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GLAMORGANSHIRE (Welsh Morganwg)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 76 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GLAMORGANSHIRE (Welsh Morganwg) , a maritime See also:county occupying the See also:south-See also:east corner of See also:Wales, and bounded N.W. by See also:Carmarthenshire, N. by Carmarthenshire and See also:Breconshire, E. by See also:Monmouthshire and S. and S.W. by the See also:Bristol Channel and See also:Carmarthen See also:Bay. The See also:contour of the county is largely determined by the fact that it lies between the mountains of Breconshire and the Bristol Channel. Its extreme breadth from the See also:sea inland is 29 m., while its greatest length from east to See also:west is 53 M. Its See also:chief See also:rivers, the See also:Rhymney, Taff, See also:Neath (or Nedd) and Tawe or Tawy, have their See also:sources in the Breconshire mountains, the two first trending towards the south-east, while the two last trend to the south-west, so that the See also:main See also:body of the county forms a sort of See also:quarter-circle between the Taff and the Neath. Near the See also:apex of the See also:angle formed by these two rivers is the loftiest See also:peak in the county, the See also:great See also:Pennant scarp of See also:Craig y Llyn or Carn Moesyn, 1970 ft. high, which in the Glacial See also:period diverted the See also:ice-flow from the Beacons into the valley on either See also:side of it. To the south and south-east of this peak extend the great See also:coal-See also:fields of See also:mid-Glamorgan, their See also:surface forming an irregular See also:plateau with an See also:average See also:elevation of 600 to 1200 ft. above sea-level, but with numerous peaks about 15oo ft. high, or more; Mynydd y Caerau, the second highest being 1823 ft. Out of this plateau have been carved, to the See also:depth of 500 to 800 ft. below its See also:general level, three distinct See also:series of narrow valleys, those in each series being more or less parallel. The rivers which give their names to these valleys include the Cynon, the Great and Lesser See also:Rhondda (tributaries of the Taff) and the See also:Ely flowing to the S.E., the Ogwr or Ogmore (with its tributaries the Garw and Llynfi) flowing south through See also:Bridgend, and the Avan bringing the See also:waters of the Corwg and Gwynfi to the south-west into See also:Swansea Bay at See also:Aberavon. To the south of this central See also:hill See also:country, which is wet, See also:cold and sterile, and whose steep slopes See also:form the See also:southern edge of the coal-See also:field, there stretches out to the sea a gently undulating See also:plain, compendiously known as the " Vale of Glamorgan," but in fact consisting of a See also:succession of small vales of such fertile See also:land and with such a mild See also:climate that it has been styled, not inaptly, the " See also:Garden of Wales." To the east of the central See also:area referred to and divided from it by a See also:spur of the Brecknock mountains culminating in Carn Bugail, 1570 ft. high, is the Rhymney, which forms the county's eastern boundary. On the west other spurs of the Beacons See also:divide the Neath from the Tawe (which enters the sea at Swansea), and the Tawe from the Loughor, which, with its tributary the See also:Amman, separates the county on the N.W. from Carmarthenshire, in which it rises, and falling into Carmarthen Bay forms what is known as the Burry See also:estuary, so called from a small stream of that name in the See also:Gower See also:peninsula. The rivers are all comparatively See also:short, the Taff, in every respect the chief See also:river, being only 33 M. See also:long. Down to the See also:middle of the 19th See also:century most of the Glamorgan valleys were famous for their beautiful scenery, but See also:industrial operations have since destroyed most of this beauty, except in the so-called " Vale of Glamorgan," the Vale of Neath, the " See also:combes " and See also:limestone See also:gorges of Gower and the upper reaches of the Taff and the Tawe.

