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Village and community in Wales

Colwinston (historically sometimes Colwinstone; Tregolwyn) is both a village and a community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately 4 mile (6 km) southeast of the centre of Bridgend and 21 mile (34 km) west of the centre of Cardiff. The village is located within of the A48. The population in 2005 was approximately 400 but with recent building development, the population is now estimated at over 600 people. The novelist Agatha Christie was a frequent visitor, and her descendants still live at the former manor house of Pwllywrach.

Bronze Age axe heads discovered on land at Highfield Farm and Iron Age kilns suggest that the area was settled during prehistoric times. The impetus for the development of an agrarian village may have been the local geography: a gentle valley going east to west towards the village, providing a water supply and creating a natural bowl, with a present day exit leading down Church Lane. Steep slopes in the central part of the village make it unlike other Vale of Glamorgan villages in its topography. The watercourse is now underground but rises to the surface in prolonged wet weather. The older village houses are situated on the higher ground overlooking meadows, possibly built on the sites of older simple dwellings. It is thought the area between Garden and Penlan Cottages and Church Cottage provided protection and water for livestock. Title Deeds and old census records call this area "The Square". A village well is present near Ty Draw Farm, and it is likely that watercress was harvested from the open water course there. (There was another excavation in 1971.) Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, the area was ruled by the medieval "princes" of Morgannwg; their kingdom included the area later known as Glamorgan. During this period the settlement came to be called "Colwinstūn", possibly from an old English name "Colwine" linked with "tūn", meaning farm or settlement.

Caradog ap Gruffudd and Iestyn ap Gwrgant from the north and west usurped the princes in about 1070, and Robert Fitzhamon led the Norman invasion of the area from Bristol, probably by sea. Local folklore says that the nickname of "Golden Mile" (the area shown on old maps as being between Twmpath Farm and the main village, or the northern edge of the village's original common) arises either from Fitzhamon's forces lining up to receive their payment along a section of the A48 adjacent to Colwinston, or from Civil War troops gathering in the same location for payment; another theory is that the name originated because of yellow gorse plants growing along the old road at this point. William de Londres was granted the lordship of Ogmore (which included Colwinston) by Fitzhamon, and also established Ewenny Priory in 1141 under the Benedictine Abbey in Gloucester. He gave 'the Church of St Michael of Ewenny, the Church of St Bridget with the Chapel of Ugemore de Lanfey, the Church of St. Michael of Colvestone with the lands, meadows and all other things belonging unto them’ to the Abbey. The grant of a 66 acre farm (possibly Ty Maen Farm) was later added to this. There is evidence that St Michael and All Angels Church, Colwinston, was founded in 1111, predating the Priory by 30 years.

By 1340, Sir Roger de Bavant had become the owner of the remainder of the Manor. In 1344 (for reasons unknown) he gave his property to the then King of England, Edward III, who (again for reasons unknown) endowed the property upon the Dominican Nuns at Dartford Priory in Kent. Tithes and rents were paid to the two Priories, with the right to appoint the Vicar being with Ewenny Priory. Henry VIII famously seized all monastery lands in 1536, Sir Edward Carne, a commissioner during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was able to lease Ewenny Priory from the king, eventually purchasing it in 1545 for £727 6s 4d. He also purchased the Dartford priory land at Colwinston creating a single 'Manor of Colwinston'. By 1539 English law had been extended to cover Wales and the County of Glamorgan was formally established as an administrative unit. Colwinston remained a pocket of recusancy, with priests continuing to administer the sacrament according to the Roman rite. Even into the 17th century, John Lloyd, a local priest under the protection of the Turbevilles at Penlline, was arrested and hanged, drawn and quartered on the Heath at Cardiff in 1679 at the height of the hysteria caused by the 'Popish Plot'.

The population of the village began to grow away from its agricultural origins, with some emigration to the South Wales coalfields by those seeking industrial employment, whilst the need for intensive labour on farms was reduced by machinery and the village population declined. Some of the original houses fell into disrepair as these population movements took place. Colonel Hubert Cecil Prichard came to live at Pwllywrach after the First World War. His son Hubert de Burgh Prichard famously married Rosalind Hicks, the only daughter of Agatha Christie, their son Mathew Prichard being given the proceeds from the royalties of The Mousetrap. He subsequently used the substantial sums from the play to establish the Colwinston Charitable Trust in 1995. Gradually ‘modern’ features eventually found their way to the village, including mains water in 1935, and electricity and telephone (in the form of a public kiosk) from 1946 onwards. A new water main was laid from the A48 in 1972 and a new sewage scheme laid in 1973. Beech Park was built in the 1960s with other small developments following. The smaller, mostly tenanted, farms became unviable in the latter part of the 20th century. The remaining farm buildings between Church Farm and Colwinston House (built originally as a Dower House for Pwllywrach) were gradually sold as residential houses, with the barns and brickyards between the farmhouses also being sold off for development. The Pwllyrwrach estate created a single large farm based at Pwllyrwrach Farm, concentrating on sheep and beef cattle farming (rather than the dairy farming which had previously been predominant.)

