Colwinston
Colwinston
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 Colwinston
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| Colwinston shown within the Vale of Glamorgan | |
| Population | 447 (2011) |
| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cowbridge |
| Postcode district | CF71 |
| Police | South Wales |
| Fire | South Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Colwinston (Welsh: Tregolwyn) is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. By road the village is located 3.9 miles southeast of the centre of Bridgend and 20.5 miles west of the centre of Cardiff. The population of the village in 2005 was approximately 400. The community covers an area of 746 hectares (2.88 sq mi). The novelist Agatha Christie was a frequent visitor to the village, where her descendants still live, at the former manor house of Pwllywrach. A new development of 60 houses near the local school began in December 2015, after protests by local residents were overruled by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Community representatives pointed to regular flooding and said that "adding 64 homes to a village with 130 at the moment can only increase that risk".
The historical strength of the village relates to its location within half a mile of the A48 which was the Roman Via Julia Strata Maritima. Earlier and later tribal settlement established the importance of a 66-acre area of common land known as the "Golden Mile Common". No one knows where the name originated although it is widely believed that this was where the armies gathered to march to war and on their return men would line up to receive their gold sovereign before disbanding to return home.
The Glamorgan Yeomanry and the Welsh archers/bowmen are well documented in the battles of Agincourt and Crecy and this is also believed to have been the gathering point of the South Wales contingent.
The Norman St Michael's Church in Colwinston is reputed to have originally been built in 1111. The church was restored in 1879 and suffered a fire in 1971. The 1811 A Topographical Dictionary of The Dominion of Wales by Nicholas Carlisle said of the village:
"COLWINSTON, or, TRE COLLWYN, in the Cwmwd of Maenor Glynn Ogwr, Cantref of Cron Nedd (now called the Hundred of Ogmore),County of GLAMORGAN, South Wales: a discharged Vicarage, valued in the King's Books at £6..6..8; Patron, David Thomas, Esq.: Church dedicated to St. Michael. The Resident Population of this Parish, in 1801, was 235. The Money raised by the Parish Rates, in1803, was £101..6..10, at 1s. 6d. per acre. It is 4 m. W. N. W. from Cowbridge. This Parish contains between fourteen and fifteen hundred acres of inclosed Land, and 60 acres of common Pasture, called The Golden Mile. According to the Diocesan Report, in 1809, the yearly value of this Benefice, arising from Vicarial Tythes, and Augmentation, was £111..18..0. "
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