Penprysg is a residential area of the town of

Pencoed Pencoed (also Pen-coed); ) is a town and community in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It straddles the M4 motorway north east of Bridgend and is situated on the Ewenny River. At the 2011 census it had a population of around 9,166. Etymo ...

Bridgend County Borough Bridgend County Borough () is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. Its members of the Senedd are Sarah Murphy ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Located in the northern suburban district of Pencoed, it occupies a

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

where the town rises onto the

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

ridge of Cefn Hirgoed, which extends about 5 km eastward from Kenfig Hill and reaches a height of 142 m on its central spine. The area evolved from

ribbon development A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

along Penprysg Road in the late nineteenth century and has since expanded through housing initiatives in the 1970s and post-2000

infill In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an Urban area, urban environment, usually Urban open space, open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any Greenfield land, ...

development, with the ward of Pencoed and Penprysg recording just over 10,000 residents in the 2021

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

Governance

Penprysg is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

ward to Pencoed Town Council. Penprysg was also the name of an

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 t ...

, which extended to the north of Pencoed.The Penprysg county electoral ward, since 1999, was represented by one county councillor on

Bridgend County Borough Council Bridgend County Borough Council () is the governing body for Bridgend County Borough, one of the principal areas of Wales. History Bridgend County Borough and its council came into effect from 1 April 1996, following the '' Local Government (W ...

. The ward covered the Penprysg community ward and the entire community of Coychurch Higher. Effective from the 2022 local elections, Coychurch Higher was combined with the entire Pencoed community to create a new ward, named "Pencoed and Penprysg", electing three county borough councillors.

Description

Penprysg is the northern suburban district of

, Wales, occupying the saddle where the town rises on to the sandstone ridge of Cefn Hirgoed. The ridge extends for about 5 km from Kenfig Hill eastwards to Penprysg and attains 142 m on its central spine; it is carved from the hard Cefn Cribbwr Rock of the South Wales Lower Coal Measures, whose dip-slope forms the village’s gently inclined streets. At the 2021 Census the ward of Pencoed and Penprysg recorded 10,011 usual residents in 4,284 households, giving a population density of 417 persons per square kilometre—one of the higher figures in rural Bridgend, because later estate building has filled most remaining pasture between Pencoed station and the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

. The built-up area evolved from

along Penprysg Road above the original village nucleus beside the

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line (), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the co ...

in the late nineteenth century. Housing was accelerated in the 1970s by the Heol-y-Groes and Hendre initiatives and again after 2000 when

plots north of Wimborne Road were released. Community life centres on St David's Church (1915) on Penprysg Road, a coursed stone building with

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

and canted porch that replaced an earlier corrugated-iron mission hall and now serves the Pedair Afon ministry area. Penprysg's principal transport issue is the flat-crossing at Hendre Road, where barrier closures sever east–west traffic whenever trains pass. A 2022 WelTAG consultation by

and

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

proposed a new two-span bridge on Penprysg Road combined with closure of the level crossing and the creation of a traffic-free active-travel link beneath the railway; the scheme aims to remove congestion, improve bus reliability and future-proof rail frequency increases on the Cardiff–Swansea corridor. If approved, construction is expected to start later this decade, giving Penprysg grade-separated access to the A473 and to junction 35 of the M4.

References

{{coord, 51.530, -3.497, display=title Wards of Bridgend County Borough Pencoed