 he seized the manors of Llanblethian and Talyfan from Richard Siward, and the lordships of Miskin
Miskin
Miskin is a village approximately 2 miles south of Llantrisant in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.The origin of the village was a small hamlet known as New Mill, which grew up around New Mill farm...

 and Glynrhondda from Hywel ap Maredudd. In Llanblethian he founded the town of Cowbridge and in Miskin he founded the castle and town of 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...

. The largely medieval church of the Holy Cross was initially a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....

 to the parish church at Llanblethian. In 1307 Earl Gilbert de Clare
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English noble. Also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare, probably because of his hair colour.- Lineage :...

, grandson of Richard de Clare, began work on the stone fortifications of 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:...

 in Llanblethian.

The Battle of Stalling Down
Battle of Stalling Down
The Battle of Stalling Down is a battle reputed to have taken place in the late autumn or early winter of 1403, between the supporters of the Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr and those of King Henry IV of England...

 was fought near Cowbridge when the large English army of King Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

 met a combined force of French and Welsh soldiers under Owain Glyndwr
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...

 in 1403.

Georgian times

The 18th century antiquary, Iolo Morganwg
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...

, inventor of the present-day rituals of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
National Eisteddfod of Wales
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...

, kept a bookshop in the High Street, the location of which is now marked with a plaque inscribed with the words Y Gwir yn erbyn y Byd ("Truth against the world") in Roman and ogham
Ogham
Ogham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic language. Ogham is sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", based on a High Medieval Bríatharogam tradition ascribing names of trees to the individual letters.There are roughly...

 script. It was just outside the town that he held the first meeting of the Gorsedd
Gorsedd
A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....

, an assembly of bards, in 1795. Cowbridge Grammar School
Cowbridge Grammar School
Cowbridge Grammar School was one of the best-known schools in Wales until its closure in 1974. It was replaced by a comprehensive school.Founded in the 17th century by Sir John Stradling and refounded by Sir Leoline Jenkins, it had close links with Jesus College, Oxford. The school took both...

 was founded in 1608 and had close links with Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 through its later benefactor, Dr Leoline Jenkins
Leoline Jenkins
Sir Leoline Jenkins was a Welsh academic, jurist and politician. He was a clerical lawyer serving in the Admiralty courts, and diplomat involved in the negotiation of international treaties .-Biography:...

. Its famous pupils included the poet Alun Lewis
Alun Lewis
Alun Lewis , was a poet of the Anglo-Welsh school, and is regarded by many as Britain's finest Second World War poet.- Education :...

 and the actor Sir Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

. The old grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 eventually merged with Cowbridge High School for Girls to became a comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

, and the original buildings, having for some time lain derelict, have been converted into private accommodation.

Notable buildings

The present town hall, a building dating back perhaps as far as 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...

, served as a prison until 1830, when it was converted into a town hall to replace the former Guild Hall, demolished at that date. The money for the reconstruction was raised by public subscription.

Six of the original prison cells are still intact, and house the exhibits of Cowbridge Museum. The remainder of the building is used by the town council and for public events. The museum holds archaeological finds from Cowbridge and district, as well as displays on the later history of the town, including industrial and domestic artefacts, a photographic collection, and a small historical costume collection.

The main street contains a number of Georgian
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...

 houses, including the former town houses of important local families such as the Edmondes and Carnes. The Carnes' town house is known as Great House, a Grade 2* listed property of Medieval origin.

Modern times

Cowbridge contains the following inns
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

: the Bear Hotel, the Horse and Groom, the Edmondes Arms, the Duke of Wellington and the Vale of Glamorgan. The latter is located at the premises of the former Vale of Glamorgan Brewery.

Closely attached to the town of Cowbridge is the village of Aberthin. Aberthin contains two inns; The Hare and Hounds and The Farmers Arms.

On the 21 March 1950 a Bristol Freighter
Bristol Freighter
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner, although its best known use is as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances.-Design and development:The...

 (Registration: G-AHJJ) on a test flight took off from Bristol Filton Airport. The aircraft creahed near Cowbridge after a structural failure of the fuselage. It caused the aircraft to entre spin and crash. The accident killed all four passengers and crew on board.

Schools

Cowbridge Comprehensive School
Cowbridge Comprehensive School
Cowbridge Comprehensive School is a secondary school in the town of Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales.The school has approximately 1,300 pupils, 1,000 of whom are in the secondary years and 300 in the sixth-form years studying for Welsh Baccalaureate, AS-Level and...

 has approximately 1300 pupils, and is one of the best performing secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

s in Wales. It achieved 94% A*-C at GCSE in 2010. The school was located on three sites, with the Lower School in the south-west of the town and Middle School and Sixth Form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 in the north-east. Cowbridge Comprehensive School completed a major redevelopment in September 2010 to bring the entire school to one site (the former Middle School/Sixth Form site) using Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...

 funding.

