Colwinston
Glamorgan
The village of Colwinston lies on the western edge of the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, amongst rolling green fields a couple of miles south of Bridgend on the road to Cowbridge. A section of the A48 Trunk Road outside the village is actually known as ‘The Golden Mile’ as it was here, at the conclusion of Civil War hostilities, men of Cromwell’s Model Army queued up to be paid off in gold coins.
Agatha Christie frequently paid visits to the Manor House of ‘Pwllywrach’ near the village and was told of the local folklore surrounding a Gypsy curse on one of the local roads, which so impressed the authoress, that she used the story as the basis for her book ‘The Hollow’.
Photo - Rod Morris
At the centre of the village is the 12th Century Norman Church of St Michael and All Angels which has withstood the ravages of time, religious reformers and the unwelcome attention of Parliamentary soldiers. During the Great War of 1914-1918 some twenty-three men from the village enlisted and served their country in various theatres of conflict and, joyously, they all returned to the very green, green grass of their home of Colwinston – a very ‘Thankful Village’ indeed.
Photo - Rod Morris
Text - Rod Morris