In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Cowbridge like this:
COWBRIDGE, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred, in Glamorgan. The town stands on the river Ddaw and on the Roman maritime way, 5 miles SSW of Llantrissant r. station, and 12 W by S of Cardiff. A railway 6 miles long, connecting it with the Llantrissant and Taff Vale, and also with the South Wales at Llantrissant, was authorized in 1862, and opened in September, 1865. ...
The town was formerly called Pont-Vaen; is thought by some to occupy the site of the ancient Bovium; was engirt with walls, and otherwise fortified, in 1091, by Robert St. Quintin, one of Fitz-hamon's knights; and a portion of its walls, with buttresses and a gateway, still remains. It was chartered by Charles II.; unites with Cardiff and Llantrissant in sending a member to parliament; and is governed by two bailiffs, 12 aldermen, and 12 burgesses. It is a seat of sessions; and has a head post office, ‡ a banking office, two chief inns, a town-hall, a market-place, a church, three dissenting chapels, and a grammar school. The church is ancient; and has a south aisle to the nave, and a north one to the chancel; looks, at a distance, like an embattled fortress; and contains several handsome monuments. The grammar school was founded, in the time of Charles II., by Sir Leoline Jenkins; is an edifice erected or improved by the fellows of Jesus College, Oxford, at a cost of about £5, 500; and has an endowed income of £100, with two fellowships, two scholarships, and an exhibition at Jesus College. Markets are held on Tuesdays; fairs, at the town, on the first Tuesday of Feb., the Tuesday before 25 March, 4 May, 24 June, the first Tuesday of Aug., 29 Sept., and the first Tuesday of Dec.; and fairs at Aubrey Arms, near the town, on the second Monday of March and Oct. Remains of a large tumulus, and traces of a Druidical temple, are in a neighbouring field. Pelagins and Judge Jeffreys were natives. -The parish comprises 96 acres. Real property, £3, 122. Pop., 1, 094. Houses, 235. The property is subdivided. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of Llanblethian, in the diocese of Llandaff. -The sub-district contains twenty-four parishes and two extra-parochial tracts; and is in the district of Bridgend. Acres, 32, 939. Pop., 6, 486. Houses, 1, 394. -The hundred has a general identity with the sub-district; yet differs in some parts, and is not quite so large. Acres, 32, 390. Pop., 6, 084. Houses, 1, 297.
Cowbridge through time
Cowbridge is now part of The Vale of Glamorgan district. Click here for graphs and data of how The Vale of Glamorgan has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Cowbridge itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Cowbridge in The Vale of Glamorgan | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1098
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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