The Vale of Neath is See also:

par excellence the See also:waterfall See also:district of South Wales, the finest falls being the Cilhepste fall,, the Sychnant and the three Clungwyns on the Mellte and its tributaries near the Vale of Neath railway from Neath to Hirwaun, Scwd Einon Gam and Scwd Gladys on the Pyrddin on the west side of the valley See also:close by, with Melin See also:Court and Abergarwed still nearer Neath. There are also several cascades on the Dulais, and in the same district, though in Breconshire, is Scwd Henrhyd on the Llech near Colbren Junction. Almost the only See also:part of the county which is now well timbered is the Vale of Neath. There are three small lakes, Llyn Fawr and Llyn Fach near Craig y Llyn and Kenfig See also:Pool amid the See also:sand-See also:dunes of Margam. The rainfall of the county varies from an average of about 25 in. at See also:Porthcawl and other parts of the Vale of Glamorgan to about 37 in. at See also:Cardiff, 40 in. at Swansea and to upwards of 70 in. in the See also:northern part of the county, the fall being still higher in the adjoining parts of Breconshire whence Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr and a large area near Neath draw their main supplies of See also:water. The county has a See also:coast-See also:line of about 83 m. Its two chief bays are the Burry estuary and Swansea, one on either side of the Gower Peninsula, which has also a number of smaller inlets with magnificent cliff scenery. The See also:rest of the coast is fairly See also:regular, the chief openings being at the mouths of the Ogmore and the Taff respectively. The most conspicuous headlands are Whiteford Point, See also:Worms See also:Head and Mumbles Head in Gower, See also:Nash Point and Lavernock Point on the eastern See also:half of the coast. See also:Geology.—The See also:Silurian rocks, the See also:oldest in the county, form a small inlier about 2 sq. m. in area at Rumney and See also:Pen-y-lan, See also:north of Cardiff, and consist of mudstones and sandstones of See also:Wenlock and See also:Ludlow See also:age; a feeble representative of the Wenlock Limestone also is See also:present. They are conformably succeeded by the Old Red Sand-See also:stone which extends westwards as far as See also:Cowbridge as a deeply-eroded anticline largely concealed by Trias and See also:Lias. The Old Red See also:Sandstone consists in the See also:lower parts of red marls and sand-stones, while the upper beds are quartzitic and pebbly, and form bold scarps which dominate the See also:low ground formed by the softer beds below.

Cefn-y-bryn, another anticline of Old Red Sandstone (including small exposures of Silurian rocks), forms the prominent backbone of the Gower peninsula. The next formation is the Carboniferous Limestone which encircles and underlies the great South Wales coal-field, on the south of which, west of Cardiff, it forms a bold escarpment of steeply-dipping beds surrounding the Old Red Sandstone anticline. It shows up through the Trias and Lias in extensive inliers near Bridgend, while in Gower it dips away from the Old Red Sandstone of Cefn-y-bryn. On the north of the coal-field it is just reached near Merthyr Tydfil. The Millstone Grit, which consists of grits, sandstones and shales, crops out above the limestone and serves to introduce the Coal See also:

Measures, which See also:lie in the form of a great trough extending east and west across the county and occupying most of its surface. The coal seams are most numerous in the lower part of the series; the Pennant Sandstone succeeds and occupies the inner parts of the See also:basin, forming an elevated moorland region deeply trenched by the teeming valleys (e.g. the Rhondda) which See also:cross the coal-field from north to south. Above the Pennant Sandstone still higher coals come in. Taken generally, the coals are bituminous in the south-east and anthracitic in the north-west. After the Coal Measures had been deposited, the southern part of the region was subjected to powerful folding; the resulting anticlines were worn down during a long period of detrition, and then sub-merged slowly beneath a Triassic See also:lake in which accumulated the See also:Keuper conglomerates and marls which spread over the district west of Cardiff and are traceable on the coast of Gower. The succeeding See also:Rhaetic and Lias which form most of the coastal plain (the fertile Vale of Glamorgan) from See also:Penarth to near Bridgend were laid down by the See also:Jurassic sea. A well-marked raised See also:beach is traceable in Gower. Sand-dunes are present locally around Swansea Bay.

Moraines, chiefly formed of See also:

