Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph ont y Brown y ont P Ewenny Priory outer wall outer Priory Ewenny including post and packing. and post including A3 maps.The guide can be obtained from Valeways for £8.49 for Valeways from obtained be can guide maps.The A3 make up the Trail and comes in a package with 16 separate 16 with package a in comes and Trail the up make etoswhich sections 16 the describes book colourful This rail. T aleways has published a guide to the Millennium Heritage Millennium the to guide a published has aleways V and mansions. and rhsoi uilcabr omgiietcsls churches castles, magnificent to chambers burial prehistoric ueicue ayfsiaighsoi etrs from features, historic fascinating many includes oute r spectacular Heritage Coast with its beautiful beaches.The beautiful its with Coast Heritage spectacular walking through fertile, lowland countryside adjoining the adjoining countryside lowland fertile, through walking Those who have never visited this part of Wales will enjoy will Wales of part this visited never have who Those The Salmon Leaps Salmon The Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph and steeped in history. in steeped and spectacular often diverse, St Bridget’s Church Bridget’s St Ewenny Priory Ewenny he surroundings are surroundings he hours.T few a within walked be can which to follow sections, each of each sections, follow to easy 16 into split is Trail The in the south it skirts a spectacular cliffed coastline. cliffed spectacular a skirts it south the in hr r aoai itso h lea ognw,while Morgannwg, Blaenau the of vistas panoramic are there its northern edge northern its At landscapes. beautiful of variety a through ends its way its ends w It history. of years 6,000 over spanning 100km, ers a distance of over of distance a ers cov Trail Heritage Millennium aleways’ V Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph Photograph © G.Woosnam © Photograph Quarry with Port Talbot steelworks in the far distance far the in steelworks Talbot Port with Quarry EAS ILNIMHRTG TRAIL HERITAGE MILLENNIUM LEWAYS’ VA L OAINI EAINTO RELATION IN LOCATION ALK W Ewenny Priory with Bridgend behind Bridgend with Priory Ewenny WALK FEATURES • St Bridgets Church Walk No. 32, Ogmore • Ewenny Priory • Pool at Corntown Castle-upon-Alun • River Alun Clapper Bridge Circular • Coed y Bwl Nature Reserve • Pitcot Pool (including Ewenny Priory spur) Valeways is a registered charity working in partnership with the Distance: 7 miles, with shorter options. community to reopen existing footpaths to create a network of enjoyable circular walks across the Vale of Glamorgan, linking towns and villages to the surrounding countryside and points of interest.We are indebted to the many volunteers who give up their time freely to provide this walk for your enjoyment. Valeways Partnership - Many thanks to the Vale of Glamorgan Council and the Countryside Council for Wales for their continued support. Pitcot Pool Photograph © Vale of Glamorgan Council Packhorse Bridge Photograph © Roger G. Lewis FOLLOW THE COUNTRYSIDE CODE • Be safe, plan ahead and follow any signs • Leave gates and property as you find them Valeways, Unit 7, Barry Community Enterprise Centre, • Protect plants and animals and take your Skomer Road, Barry CF62 9DA litter home Telephone/Fax: 01446 749000 • Keep dogs under close control E-mail: [email protected] • Consider other people Website: http//www.valeways.org.uk Registered Charity No. 1062031 Registered Company No. 3330088 Leaflet revised November 2011 Walk No. 32, Ogmore Castle-upon-Alun Circular A glance at the map below clearly shows that this walk is more than just one circular walk. There are three distinct sections to it. So, as well as providing a walk of about 7 miles, the walker can permutate the sections to provide a walk that meets his or her wishes.A range of walks of between 2 and 7 miles is possible.You must add on another mile or so if you wish to visit Ewenny Priory.Whichever walk is taken there are attractive downlands, a deep wooded valley and in spring delightful displays of flowers. Other features include a clapper bridge, a nature reserve, an elegant Priory and two public houses. Distance 7 miles but with shorter options. Map OS Explorer 151 Cardiff and Bridgend. Parking Car park at St Brides Major. Limited roadside parking at Castle upon Alun and at Corntown. Public Transport Buses Nos. 45 & 46 Bridgend - Llantwit Major, where there are railway stations. River Alun Refreshments Fox & Hounds and Farmers Arms at St Brides Major. Photograph © G.Woosnam To