Ogmore Vale

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Ogmore Vale
A view of Ogmore Vale and Cwm Ogwr Fawr - geograph.org.uk - 1358165.jpg
Bridgend UK location map.svg
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Ogmore Vale
Location within Bridgend
Population3,117 (ward 2011) [1]
OS grid reference SS929904
Community
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BRIDGEND
Postcode district CF32 7xx
Dialling code 01656
Police South Wales
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Bridgend
51°36′11″N3°32′48″W / 51.603028°N 3.546700°W / 51.603028; -3.546700 Coordinates: 51°36′11″N3°32′48″W / 51.603028°N 3.546700°W / 51.603028; -3.546700
Gwalia Stores, built in 1880 was moved, and rebuilt in St Fagans National History Museum. Gwalia Stores and Photographer's Shop, St Fagans. - geograph.org.uk - 138568.jpg
Gwalia Stores, built in 1880 was moved, and rebuilt in St Fagans National History Museum.

Ogmore Vale (Welsh : Cwm Ogwr) is a village (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore. The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolated, rural hill farming community of less than ten farms and a few cottages. Today, along with Nantymoel and Price Town it makes up the community of Ogmore Valley.

Contents

History

In 1851 the total population of the valley was probably less than one hundred people. On the 1 August 1865 the Ogmore Valley Railway was opened by John Brogden and Sons for mineral, goods and passenger traffic from Porthcawl to Nantymoel. The completion of the railway connections with Bridgend through Tondu and Porthcawl Dock, enabled the development to begin of the vast reserves of high quality house coals and dry steam coals of the valley.

The No. 2 and No. 3 Rhondda house and bituminous coals which outcrop along the valley were quickly proved and the Aber, Caedu and Tynewydd collieries were opened by drift mining driven into the seams from the mountain sides. In the latter part of 1865, John Brogden and Sons commenced the sinking of the two shafts at the Wyndham Colliery to prove and work the high quality smokeless dry steam coals of the Lower Coal Measures.

Brogdens lost control, first through an unavoidable merger in 1872 with the Llynvi Coal and Iron Company Ltd to make the Llynvi, Tondu and Ogmore Coal and Iron Company, then by the 1878 liquidation of the merged company after a large debenture-holder demanded his money back. After some abortive attempts to revive the business, stability was restored by the establishment of North's Navigation Collieries (1889) Ltd.

From 1865 to 1983, when the last colliery (Wyndham/Western Mine) closed, the area this once stood is now known locally as the planker, the coal industry provided employment for the communities of the valley and much wealth was produced for the nation. [2]

The village's Gwalia Stores, built in 1880 was moved, brick by brick, and rebuilt in St Fagans National History Museum.

The village has a rugby union club, prize winning brass band, a local history society, [3] community centre, Wyndham Boys & Girls Club, ladies choir and a male voice choir.

There is one primary school, opened in September 2003, taking pupils from four original schools which were closed in July 2003. They were, with opening dates in brackets; Tynewydd Junior (1875), (Tynewydd was first opened in 1865 as a company school for the Aber Colliery Company), Aber Infants (1873), (Aber was originally known as Craigrhiwglyn Board School and built privately by Mrs Ann Blandy-Jenkins in 1876 and later purchased by the Llandyfodwg School Board), Fronwen Primary (1914), Ogmore Vale Nursery (1947).

Of the former school sites, the original Craigrhwiglyn (Aber Boys), Fronwen and Tynewydd sites have all been developed for local housing. The former nursery in Park Avenue has been demolished but as yet the site is undeveloped. In 2016 Aber Infants (Built 1909) and Aber Girls (Built 1912) were both demolished with a Bat Dwelling built in the yard of the former infants school to house the Bat Population of the schools.

Governance

At the local level, Ogmore Vale is an electoral ward to Ogmore Valley Community Council, electing up to four of the 14 community councillors. [4]

Prior to April 1996 Ogmore Vale was a ward to Ogwr Borough Council, electing a Labour councillor in 1987 and 1991. [5] Since 1995 Ogmore Vale has also been a ward to Bridgend County Borough Council, electing one county councillor. The ward has elected Labour, Plaid Cymru and Independent councillors. [6]

The village lies in the parliamentary constituency of Ogmore.

Notable residents

Films, TV and books

Related Research Articles

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Bridgend is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, 20 miles (32 km) west of the capital Cardiff and 20 miles (32 km) east of Swansea. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore, but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town.

Bridgend County Borough County borough

Bridgend is a county borough in southern Wales, UK. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. Its members of the Senedd are Carwyn Jones MS, the former First Minister of Wales and Huw Irranca-Davies MS representing the Ogmore Constituency, and its members of UK parliament are Jamie Wallis and Chris Elmore.

River Ogmore

The River Ogmore is a river in South Wales that is popular with anglers. It runs generally from north to south from the Ogmore Vale and Gilfach Goch, past Bridgend and Ogmore. The River Ogmore rises at Craig Ogwr in the Ogmore Valley as the Ogwr Fawr before it links with the Ogwr Fach at Blackmill. The River Llynfi, the River Garw and finally the River Ewenny in its estuary are all tributaries of the Ogmore which flows into the sea between Ogmore-by-Sea and the Merthyr Mawr sand-dunes.

Ogwr

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Tondu railway station Railway station in Bridgend, Wales

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Aberkenfig Human settlement in Wales

Aberkenfig is a village located in the County Borough of Bridgend, Wales to the north of Bridgend town. The community population is shown under Newcastle Higher.

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St. Brides Major is a village within the community also called St Brides Major in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.

In 1861 the Llynvi Valley Railway was opened in Glamorganshire, Wales, to convey mineral products to the Bristol Channel at Porthcawl. It adopted an earlier tramroad, the Duffryn Llynvi and Porthcawl Railway. The Llynvi and Ogmore Railway was opened in 1865, and the two companies amalgamated to form the Llynvi and Ogmore Railway in 1866. At first Porthcawl harbour was an important destination for onward transport, but this soon declined.

Sarn, Bridgend Human settlement in Wales

Sarn is a village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, about 3 miles north of Bridgend and which lies just east of the confluence of the Ogmore and Llynfi rivers. It is located to the east of Aberkenfig, south of Brynmenyn, and south-east of Tondu. It is around 15 minutes' walk from the M4 and the McArthurGlen Group Bridgend Designer Outlet.

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Gilfach Goch Human settlement in Wales

Gilfach Goch is a community, electoral ward and small former coal mining village in the Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales, near the larger community of Tonyrefail. It is situated in the Cwm Ogwr Fach between the Cwm Ogwr Fawr to the west and the Cwm Rhondda to the east.

John Brogden and Sons was a firm of Railway Contractors, Iron and Coal Miners and Iron Smelters operating, initially as a general contractor, from roughly 1828 until its bankruptcy in 1880.

Nant-y-moel or Nantymoel[nant ə mɔi̯l] is a village and includes the formerly separate village of Pricetown in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore, and is one of the constituent villages of the Ogmore Valley. It is bordered by the village of Wyndham to the south and by the Bwlch y Clawdd mountain to the north.

Ynysawdre Human settlement in Wales

Ynysawdre is a small community in Bridgend County Borough, south Wales. It is located to the east of Aberkenfig in Wales, and comprises the two villages of Tondu and Brynmenyn. The name Ynysawdre is also usually used for a small section of Tondu. At the 2001 census, the population of the community was 3,698, reducing to 3,367 at the 2011 Census.

Ogmore Valley Human settlement in Wales

Ogmore Valley is a community in the Bridgend County Borough, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. Made up of the villages of Nantymoel, Ogmore Vale, Price Town and Wyndham, its population at the time of the 2001 census was 7,800, increasing to 7,954 at the 2011 Census. The ribbon housing of the valley follows the Ogwr Fawr tributary which rises at Craig Ogwr and joins the Ogwr Fach at Blackmill. Villages include Nantymoel, Price Town, Wyndham, Ogmore Vale, Lewistown, Pant-yr-awel and Blackmill.

Wyndham, Bridgend Human settlement in Wales

Wyndham is a small village in the County Borough of Bridgend, Wales built alongside the Ogwr Fawr tributary of the River Ogmore. The village is part of the community of the Ogmore Valley and is south of Nantymoel and north west of Ogmore Vale. The village grew out of the industrialisation of the valley in the 19th century, when coal mines were sunk in the area. The village is also nearby the local industrial estate Penllwyngwent in Ogmore Vale. Wyndham also has a convenience store called "Patel's Minimarket" which is a small minimarket near the main road. Opposite the convenience store is a youth club called the "Wyndham Boys and Girls Club" which has been open for nearly 80 years. At the end of Wyndham, there is a pub called the "Wyndham Arms". Nearby, between Wyndham and Ogmore Vale, there is a Primary School called Ogmore Vale Primary School. In Wyndham, there is a Christian Church which is called St David's Church owned by Father Julien. Wyndham has access to a cycle track. Wyndham has panoramic views of the Bwlch. It has easy access the A4061. The party Labour has held Wyndham for many years and is now led by the leader Huw Irranca-Davies.

Price Town is situated 9 miles north of the County Town of Bridgend on the A4061 road in the upper reaches of the Cwm Ogwr Fawr, Wales. It was developed to provide accommodation for the rapidly increasing work force of the Wyndham and Ocean Western Collieries. Today Price Town is regarded as part of the village Nantymoel.

References

  1. ↑ "Ward population 2011" . Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. ↑ See David Owen (2002), South Wales Collieries, Volume 3, pages 12/3 for more details
  3. ↑ OVLHS.co.uk
  4. ↑ "Members Contact Details" (PDF). Ogmore Valley Community Council. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  5. ↑ "Ogwr Welsh District Council Election Results 1973-1991" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  6. ↑ "Bridgend County Borough Council Election Results 1995-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  7. ↑ Hodgson`s WRU Player profile [ permanent dead link ]
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