gravel and See also:clay, occupy many of the Glamorgan valleys; and these, together with the striated surfaces which may be observed at higher levels, are clearly glacial in origin. In the Coal Measures and the newer Limestones and Triassic, Rhaetic and Liassic conglomerates, marls and shales, many interesting fossils have been disinterred: these include the remains of an See also:air-breathing reptile (Anlhracespeton). Bones of the See also:cave-See also:bear, See also:lion, See also:mammoth, See also:reindeer, See also:rhinoceros, along with See also:flint weapons and tools, have been discovered in some caves of the Gower peninsula. See also:Agriculture.—The low-lying land on the south from See also:Caerphilly to Margam is very fertile, the See also:soil being a deep See also:rich See also:loam; and here the See also:standard of agriculture is fairly high, and there prevails a well-defined See also:tenant-right See also:custom, supposed to be of See also:ancient origin but probably dating only from the beginning of the 19th century. Everywhere on the Coal Measures the soil is poor, while vegetation is also injured by the See also:smoke from the See also:works, especially See also:copper smoke. See also:Leland (c. 1535) describes the lowlands as growing See also:good See also:corn and grass but little See also:wood, while the mountains had " redde dere, kiddes plenty, oxen and See also:sheep." The land even in the " Vale " seems to have been open and unenclosed till the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century, while enclosure spread to the uplands still later. About one-fifth of the See also:total area is still See also:common land, more than half of which is unsuitable for cultivation. The total area under cultivation in 1905 was 269,271 acres or about one-half of the total are a of the county. The chief crops raised (giving them in the See also:order of their respective acreages) are oats, See also:barley, turnips and swedes,' See also:wheat, potatoes and mangolds. A steady decrease of the acreage under See also:grain-crops, See also:green-crops and See also:clover has been accompanied by an increase in the area of pasture. Dairying has been largely abandoned for stock-raising, and very little " Caerphilly See also:cheese " is now made in that district.

In 1905 Glamorgan had the largest number of horses in agriculture of any Welsh county except those of Carmarthen, and See also:

Cardigan. Good sheep and ponies are reared in the hill-country. See also:Pig-keeping is much neglected, and despite the mild climate very little See also:fruit is grown. The average See also:size of holdings in1905 was 47.3 acres, there being only 46 holdings above 300 acres, and 1719 between 50 and 500 acres. See also:Mining and Manufactures.—Down to the middle of the 18th century . the county had no See also:industry of any importance except agriculture. The coal which underlies practically the whole surface of the county except the Vale of Glamorgan and West Gower was little worked till about 1755, when it began to be used instead of See also:charcoal for the smelting- of See also:iron. By 1811, when there were 25 blast furnaces in the county, the demand for coal for this purpose had much increased, but it was in the most active period of railway construction that it reached its maximum. Down to about 185o, if not later, the chief collieries were owned by the ironmasters and were worked for their own requirements, but when the suitability of the lower seams in the district north of Cardiff for See also:steam purposes was realized, an export See also:trade sprang up and soon assumed enormous proportions, so that " the See also:port of Cardiff " (including See also:Barry and Penarth), from which the bulk of the steam coal was shipped, became the first port in theworld for the shipment of coal. The development of the See also:anthracite coal-field lying to the north and west of Swansea (from which port it is mostly shipped) See also:dates mainly from the closing years of the 19th century, when the demand for this coal See also:grew rapidly. There are still large areas in the Rhymney Valley on the east, and in the districts of Neath and Swansea on the west, whose development has only recently been undertaken. In connexion with the coal industry, patent See also:fuel (made from small coal and See also:tar) is largely manufactured at Cardiff, Port See also:Talbot and Swansea, the shipments from Swansea being the largest in the See also:kingdom. Next in importance to coal are the iron, See also:steel and See also:tin-See also:plate See also:industries, and in the Swansea district the smelting of copper and a variety of other ores.

The manufacture of iron and steel is carried on at Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, Port Talbot, Briton See also:

Ferry, Pontardawe, Swansea, Gorseinon and Gowerton. During the last quarter of the 19th century the use of the native ironstone was almost wholly given up, and the necessary ore is now imported, mainly from See also:Spain. As a result several of the older inland works, such as those of See also:Aberdare, Ystalyfera and Brynaman have been abandoned, and new works have been established on or near the sea-See also:board; e.g. the Dowlais See also:company in 1891 opened large works at Cardiff. The tin-plate industry is mainly confined to the west of the county, Swansea being the chief port for the shi.oment of tin-plates, though there are works near See also:Llantrisant and at Melin See also:Griffith near Cardiff, the latter being the oldest in the county. Copper-smelting is carried on on a large See also:scale in the west of the county, at Port Talbot, Cwmavon, Neath and Swansea, and on a small scale at Cardiff, the earliest works having been established at Neath in 1584 and at Swansea in 1717. There are See also:nickel works at Clydach near Swansea, the nickel being imported in the form of " matte " from See also:Canada. Swansea has almost a See also:monopoly of the manufacture of spelter or See also:zinc. See also:Lead, See also:silver and a number of other metals or their by-products are treated in or near Swansea, which is often styled the " metallurgical See also:capital of Wales." Limestone and See also:silica quarries are worked, while sandstone and clay are also raised. Swansea and Nantgarw were formerly famous for their See also:china, coarse See also:ware is still made chiefly at Ewenny and terra-See also:cotta at Pencoed. Large See also:numbers of See also:people are employed in See also:engineering works and in the manufacture of See also:machines, chains, conveyances, tools, See also:paper and_chemicals. The textile factories are few and unimportant. See also:Fisheries.—Fisheries exist all along the coast; by lines, See also:draught-nets, dredging, See also:trawling, fixed nets and by See also:hand.

