Bridgend, Glamorgan
Historical Description
Bridgend, (Welsh, Pen-y-bont Ar Ogwy), a small market-town and the head of a poor-law union in Glamorgan. The town is in the parishes of Coity and Newcastle, and stands on the river Ogmore, 7 miles NW of Cowbridge, 20 W of Cardiff, 26 from Swansea, and 190 by rail from London. It has a station on the South Wales section of the G.W.R., and is the terminus of the Llynvi and Ogmore branch of the same line. It is a straggling place, and consists of three parts-Bridgend-proper, Oldcastle, and Newcastle. The latter two are on opposite sides of the river, and took their name from ancient fortalices. The Oldcastle fortalice has disappeared, but remains of the Newcastle one, consisting of outer walls and a Norman gateway, still exist. The town-hall is a handsome structure, containing offices on the ground floor, and it also contains the Mechanics' Institute, with reading-rooms and library. A handsome masonic hall stands in the centre of the town, having the local board offices on the ground floor. There is also a Conservative club building. The county court and petty sessions are held at the police station. St Illtyds, Newcastle, was rebuilt in 1850 and restored and enlarged in 1893-94. The living of Newcastle, with Tondu, Laleston, and Tytheaston annexed, is a vicarage in the diocese of LIandaff; net value, £170 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of LIandaff. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan, Calvinistic Methodist, and Unitarian chapels. The town has a post, money order, and telegraph office, a workhouse, a police station, two drill halls, banks, is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and publishes two weekly newspapers. A weekly market is held on Saturday, also large fortnightly cattle markets on the first and third Mondays of each month, and fairs on 1 April, Holy Thursday, and 17 November. There are iron and brass foundries, an agricultural implement factory, a brewery, tanneries, limekilns; and iron-works, coal mines, and stone quarries are in the neighbourhood. The Glamorgan County Lunatic Asylum, erected in 1864, is situated about 1½ mile from the town, and consists of an extensive pile of buildings. Another asylum, which stands on Cefn-Hirgoed Common, about half a mile distant, was enlarged in 1893-94. The area of the urban sanitary district is 698 acres; population, 4676.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Registration district | Bridgend | 1905 - 1970 |
Registration district | Mid Glamorgan | 1970 - 1974 |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Maps
Online maps of Bridgend are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online: