Vale of Glamorgan ~ Wales

Glamorgan is a county situated in the South of Wales. Known as Morgannwg in the Welsh language, it has a long maritime history and was in early times a kingdom of the Welsh nobility in its own right. It has a long sea coast to the West where it borders on to Carmarthen Bay at the edge of the Irish Sea. To the South is the Bristol Channel and it shares county borders with Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire and Carmarthenshire.

Archaeologists tell us that this part of the United Kingdom was settled by people in significant numbers some 5000 years ago in the Neolithic age. Evidence still remains dotted around the area in the form of earthworks and hill forts. In around 2000 BC a group of people now known as the 'beaker folk' migrated from central mainland Europe and lived and farmed the land around the Gower Peninsular to the West of the county . These were so named after the remains of intricate clay drinking vessels that they seem to have produced in large quantities. They also seemed to have been skilled in metal work and having successfully integrated with local tribes, passed on these skills. These early Welsh settlers were Celts and their society thrived for many hundreds of years until the arrival of the Roman who invaded Britain in the 1st century AD. Despite putting up the most intense and bloody resistance, the Romans conquered and the Welsh tribes were decimated. Despite this the essential 'welshness' survived and the people of the area continued to follow a Celtic way of life. The kingdom of Morgannwg lived on over the centuries, relatively untouched by the Saxon and Danish invasions of much of the rest of Britain. The Glamorgan Welsh had their own laws and customs and even their own form of Christianity. It wasn't until the Norman invasion that change started to occur. Gradually the Normans moved from England into Wales. The Conqueror established a line of Castles stretching along the southern and eastern edges of the country. Because of its proximity to the English border and its strategic importance, the area that now forms the county was one of the first to be occupied and it was the Normans who first called it Glamorgan. It wasn't until 1536 that it was created a county and it remained as a political unit until 1974 when it was split into three administrative regions known as Mid, West and South Glamorgan.

Geography

The county is the most heavily populated area of Wales. Its countryside varies from the mountains and deep valleys of the North where coal was once heavily mined, spreading down through the central lowlands of the Vale of Glamorgan that is mainly given over to agriculture until one reaches the industrialised south along the banks of the Bristol Channel where the major cities including Swansea and Cardiff, the Capital City of Wales are situated. To the west around the Gower Peninsular, the dramatic and beautiful coastline has been designated an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Industry

Since the demise of the Welsh coal industry, the county has turned to its service industry and manufacturing bases around the major cities to the south for its economy. Agriculture and tourism are of significant importance and Cardiff maintains a thriving port specialising in the exportation of steel and timber.

Cities, towns and villages within Vale of Glamorgan