Bridgend
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Bridgend (Welsh: Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a town in the traditional county of Glamorgan and the main town in the county borough of Bridgend. The county borough has a population of around 135,000.
Bridgend is in South Wales, roughly midway between the principle cities Cardiff and Swansea. The river crossed by the original bridge which gave the town its name is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes through the south of the town. Bridgend has greatly expanded in size since the early 1980s and now has a population of around 40,000.
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Castles and foundation
The town has three castles nearby: Coity Castle, in the village of Coity approximately two miles from the centre; Ogmore Castle on the outskirts of the village of Ogmore approximately seven miles from Bridgend; and Newcastle which is at the top of Newcastle Hill overlooking Bridgend. Together these three castles formed a defensive triangle from the coast to Coity.
Bridgend itself developed at a ford on the River Ogmore, which was on the main route between East and West Wales. Just north of the town, there is the confluence of three rivers, the Ogmore River, the Llynfi River and the Garw River. South of Bridgend the River Ewenny merges with the Ogmore and flows into the Bristol Channel. In the fifteenth century, a stone bridge was built to permanently connect each side of the River Ogmore (later rebuilt). Originally this bridge had four arches but in the eighteenth century a massive flood washed two of them away. The rest of the bridge still stands and remains a focal point of the town.
Bridgend grew rapidly into an agricultural town important to many of the local farmers. Although still small by today's standards it became an important market town, a tag that remained with it until well into the twentieth century.
Coal and industry
The first coal mines opened in the valleys north of Bridgend in the seventeenth century, with the Llynfi valley being the first to be industrialised. Bridgend itself never had coal and remained a market town for some time, but the valleys of the three rivers grew into an important part of the south Wales coalfields.
The Great Western Railway arrived and Bridgend was at the junction between the main London to Fishguard line and the branch to the three valleys. Coal trains regularly sent coal down the valleys and with the opening of the Vale of Glamorgan railway, coal could be sent directly to port at Barry or through other branch lines to Porthcawl.
Bridgend itself saw several quarries open in and around the town centre, one of which can still be seen today. An engine works was opened in the town and a large farmers' market also opened in the town centre, where it remained until at least the middle of the twentieth century.
In 1801, the population of Bridgend county was around 6000. By the beginning of the twentieth century this had risen to 61,000. By this time Bridgend was a bustling market town with prosperous valleys to the north, a thriving community and good links to other towns and cities.
The Second World War and Bridgend
Bridgend played an important part during the Second World War. It was it home to a Prisoner of War Camp at Island Farm and a large munitions factory (ROF Bridgend — known as the Admirality) at Waterton, as well as a large underground munitions storage base at Brackla (known as the 8 x's). This was an overspill of the Woolwich Arsenal.
At its peak the Arsenal had 40000 workers, many of them women. Large numbers of them were bussed in from the Rhondda and the valleys. At the time the Arsenal was the largest factory (employee wise) ever in the UK.
In 1945, seventy prisoners of war from Island Farm managed to escape through a tunnel although all were recaptured. While Bridgend was as important during the war as any other part of Wales, and although it was photographed by the Luftwaffe, it was never "blitzed". Swansea and Cardiff were not so fortunate to escape bombing.
The Admirality ceased full scale production in December 1945 after 5 years. The Arsenal (Brackla) was converted a GCHQ outpost during the Cold War.
Post-war Bridgend
Bridgend remained a solid market town after the War.In 1948, Newbridge Fields (a short distance from the town centre) hosted the 1948 National Eisteddfod. In 1960, the River Ogmore burst it's banks and flooded the town centre. Subsequent floods and extreme weather led the local council to develop concrete flood defence walls along the banks of the Ogmore River in the town centre. The town centre has never been flooded as badly since, although the defences are considered ugly by locals. The Beeching cuts of the 1960's saw the loss of passenger rail links in the Vale of Glamorgan and to the northern valleys. Bridgend also became the headquarters for South Wales Police. The Vale of Glamorgan link to Barry via Rhoose was re-instated in June 2005.