In September 2010, the new school was officially opened to students. All approximately 1300 students can now be found on the one site instead of the three separate buildings that were all situated in different locations in Cowbridge. The new Cowbridge Comprehensive School now boasts the top facilities available at this time.

Y Bontfaen primary school in Borough Close has a roll of about 245 including the nursery Y Bloddau Fach.
Ysgol Iolo Morganwg with Y Meithrin ("the nursery") - roll app 150 - is adjacent and is a Welsh speaking school.

Sport

Cowbridge is home to Cowbridge RFC
Cowbridge RFC
Cowbridge Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Cowbridge, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues.. Cowbridge RFC fields a senior XV, second XV, youth and ladies XV teams....

 a 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...

 affiliated 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...

 team, which fields two senior, a youth and ladies team.
Cowbridge Cricket Club first played in 1840 and now has six senior and junior teams and is affiliated to the South Wales Cricket Association. Notable cricketers who have played for the club include former test players Hugh Morris, John Clay, Tony Lewis
Tony Lewis
Anthony Robert Lewis CBE is a former Welsh cricketer, who went on to become the face of BBC Television cricket coverage in the 1990s, and become president of the MCC. Lewis attended Christ's College, Cambridge and played for Cambridge University. He also played county cricket for Glamorgan, and...

, C F Walters and on one famous occasion Douglas Jardine
Douglas Jardine
Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34.When describing cricket seasons, the convention used is that a single year represents an English cricket season, while two years represent a southern hemisphere cricket season because it...

. Among the many county cricketers produced by the club are the Glamorgan players Ben Wright and Alex Jones
Alex Jones (cricketer)
Alexander John Jones is a Welsh cricketer. Jones is a right-handed batsman who bowls left-arm medium pace. He was born at Bridgend, Glamorgan and educated at Cowbridge Comprehensive School....

. Glamorgan CCC played county fixtures at Cowbridge in the 1930s.

Cowbridge also has a leisure centre where can be found various clubs including, tennis, football and badminton. Behind Cowbridge Leisure Centre is Cowbridge Bowling Club and tennis courts.

September 2009 also saw the reintroduction of senior football to Cowbridge Town after a ten year absence. Starting in the third tier of the Vale of Glamorgan Amateur Football League the team achieved great success in their first season back, achieving an unlikely cup-promotion double.

Notable residents

  • Ieuan Evans
    Ieuan Evans
    Ieuan Evans is a former rugby union footballer who played on the wing for Wales. He is regarded as one of the best Welsh wingers of all time, despite playing through a disappointing era of Welsh rugby. A prolific try scorer at International level, Evans is listed 19th in the world on the all-time...

    , former Wales rugby union player and rugby commentator
  • Anneka Rice, television presenter
  • Stephen McPhail
    Stephen McPhail
    Stephen John Paul McPhail is an Irish footballer who plays for Cardiff City. He has won 10 caps for his country, the Republic of Ireland, and scored one goal...

    , Irish international and current Cardiff City football player


Notable people who attended school in Cowbridge include:
  • Patrick Hannan
    Patrick Hannan (presenter)
    Patrick Hannan MBE was a Welsh political journalist, author and television and radio presenter.The son of an Irish doctor who migrated to Wales in the 1930s, he was born and raised in Aberaman, near Aberdare in South Wales...

    , political journalist
  • Sir Anthony Hopkins
    Anthony Hopkins
    Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

    , Oscar-winning actor
  • Alun Lewis
    Alun Lewis
    Alun Lewis , was a poet of the Anglo-Welsh school, and is regarded by many as Britain's finest Second World War poet.- Education :...

    , poet
  • Frances Hoggan
    Frances Hoggan
    Frances Elizabeth Hoggan MD was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine from a university in Europe, and the first female doctor to be registered in Wales....

    , First British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine from a university in Europe, and the first woman doctor to be registered in Wales.
  • Robin Hawkins
    Robin Hawkins
    Robin Hawkins, commonly known as Rob is the primary vocalist and bassist for Welsh band The Automatic.-Personal life:Rob studied at Cowbridge Comprehensive School, completing his A-levels and going on to take a chance with The Automatic in his gap year...

    , lead singer and bassist of Welsh rock band 'The Automatic'.
  • James Frost
    James Frost
    James Martin Frost is the guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of Welsh band The Automatic, and guitarist and backing vocalist for Cardiff based band Effort. As well as his musical duties for The Automatic, Frost has also directed two of the bands music videos and their tour video daries...

    , singer and guitarist of The Automatic.
  • Iwan Griffiths
    Iwan Griffiths
    Iwan Griffiths is drummer for Welsh rock band The Automatic, Iwan originates from Cowbridge in Wales, and currently resides in a house with band mates Robin Hawkins and James Frost.-Musical career:...

    , drummer of The Automatic.

External links

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