There is a See also:

fleet of trawlers at Swansea. The See also:principal See also:fish caught are See also:cod, See also:herring, See also:pollock, See also:whiting, flukes, See also:brill, See also:plaice, soles, turbot, oysters, mussels, limpets, cockles, shrimps, crabs and lobsters. There are good fish-markets at Swansea and Cardiff. Communications.—The county has ample See also:dock See also:accommodation. The various docks of Cardiff amount to 210 acres, including See also:timber ponds; Penarth has a dock and basin of 26 acres and a tidal See also:harbour of 55 acres. Barry docks See also:cover 114 acres; Swansea has 147 acres, including its new See also:King's Dock; and Port Talbot 90 acres. There are also docks at Briton Ferry and Porthcawl, but they are not capable of admitting deep-draft vessels. Besides its ports, Glamorgan has abundant means of transit in many See also:railways, of which the Great Western is the chief. Its See also:trunk line traversing the country between the mountains and the sea passes through Cardiff, Bridgend and Landore (on the outskirts of Swansea), and throws off numerous branches to the north. The Taff Vale railway serves all the valley of the Taff and its tributaries, and has also extensions to Barry and (through Llantrisant and Cowbridge) to Aberthaw. The Rhymney railway likewise serves the Rhymney Valley, and has a See also:joint service with the Great Western between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil—the latter See also:town being also the See also:terminus of the See also:Brecon and Merthyr and a See also:branch of the North-Western from See also:Abergavenny. The Barry railway visits Cardiff and then travels in a north-See also:westerly direction to See also:Pontypridd and Porth, while it sends another branch along the coast through Llantwit See also:Major to Bridgend.

Swansea is connected with Merthyr by the Great Western, with Brecon by the Midland, with See also:

Craven Arms and Mid-Wales generally by the See also:London & North-Western, with the Rhondda Valley by the Rhondda and Swansea Bay (now worked by the Great Western) and with Mumbles by the Mumbles railway. The Port Talbot railway runs to Blaengarw, and the Neath and Brecon railway (starting from Neath) joins the Midland at Colbren Junction. The canals of the county are the Glamorgan See also:canal from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil (251 m.), with a branch (7 m.) to Aberdare, the Neath canal (13 m.) from Briton Ferry to Abernant, Glyn Neath (whence a See also:tramway formerly connected it with Aberdare), the See also:Tennant canal connecting the rivers Neath and Tawe, and the See also:Swan-sea canal (161 m.), See also:running up the Swansea Valley from Swansea to Abercrave in Breconshire. Comparatively little use is now made of these canals, excepting the lower portions of the Glamorgan canal. See also:Population and See also:Administration.—The area of the ancient county with which the administrative county is conterminous is 518,863 acres, with a population in 1901 of 859,931 persons. In the three decades between 1831 and 186r it increased 35'2, 35'4 and 37.1 % respectively, and in 1881-1891, 34'4, its average increase in the other decennial periods subsequent to 1861 being about 25%. The county is divided into five See also:parliamentary divisions (viz. Glamorgan-See also:shire East, South and Middle, Gower and Rhondda) ; it also includes the Cardiff district of boroughs (consisting of Cardiff, Cowbridge and Llantrisant), which has one member; the greater part of the parliamentary See also:borough of Merthyr Tydfil (which mainly consists of the county borough of Merthyr, the See also:urban district of Aberdare and part of See also:Mountain Ash), and returns two members; and the two divisions of Swansea District returning one member each, one See also:division consisting of the major part of Swansea town, the other comprising the See also:remainder of Swansea and the boroughs of Aberavon, Kenfig, Llwchwr and Neath. There are six municipal boroughs: Aberavon (pop. in 1901, 7553), Cardiff (164,333), Cowbridge (1202), Merthyr Tydfil (69,228), Neath (13,720) and Swansea (94,537). Cardiff (which in 1905 was created a See also:city), Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea are county boroughs. The following are urban districts: Aberdare (43,365), Barry (27,030), Bridgend (6062), Briton Ferry (6973), Caerphilly (15,835), Glyncorrwg (6452), Maesteg (15,012), Margam (9o14), Mountain Ash (31,093), Ogmore and Garw (19,907), See also:Oyster-mouth (4461), Penarth (14,228), Pontypridd (32,316), Porthcawl (1872) and Rhondda, previously known as Ystradyfodwg (113,735). Glamorgan is in the S.

