Aberthin is a small village, just outside

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists fo ...

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 ...

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

across the

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South ...

. Cowbridge Comprehensive School 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� ...

". 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 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 The River Thaw ( cy, Afon Ddawan) (also Ddaw) is a river in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. At 20 kilometres/12.4 miles, it is the longest river entirely in the Vale of Glamorgan. Course Its source is in the hills just south of th ...

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

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s, a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

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 ...

meeting house,''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies,

Nigel Jenkins Nigel Jenkins (20 July 1949 – 28 January 2014) was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was an editor, journalist, psychogeographer, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction, as well as being a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the crea ...

, 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 Cath ...

and

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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