In the 1970s, Bridgend would begin to see the catalyst of arguably it's biggest growth period. The missing section of the M4 motorway was constructed around the town, plans were afoot to change the Waterton Admirality into an Industrial Estate, the water supply was improved including new sewage treatment works near Ogmore.
Two major multinational corporations, the Ford Motor Company and Sony set up factories in, or on the outskirts of the new Bridgend Industrial Estate (former Waterton Arsenal).
Bridgend's future was bright, however, the Margaret Thatcher led closure of the welsh coal industry brought massive unemployment and social problems to the valley's to the north. By the late 1980's all of the coal mines had closed and the now ex-miners either commuted or moved to Bridgend to work on the new industrial estates.
Thanks to the availability of favourable land, a massive new private housing estate at Brackla was constructed from the early 1980s. By the 1990s it had grown to become the largest private housing estate in Europe.
A new Securicor run prison was built near Coity in the late 1990s.
Modern Bridgend and the future
Further new housing developments at Broadlands (near Newbridge Fields) and the never ending expansion of Brackla have caused Bridgend's population to swell dramatically. Traffic became a real problem in the archaic town centre, in 1997 a new linkroad/bypass was built to link the town centre directly to the M4 motorway as well as redirect traffic around the town centre.
The local council, led by Jeff Jones, started a scheme to pedestrianise the town centre. This has been met with criticism by the traders and shoppers alike because of both poor construction, poor design and poor access. Excessive car parking charges as well as the dominance of UK retail giant Tesco in and around the area (it has 2 large superstores, one small convenience store and a further larger one awaiting planning permission) has led Bridgend to be jokingly called "a little town beyond Tesco".
Out of town shopping and the construction of the McArthur Glen Retail Complex near the M4 motorway has led to the slow decline of the town centre. Competition from Cardiff and Swansea in terms of retail choice and ease of access has led to the town becoming a less popular choice with locals. The constuction of an award-winning new bus station in 2004 and a rethink to traffic movement around the town centre has seen a halt to the decline, although parking is becoming a real issue with residents in and around the town.
The WRU intends to build a Rugby Academy at Island Farm, although the plans are in doubt due to a change of power. Also, at Parc Derwen, near Coity Castle a massive new sustainable housing development of 1500 homes is also awaiting planning permission. The villages of Merthyr Mawr, Coity, Laleston and Ewenny are under threat of being absorbed by the urban sprawl of Bridgend.
Culture
Bridgend has it's own commercial radio station: 106.3 Bridge FM.
Bridgend is twinned with Langenau, Germany and Villenave D'Ornon, France.
Bridgend hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1948 and 1998.
Bridgend Rugby Football club play at the Brewery Field, so called because there was a Brewery near the site. They joined Pontypridd to form the Celtic Warriors but due to several factors the club folded which left many rugby fans in Pontypridd and Bridgend feeling betrayed by the Welsh Rugby Union. Bridgend has a sucessful ameteur Rugby League team (Bridgend Blue Bulls) as well as football and cricket teams that play in local and national leagues.
It is hoped that a Super League franchise can come to the Brewery Field in the near future.
The local Member of Parliament is Madeline Moon MP (Labour), the local Welsh Assembly Members are Carwyn Jones AM (Labour) and Alun Cairns AM (Conservative).
Famous people from Bridgend
- JPR Williams (Rugby)
- Robert Howley (Rugby)
- Gareth Llewellyn (Rugby)
- Gavin Henson (Rugby)
- David Emmanuel (Fashion Designer)
- Bullet For My Valentine (Band)
- Huw Edwards (BBC Newsreader)
Links
- Bridgend County Borough Council (http://www.bridgend.gov.uk)
- Bridgend College (http://www.bridgend.ac.uk)
- South Wales Police - Bridgend Profile (http://www.south-wales.police.uk/fe/master.asp?n1=16)
- Bridgend - Knowhere Guide (http://www.knowhere.co.uk/558.html)
- Bridgend RFC (http://www.bridgendravens.co.uk/home.html)
- Bridgend Royal Ordnance Factory (http://bridgend.rof.org.uk/)
- Island Farm website (http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/)
- Bridgend Sony (http://www.bgd.sony.co.uk/)
- BBC - Bridgend Life (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/bridgend/)