Wales See also:

circuit, and both assizes and quarter-sessions are held at Cardiff and Swansea alternately. All the municipal boroughs have See also:separate commissions of the See also:peace, and Cardiff and Swansea have also separate courts of quarter-sessions. The county has thirteen other See also:petty sessional divisions, Cardiff, the Rhondda (with Pontypridd) and the Merthyr and Aberdare district have stipendiary magistrates. There are 165 See also:civil parishes. Excepting the districts of Gower and Kilvey, which are in the See also:diocese of St See also:David's, the whole county is in the diocese of See also:Llandaff. There are 159 ecclesiastical parishes or districts situated wholly or partly within the county. See also:History.—The earliest known traces of See also:man within the area of the present county are the human remains found in the famous See also:bone-caves of Gower, though they are scanty as compared with the huge deposits of still earlier See also:animal remains. To a later See also:stage, perhaps in the See also:Neolithic period, belongs a number of See also:complete skeletons discovered in 1903 in sand-blown tumuli at the mouth of the Ogmore, where many flint implements were also found. Considerably later, and probably belonging to the See also:Bronze Age (though finds of bronze implements have been scanty), are the many See also:cairns and tumuli, mainly on the hills, such as on See also:Garth Mountain near Cardiff, Crug-yr-avan and a number east of the Tawe; the stone circles often found in association with the tumuli, that of Carn Llecharth near Pontardawe being one of the most complete in Wales; and the See also:fine cromlechs of Cefn Bryn in Gower (known as See also:Arthur's Stone), of St See also:Nicholas and of St Lythan's near Cardiff. In See also:Roman times the country from the Neath to the Wye was occupied by the See also:Silures, a pre-See also:Celtic See also:race, probably governed at that See also:time by Brythonic Celts. West of the Neath and along the fringe of the Brecknock Mountains were probably remnants of the earlier Goidelic Celts, who have See also:left traces in the See also:place-names of the Swansea valley (e.g. llwch, " a lake ") and in the illegible Ogham inscription at Loughor, the only other Ogham stone in the county being at Kenfig, a few See also:miles to the east of the Neath estuary. The See also:conquest of the Silures by the See also:Romans was begun about A.D.

50 by Ostorius Scapula and completed some 25 years later by See also:

Julius See also:Frontinus, who probably constructed the great military road, called Via Julia Maritima, from See also:Gloucester to St David's, with stations at Cardiff, Bbvium (variously identified with Boverton, Cowbridge and Ewenny), Nidum (identified with Neath) and Leucarum or Loughor. The important station of Gaer on the See also:Usk near Brecon was connected by two branch roads, one running from Cardiff through Gelligaer (where there was a strong hill fort) and Merthyr Tydfil, and another from Neaththrough See also:Capel Colbren. Welsh tradition credits Glamorgan with being the first See also:home of See also:Christianity, and Llandaff the earliest bishopric in See also:Britain, the name of three reputed missionaries of the 2nd century being preserved in the names of parishes in south Glamorgan. What is certain, however, is that the first two bishops of Llandaff, St Dubricius and St Teilo, lived during the first half of the 6th century, to which period also belongs the See also:establishment of the great monastic settlements of Llancarvan by Cadoc, of Llandough by Oudoceus and of Llantwit Major by Illtutus, the last of which flourished as a seat of learning down to the 12th century. A few moated mounds such as at Cardiff indicate that, after the withdrawal of the Romans, the coasts were visited by sporadic bands of See also:Saxons, but the Scandinavians who came in the 9th and succeeding centuries left more abundant traces both in the place-names of the coast and in such camps as that on See also:Sully See also:Island, the Bulwarks at Porthkerry and Hardings Down in Gower. Meanwhile the native tribes of the district had regained their See also:independence under a line of Welsh chieftains, whose domain was consolidated into a principality known as Glywyssing, till about the end of the loth century when it acquired the name of Morganwg, that is the territory of See also:Morgan, a See also:prince who died in A.D. 980; it then comprised the whole country from the Neath to the Wye, practically corresponding to the present diocese of Llandaff. Gwlad Morgan, later softened into Glamorgan, never had much See also:vogue and meant precisely the same as Morganwg, though the two terms became differentiated a few centuries later. The See also:Norman conquest of Morganwg was effected in the closing years of the 11th century by See also:Robert Fitzhamon, See also:lord of Gloucester. His followers settled in the low-lying lands of the " Vale," which became known as the " body " of the shire, while in the hill country, which consisted of ten " members," corresponding to its ancient territorial divisions, the Welsh retained their customary See also:laws and much of their independence. Glamorgan, whose See also:bounds were now contracted between the Neath and the Rhymney, then became a lordship marcher, its status and organization being that of a county See also:palatine; its lord possessed See also:jura See also:regalia, and his chief See also:official was from the first a See also:vice-comes, or See also:sheriff, who presided over a county court composed of his lord's principal tenants. The inhabitants of Cardiff in which, as the caput baroniae, this court was held (though sometimes See also:ambulatory), were soon granted municipal privileges, and in time Cowbridge, Kenfig, Llantrisant, Aberavon and Neath also became chartered See also:market-towns.

The manorial See also:

system was introduced throughout the " Vale," the See also:manor in many cases becoming the See also:parish, and the owner See also:building for its See also:protection first a See also:castle and then a See also:church. The church itself became Normanized, and monasteries were established—the Cistercian See also:abbey of Neath and Margam in 1129 and 1147 respectively, the See also:Benedictine priory of Ewenny in 1141 and that of Cardiff in 1147. Dominican and Franciscan houses were also founded at Cardiff in the following century. Gower (with Kilvey) or the country west of the morassbetween Neath and Swansea had a separate history. It was conquered about rloo by See also:Henry de See also:Newburgh, 1st See also:earl of See also:Warwick, by whose descendants and the powerful See also:family of De Breos it was successively held as a marcher lordship, organized to some extent on county lines, till 1469. Swansea (which was the caput baroniae of Gower) and Loughor received their earlier charters from the lords of Gower (see GowEa). For the first two centuries after Fitzhamon's time the lordship of Glamorgan was held by the earls of Gloucester, a See also:title conferred by Henry I. on his natural son Robert, who acquired Glamorgan by marrying Fitzhamon's daughter. To the 1st earl's patronage of See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth and other men of letters, at Cardiff Castle of which he was the builder, is probably due the large place which Celtic See also:romance, especially theArthurian See also:cycle, won for itself in See also:medieval literature. The lordship passed by descent through the families of See also:Clare (who held it from 1217 to 1317), See also:Despenser, See also:Beauchamp and See also:Neville to See also:Richard III., on whose fall it escheated to the See also:crown. From time to time, the Welsh of the hills, often joined by their countrymen from other parts, raided the Vale, and even Cardiff Castle was seized about 1153 by Ivor See also:Bach, lord of Senghenydd, who for a time held its lord a prisoner. At last Caerphilly Castle was built to keep them in check, but this provoked an invasion in 1270 by Prince See also:Llewelyn ap Griffith, who besieged the castle and refused to retire except on conditions. In 1316 Llewelyn Bren headed a revolt in the same district, but being defeated was put to See also:death by Despenser, whose great unpopularity with the Welsh made Glamorgan less safe as a See also:retreat for See also:Edward II. a few years later.

In 1404 See also:

Glendower swept through the county, burning castles and laying See also:waste the possessions of the king's supporters. By the See also:Act of See also:Union of 1535 the county of Glamorgan was incorporated as it now exists, by the addition to the old county of the lordship of Gower and Kilvey, west of. the Neath. By another act of 1J42 the court of great sessions was established, and Glamorgan, with the counties of Brecon and See also:Radnor, formed one of its four Welsh circuits from thence till 1830, when the See also:English See also:assize system was introduced into Wales. In the same See also:year the county was given one parliamentary representative, increased to two in 1832 and to five in 1885. The boroughs were also given a member. In 1832 Cardiff (with Llantrisant and Cowbridge), the Swansea See also:group of boroughs and the parliamentary borough of Merthyr Tydfil were given one member each, increased to two, in the See also:case of Merthyr Tydfil in 1867. In 1885 the Swansea group was divided into two constituencies with a member each. The lordship of Glamorgan, shorn of its quasi-See also:regal status, was granted by Edward VI. to See also:William See also:Herbert, afterwards 1st earl of See also:Pembroke, from whom it has descended to the present See also:marquess of See also:Bute. The See also:rule of the Tudors promoted the rapid assimilation of the inhabitants of the county, and by the reign of See also:Elizabeth even the descendants of the Norman knights had largely become Welsh both in speech and sentiment. Welsh continued to be the prevalent speech almost throughout the county, except in the See also:peninsular part of Gower and perhaps Cardiff, till the last quarter of the 19th century. Since then it has lost ground in the maritime towns and the south-east corner of the county generally, while fairly holding its own, despite much English See also:migration, in the industrial districts to the north. In 1901 about 56% of the total population above three years of age was returned as speaking English only, 37% as speaking both English and Welsh, and about 61% as speaking Welsh only.

In common with the rest of Wales the county was mainly Royalist in the Civil See also:

War, and indeed stood foremost in its readiness to pay See also:ship-See also:money, but when See also:Charles I. visited Cardiff in See also:July 1645 he failed to recruit his See also:army there, owing to the dissatisfaction of the county, which a few months later declared for the See also:parliament. There was, however, a subsequent Royalist revolt in Glamorgan in 1648, but it was signally crushed by See also:Colonel See also:Horton at the See also:battle of St Fagan's (8th of May). The educational See also:gap caused by final disappearance of the great university of Llantwit Major, founded in the 6th century, and by the See also:dissolution of the monasteries was to some extent filled by the See also:foundation, by the Stradling family, of a See also:grammar school at Cowbridge which, refounded in 1685 by See also:Sir Leoline See also:Jenkins, is still carried on as an endowed school. The only other ancient grammar school is that of Swansea, founded by See also:Bishop See also:Gore in 1682, and now under the See also:control of the borough See also:council. Besides the University See also:College of South Wales and Monmouth-shire established at Cardiff in 1883, and a technical college at Swansea, there is a Church of See also:England theological college (St See also:Michael's) at Llandaff (previously at Aberdare), a training college for school-mistresses at Swansea, See also:schools for the See also:blind at Cardiff and Swansea and for the See also:deaf at Cardiff, Swansea and Pontypridd. Antiquities.—The antiquities of the county not already, mentioned include an unusually large number of castles, all of which, except the castles of Morlais (near Merthyr Tydfil), See also:Castell Coch and Llantrisant, are between the hill country and the sea. The finest specimen is that of Caerphilly, but there are also more or less imposing ruins at See also:Oystermouth, Coity, See also:Newcastle (at Bridgend), Llanblethian, Pennard and Swansea. Among the restored castles, resided in by their present owners, are St Donat's, " the latest and most complete of the structures built for See also:defence," Cardiff, the See also:residence of the marquess of Bute, St Fagan's, Dunraven, Fonmon and Penrice. Of the monastic buildings, that of Ewenny is best preserved, Neath and Margam are See also:mere ruins, while all the others have disappeared. Almost all the older churches possess towers of a somewhat military See also:character, and most of them, except in Gower, retain some Norman See also:masonry. Coity, Coychurch and Ewenny (all near Bridgend) are fine examples of cross churches with embattled towers characteristic of the county. There are interesting monumental See also:effigies at St See also:Mary's, Swansea, Oxwich, Ewenny, Llantwit Major, Llantrisant, Coity and other churches in the Vale.

There are from twenty-five to See also:

thirty sculptured stones, of which some sixteen are both ornamented and inscribed, five of the latter being at Margam and three at Llantwit Major, and dating from the 9th century if not earlier.

End of Article: GLAMORGANSHIRE (Welsh Morganwg)

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