ilets linked with refreshment points. START This leaflet’s route guide begins at the car park opposite the Fox & Hounds, St Brides Major. SCALE (APPROX): If you started the walk at Corntown PLACES OF INTEREST 1 Kilometre you could now shorten the walk and St Bridget’s Church 1 Mile return there following the walk guidance St Brides is a shortened version of St given after the * above. Bridget, the 5th century Irish saint. St Bridget’s Church is of 12th century Follow the narrow path to reach a Norman origin and contains 16th G2 country lane. Here turn right to walk century monuments and statuary. In the to a T junction at Wallas Farm.Turn late 19th century, it was visited by left, then immediately right over a Princess Mary of Teck during her stays couple of stiles. Now follow a series with Countess Caroline of Dunraven. Later, the princess, through marriage, of stiles that gives a passage through became Queen Mary, wife of George V. the fields.When you reach a rather G3 Ewenny Priory dilapidated stone stile bear right to a This is one of the finest examples of a wooden stile that leads you onto a fortified, ecclesiastical building in Wales. path that winds down through the Its origins were early Norman. Built by woods (Coed y Wallas). En route you William de Londres between 1115 and cross an active railway line (heed the 1120 it was given in 1141 to the Abbey of Gloucester by his son, Maurice. It was warnings).The path then crosses a a Benedictine foundation with a solid small field and the river Alun via a stone screen separating the monastic stone footbridge, (a clapper bridge) portion from the parish church. Many , on to a metalled road.Turn left changes to the building took place in along this road and continue gently Tudor and Victorian times.Now the uphill. Go past the main wooden Priory is under the care of Cadw, for it is a listed building, It plays still an active gated entrance to the Glamorgan role in the life of the community Wildlife Trust of Coed y Bwl to Pool at Corntown reach soon another gate on your The pool passed at the side of the road right.You now have two choices of in Corntown was, it is thought, once a route back to St Brides. baptismal pool (Bethel Baptist), that fell into disuse for that purpose around 1900. Option 1 Cross the stone stile that It has subsequently been used for watering is adjacent to the left of the gate and cattle. It is fed by ground water. bearing a little left follow the path Clapper Bridge uphill to enter a field via a stile. The term clapper is derived from Anglo Keeping roughly to the same Saxon and means a stone slab bridge used orientation as the stile itself, with the in the past by packhorses and walkers. Sometimes the slabs, which were G4 hedge at first on your left, cross this G5 now large field (O.S map shows it as supported by vertical piers, collapsed, G1 leaving the piers as stepping-stones The two) diagonally to reach a hedge that best examples are found in the South you keep on your right to reach a west of England where the stones are stile and emerge on Blackhall Rd.. often large and made of granite.That at Turn right to continue along the road Castle upon Alun is a small example some back to the start. Distance for this 25 yards long and consists of four spans. option is just under 1 mile. Coed y Bwl Nature Reserve THE ROUTE reach the junction with what is Wick the path swings left and leads on to the Purchased by the Glamorgan trust in 1970, Rd.* (If at this point you wish to shorten Priory itself. This extension involves a Option 2 Continue up the road to a the reserve was opened in 1971. It is a Leave the car park, with the church S 1 junction and turn right. On the left predominantly ash woodland for it rests the walk and return to St Brides.Turn two- way walk of just 1 /4 mile). behind you, and cross the main road there is a waymarker post (Blackhall on carboniferous limestone, ash replacing right. Go to ** on this guide and follow Back on the main route continue (B4265). Go left to pass the Fox & Farm is to your right). From the post the former dominant elm.The wood is the route instructions from there on). along the road to reach the village Hounds.Then after some 80 yards, there is a short path through scrub that estimated to contain over 250,000 wild Here turn left, past Wallas Fach, pond on your right. Turn right on daffodils as well as wood anemones and, where the pavement ends, turn right, leads to a dilapidated stone stile giving and walk up the road for some 600 to Heol y Cawl. Walk up this lane as far on the upper slopes, bluebells.