The agricultural land in and around the village is now variously owned by the Pwllywrach Estate, a number of independent landowners (especially to the north and west of the village) as well as a small number of independent farmers who have bought and/or inherited land over the centuries. Other properties are owned by the Vale of Glamorgan Council for the school, the Village Hall and the remaining social housing. Finally, most private housing is now owned by individual house owners, either as new build properties or older houses mostly purchased from the Pwllywrach estate, the local authority, the chapel organisations and the Church in Wales or local farmers. The main fabric of the village was thus set until 2016 when the developer Redrow plc built 64 new homes on land now known as Heol Cae Pwll (completed in 2018), increasing the population to over 600. Protests against the extent of the development by local residents were overruled by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Community representatives pointed to regular flooding and said that "adding 64 homes to a village with 130 at the moment can only increase that risk". Along with this came "fibre" broadband. The village has gained a local and national reputation in recent years for its community spirit and activities.

A 16th century map (probably of lands inherited by the Duchy of Lancaster) shows the village as Colwyns' Tone. The name was sometimes shortened to Coulston (e. g. Christopher Saxton's map of 1578). The village name was later usually spelled as one word, most commonly as Colwinstone or Colwinston. The Ordnance Survey has used ‘Colwinston’ since 1833 (reflecting the usual pronunciation) but some official sources (e. g. census records, official postal addresses) included an e until the latter part of the 20th century. The Welsh name of the village, Tregolwyn, first appears in writing c. 1566 as "tref golwyn"; it was not often recorded in official documents because of restrictions on the use of Welsh, but appears to be derived from tun as tref ("town"), and the Welsh name Colwyn or Collwyn, which also has a literal meaning of "cub, whelp, puppy".

Colwinston's population was 447, according to the 2011 census; This has recently been increased through the addition of 64 family homes. The 2011 census showed 13.1% of the population could speak Welsh, a rise from 7.8% in 2001.

The original Norman St Michael's Church in Colwinston is reputed to have been built in 1111. The church was restored in 1879 and again in the 1970s and 2000s. The medieval parish church is a Grade 1 listed building. The church underwent a substantial restoration in 1879, and again in 1971 following a fire which badly damaged the chancel, destroying the brass tablets either side of the altar displaying the Ten Commandments. It was at this time that the words “Holy, Holy, Holy” painted in scroll work above the chancel arch were painted over. Further restoration work at the church was carried out at the millennium with the benefit of a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund together with grants from other bodies and funds raised by the villagers. A vestry, kitchen and toilet were built on the north side of the church, the interior and exterior walls were lime washed and the roof repaired at a cost of £350,000.

Of the ten Grade II listed buildings in the village, all date from the medieval or immediate post medieval period. These include a thatched house, "The Old Parsonage", the former manor house of Pwllywrach, and several former farmhouses. The Old Parsonage, a thatched house dating to the 16th century at the crossroads and opposite the southeast corner of churchyard, has a Gothic or Tudor arch and the building is "one of only two in Glamorgan with a latrine in the form of a small closet at the side of the fireplace." In 1835, the Seion Presbyterian Chapel was built but it closed in 1996; it later became a residential building. It is one of only 53 Thankful Villages in the UK. However, the village lost four men in World War II, one of whom was Agatha Christie's son in law, Colonel Hubert Prichard. Welcome signs at the entrance to the village reflected its status as a thankful village from but the village had no war memorial until 2014, when one was erected on the village green.

Colwinston has its own community council with seven elected or co opted members. For elections to the Vale of Glamorgan Council, Colwinston is part of the Llandow/Ewenny county electoral ward.

The major social event of the year is the annual village fete, usually held during the first or second week in July. Other annual events include a pantomime and the New Year's Day sport of "collyball". A multi use games area (MUGA) was constructed close to the village hall in 2013. The village published its own local source book, Colwinston A Changing Village, simultaneously with the publication of a fully researched history of the village, Colwinston: A Historical Journey, by Cowbridge History Society.