Ewenny ( cy, Ewenni) is a village and

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, villag ...

(parish) on the River Ewenny 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. Over the years the village has grown into the neighbouring village of Corntown to such an extent that there is no longer a clear boundary between the two. The nearest town of significant size is

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, away. Corntown is within the community. In 1987, scenes from the Doctor Who episode Delta and the Bannermen were filmed in the village.

History

Ewenny Priory

The village grew around the

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

and Church. The Norman church of

St. Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

was built in the 12th century by one of the Norman

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

s of Glamorgan, William de Londres. His son Maurice founded the adjacent

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

in 1141 when he granted the church to the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

, together with the churches of St Brides Major, St. Michael at

Colwinston Colwinston (historically sometimes Colwinstone; cy, Tregolwyn) is both a village and a community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately southeast of the centre of Bridgend and west of the centre of Cardiff. The village is located w ...

and the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

at Lampha. The priory is widely regarded as one of the finest fortified religious buildings in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Over the centuries the priory has sustained some damage, but nonetheless it is still inhabited by its current owners, the Turbervill family. The priory is not open to the public but the attached Church is still in use today.

Potteries

Records show that the pottery industry has existed in the area since 1427. This is probably because the materials required for the production of pottery are readily available in this area, including a local red earthenware, glaze materials, stone to build the kilns and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

to fire the pots in the kilns. There have been fifteen potteries in the Ewenny area at one time or another, all small family concerns. The village is home to the Ewenny Pottery, founded in 1610 and the oldest working pottery in Wales. The business is run by the descendants of the pottery's original founders, the Jenkins family. The pottery is currently run by Alun Jenkins, son of Thomas Arthur Jenkins.

The Legend of the White Lady

Close to Ewenny Priory is an area of land known as White Lady's meadow and White Lady's Lane. It is said that the area is haunted by the ''

Y Ladi Wen ( en, The White Lady) or ( en, The Woman in White), is an apparition of Welsh mythology, dressed in white, and is most commonly seen at Hollantide and the festival of Calan Gaeaf. Known in Welsh oral tradition, she is evoked to warn children abo ...

'' or the White Lady

ghost A ghost is the soul (spirit), soul or spirit of a dead Human, person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visibl ...

. Few details are available about the ghost, but it is generally believed that she committed some terrible misdeed in the past and now her spirit must roam the earth in penance. There is a similar legend associated with

Ogmore Castle Ogmore Castle ( cy, Castell Ogwr) is a Grade I listed castle ruin located near the village of Ogmore-by-Sea, south of the town of Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales. It is situated on the south bank of the River Ewenny and the east bank of the R ...

. As these two locations are within a couple of miles of each other it is likely that the legends are related, or inspired by each other.

Other Points of Interest

The nearby Coed-y-Bwl nature reserve, more locally known as the "

Daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as ''Sternbergia'', '' I ...

woods" has around a quarter of a million ‘wild’ daffodils. The reserve was established in 1971 and in 1975 received a

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

trust award. The daffodils were planted in the early 19th century by Mrs Nicholl of Merthyr Mawr. A Roman

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

is situated near the reserve.

Governance

Ewenny has a

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

which elects or co-opts eight community councillors. Until 2022 the community was part of the county ward of

Llandow/Ewenny Llandow (between 1995 and 2022 known as Llandow/Ewenny or Llandow and Ewenny), is the name of an electoral ward in the west of the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It covers its namesake community of Llandow as well as the neighbouring communities of Col ...

for elections to the

Vale of Glamorgan Council The Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It was run by the Conservative Party after the 2008 United Kingdom local elections, taking over the council from no overall cont ...

. It was transferred to the St Brides Major ward as a result of recommendations from the

Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales ( cy, Comisiwn Ffiniau a Democratiaeth Leol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for defining borders for local elections and government in Wales. The name of the commission ...

References

Description of the Priory provided by Bridgend County CouncilHistory of the villageEwenny PotteryThe Village website

Images

Priory ExteriorSt. Michael's ChurchThe Village ShopEwenny River

External links

Geograph.co.uk
photos of Ewenny and surrounding area * {{authority control Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan Communities in the Vale of Glamorgan