Wenvoe ( cy, Gwenfô) is a village,

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

and electoral ward between

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, Wales. Nearby are the

Wenvoe Transmitter The Wenvoe transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Wenvoe, is the main facility for broadcasting and telecommunications for South Wales and the West Country. It is situated close to the village of Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wale ...

near

Twyn-yr-Odyn Twyn-yr-Odyn ( cy, Twynyrodyn) is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan, southeast Wales, just beyond the territorial border of western Cardiff. It lies just southwest of Culverhouse Cross, very close to Wenvoe and St Lythans. The Wenvoe Transmitt ...

and the site of the former HTV Wales Television Centre at

Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross ( cy, Croes Cwrlwys) is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 mo ...

which is now a housing estate. It is home to the

Wenvoe Quarry Wenvoe Quarry is a quarry between Wenvoe and Culverhouse Cross in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It is situated in an area off the A4050 road known as "The Alps", not far from Caerau and Culverhouse Cross on the outskirts of Cardiff. Opera ...

and

Wenvoe Castle Golf Club Wenvoe Castle Golf Club is an 18-hole golf course near Barry and Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan off the A4050 road, situated to the south of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The club was founded in 1936 around Wenvoe Castle, a mansion that was th ...

History

Maintaining a thriving farming community for centuries, Wenvoe, while still a farming village to an extent, has doubled in population in the last hundred years due to new housing developments. The village originally developed around the parish church of St. Mary, which can be traced back to the twelfth century with the adjacent locality now being a conservation area. Wenvoe is recorded as having belonged to the De Sully, le Fleming and Malefaunt famililies in the later medieval periods. After being escheated to the crown the castle of Wenvoe belonged successively to the Thomas, Birt and Jenner families. Major development occurred in the 1770s but much of this was obliterated by a fire in 1910. Some

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

or earlier fortification is also known to have existed in the wooded hillside at

Wrinstone Wrinstone or Wrinston ( cy, Wrinstwn) is a medieval hamlet, just east of Wenvoe, Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. The Wrinstone estate was variously also known as Wrenston, Wrencheston or Wrenchester. The Barry Railway line ran past the hamlet and ...

. On August 15, 1952, the Wenvoe transmitting station broadcast television to Wales for the first time.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

with the same name exists. The total ward population taken at the 2011 census was 2,659, though in 2022 the neighbouring community of St Nicholas and Bonvilston was transferred to a new ward.

Landmarks and attractions

The village has a village shop with a post office, a parish church, primary school, hotel, a part-time library, barber and three village halls. It is home to three pubs (two that have been in the village for hundreds of years –

The Wenvoe Arms The Wenvoe Arms is a village pub in Wenvoe, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Dating back to the late 18th century, the pub has been a focal point of the village for many years, and many committee meetings were held here. The pub was bought by S A ...

and The Horse & Jockey at nearby Twyn-yr-Odyn, both of which are protected buildings – and the more recent Walston Castle) and many acres of forestry and fields. There is another church at St Lythans. A village show is held every September at the Community Centre hosted by the village Scout Group. The St Lythans burial chamber is 2 km (1¼ miles) west of Wenvoe, or about by road, past the village of

St Lythans St Lythans ( cy, Llwyneliddon) is an affluent hamlet and former parish in the Vale of Glamorgan, southeast Wales, just outside western Cardiff. It lies southwest of Culverhouse Cross, west of Wenvoe and southwest of Twyn-yr-Odyn and is also conn ...

. It is a single stone

Megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were some ...

, built around 6,000 years ago as part of a chambered long barrow, during the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

period. The Tinkinswood burial chamber is about 3.5 km (2½ miles) north west of Wenvoe, near the village of

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Dem ...

), or about 6 km (3¾ miles) by road towards Bonvilston. Tinkinswood is more extensive than St Lythans, which it may have once resembled, and was constructed during the same period. Between the St Lythans and Tinkinswood burial chambers lie Dyffryn Gardens, to whose estate both burial chambers once belonged. Dyffryn Gardens is a collection of

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s located near the village of St. Nicholas. They were selected by the British Tourism Association as one of the Top 100 gardens in the UK.

Notable people

Robert Francis Jenner Robert Francis Jenner (13 January 1802 – 8 April 1860) of Wenvoe Castle was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1828. Family The name "Jenner" is said to be the same as Genor or Genore. The Jenners of Wenvoe traced their ancestry back to Thomas Jen ...

(1802-1860),

High Sheriff of Glamorgan This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires wh ...

in 1827 * Alfred Herbert Jenner, rector of Wenvoe * Colonel Charles Nassau Thomas (died April 1820), vice chamberlain to the Prince of Wales (later

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...

) * Edmund Thomas (1633–1677), politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and 1656 and sat in Cromwell's Upper House * Sir Edmund Thomas (died 1723) * Sir John Godfrey Thomas, sixth baronet of Wenvoe (died 1841) * Sir Godfrey-Vignolles Thomas, 9th Baronet (1856–1919) * Hugh Jenner, founder of

* Simon Cox, PGA European Tour golfer.

References

External links

www.geography.co.uk : photos of Wenvoe and surrounding areaWenvoe OnlineWenvoe Pétanque Club
{{authority control Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan Communities in the Vale of Glamorgan Vale of Glamorgan electoral wards