Aberthin is a small village, just outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, on the north side of a shallow valley, less than a mile northeast of Cowbridge across the A48 road.

Cowbridge Comprehensive School Cowbridge Comprehensive School is a secondary school in the town of Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales. The school has approximately 1,500 pupils, 1,200 of whom are in the secondary years and 300 in the sixth-form years studying f ...

lies just to the southwest of the village. About 250 metres to the south is an old quarry, with a "faulted strip of grey

oolite Oolite or oölite (''egg stone'') is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word for egg (ᾠόν). Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 ...

". Aberthin is also the name of a brook, the

River Aberthin A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. The village was served by the

Aberthin Platform railway station Aberthin Platform railway station was a short lived Taff Vale Railway station which served Aberthin, a village north east of Cowbridge in the Welsh county of Glamorganshire. History Opened by the Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Ra ...

between 1905 and 1920, now a field to the west of Aberthin.

Etymology

Thomas Morgan recorded an early belief that the village had been a place of druidic sacrifices, and that the name derived from the word ''Abertha'' (sacrifice). However, this derivation is now considered a

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

. As the Nant y Berthyn's confluence (or " Aber" in Welsh) with the River Thaw located just to the west of the village's centre, the name is most likely a contraction of "Aber-Nant-y-Berthyn".

Notable landmarks

It has no shops, but does have two pubs, a village hall which when built in 1749 was created as Wales's second purpose-built

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

meeting house,''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg500 and a notable tree in the middle of the roundabout. The Methodist church and village was visited in 1746 by

Howell Harries Howell may refer to: Places In the United Kingdom *Howell, Lincolnshire, England In the United States *Howell, Georgia *Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana *Howell, Michigan * Howell, Missouri *Howell, Utah * Howell Co ...

and it was at the church where Peter Williams gave a speech in which he was disowned by the Methodists. Houses in the area include

Llansannor Court Llansannor Court is a Grade I listed building in Llansannor, near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It became a Grade I listed building on 16 December 1952. It is believed to have been built during the Elizabethan era. The walls ...

and

Great House, Aberthin Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great ( ...

Culture

The village hall committee organises many events throughout the year, such as a duck race (where plastic yellow ducks are raced down the stream), a free

bonfire A bonfire is a large and controlled outdoor fire, used either for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Etymology The earliest recorded uses of the word date back to the late 15th century, with the Catho ...

and fireworks display (held on the Downs overlooking the village), quiz nights, amateur dramatics,

barn dance A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building. The term “barn dance” is usually associated w ...

s, and an annual Village Day, which has a

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

live music A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety an ...

and a dog show.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Aberthin and surrounding area
* {{authority control Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan