Llantwit Major () is a town and community in Wales on the Bristol Channel coast. It is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the third largest population (13,366 in 2001) after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowbridge. It is from Cowbridge, from Bridgend, from Barry, and from Cardiff. It had a population of 9,530 in 2021.
Llanilltud Fawr, named for the Llan (land) of Saint Illtud, was home to the Monastery of Illtud and the college known as Bangor Illtyd. It became one of the most esteemed centres of Christian culture in the Celtic world. At its peak it had over 2,000 students, including princes, eminent clergymen, and revered saints. The institutions were destroyed by the raiding Vikings in 987, but Normans rebuilt the monastery in 1111 and it continued to be a centre of learning until it was disbanded in 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries. The 13th-century St Illtyd's Church, near the ancient monastery, is a Grade I listed building and one of Wales's oldest parish churches.
In the 20th century, the modern town developed rapidly to accommodate Royal Air Force personnel from the St Athan base. Remnants of the medieval cobbled streets can be seen adjacent to the 12th-century Old Swan Inn, and numerous buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries remain.
Colhugh Beach is a popular surfing venue and has the remnants of an Iron Age fort and some of Wales' finest examples of Jurassic fossils. The pebble beach and its clifftops are protected as part of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, which stretches for from Gileston to the east to Southerndown and Newton Point to the west.
Toponymy The parish church glosses the Welsh name of the town rather literally as "Illtud's Great Church". However, the name used in English means "Greater". The epithet fawr distinguishes this Llantwit from Llantwit Fardre () near Pontypridd and Llantwit Minor (; also known as Llantwit-juxta-Neath and Lower Llantwit)Davies, Elwyn. A Gazetteer of Welsh Place-Names. University of Wales Press (Cardiff), 1967. . near Neath. The Welsh place-name element llancognate with the English word lawn (meaning an open space, which was borrowed into Middle English from French, which borrowed it from Gaulish) referred to the sanctified community around an early Christian settlement in Wales and its parish, rather than merely the church itself ().
History Prehistory Llantwit Major has been inhabited for over 3,000 years: archaeological evidence has shown that it was occupied in Neolithic times. The remains of an Iron Age fort are in its beach area.
Roman villa
The Roman villa at Caermead () remains as faint earthworks in a field, near the 13th-century parish church of St Illtud. The L-shaped courtyard villa was discovered in 1888. Records from 1893 suggest that one room was used as a praetorium, another as a workshop; and there was a 5th-century adjoining sacristy, simple in style, which featured a chancel, nave, and stone altar. Found remains included brachycephalic and dolichocephalic skulls, as well as horse bones. Fine mosaic floors are a notable feature of the villa. The tesserae included blue and crystalline limestone, green volcanic stones, brown sandstone, and red-brick cuttings, encircled with a red, white, blue and brown border. A record from 1907 described the relics as Samian ware pieces; bronze coins of Maximinus Thrax, Victorinus, and Constantius Chlorus; as well as roofing materials.
The site was again excavated between 1938 and 1948. It may have been first settled in the 1st century, but the first stone structure was not erected until a hundred years later. The site developed slowly and, it has been suggested, was even abandoned for a while during the 3rd century. By the 4th century, there was an L-shaped villa with a large, aisled building possibly for farm workers, and a number of smaller agricultural structures almost enclosing a central courtyard. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales has associated collection records of the site, including drawings of other remains such as statues and a tessellated pavement, as well as documentation of a 1971 excavation. An early-medieval-period cemetery is in evidence, as are earthworks, traces of walling, a bank and a ditch. Pieces of pottery have been found.
Côr Tewdws
According to the 18th-century historian of ill-repute, Iolo Morganwg, the Côr Tewdws or 'College of Theodosius' was established in the late 4th century at a place at or near Llantwit Major called Caer Worgorn by co-founders Emperor Theodosius and Custennin Fendigaid, but was later burnt to the ground by Irish pirates and abandoned. Morganwg's works have since been discredited.
Saint Illtud's College
Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes made at least one visit to Britain in AD 429 and founded or refounded a number of ecclesiastic establishments across South Wales. It was at this time that Saint Illtud came to the Hodnant valley. Although he is said to have been born in Brittany, Illtud had fought as a soldier in Wales before renouncing his former life at the behest of Saint Cadoc. What is certain is that Illtud oversaw the growth of a pioneering monastery and associated college called Bangor Illtyd, on the Ogney Brook, close to the current St Illtyd's Church. Together these institutions became the first great hub of Celtic Christianity and teaching.
Under Illtud and his successors, Bangor Illtyd and the monastery grew in reputation both as the origin of many prominent Celtic evangelists and as a major centre of scholarly education. As such, it began to attract scholars from across the Celtic and wider world. The college itself was said to be the oldest in the world, consisting of seven halls, 400 houses and more than 2,000 students at its peak, including seven sons of British princes, and scholars such as St. Patrick, St. Paul Aurelian, the bard Taliesin, Gildas the historian, Samson of Dol, and St. David are believed to have spent some time there. Samson was known to have been summoned by Dyfrig to join the monastery in 521 and he was briefly elected abbot before leaving for Cornwall. King Hywel ap Rhys (d. 886) was buried at the monastery.
Norman and early modern eras The college suffered during the invasions of the Saxons and the Danes, and was destroyed by the Vikings in 987 and again by the Normans in the late 11th century. In 1111 it is documented as being restored, but likely in a lesser state than the original. It is known to have continued to function as a monastic school until the 16th-century Reformation. The ruins of the original school house are located in a garden on the northern end of the churchyard and the monastic halls were located in a place called Hill-head on the north side of the tithe-barn. Although nothing of the original monastery remains, the present church was originally built between 950 and 1400 and its earliest existing secular buildings date from the 15th century. The church and school became the property of Tewkesbury Abbey around 1130 after becoming part of the Norman kingdom of Glamorgan.
After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII during the Reformation, it became independent from Tewkesbury in 1539. St Donat's Castle, to the west, was built in the 13th century.
Modern era In the 20th century, Llantwit developed into a dormitory town and grew about 15 times in size to accommodate the Royal Air Force at St Athan. Despite its modernization and rapid growth, it retains its pre-modern feel with its narrow winding streets, high walls, old town hall and gatehouse, and several inns and houses dated to the 16th century. Llantwit Major railway station on the Vale of Glamorgan Line was reopened in June 2005. In 2014, it was rated one of the most attractive postcode areas to live in Wales.
Geography Llantwit Major is located in southeast Wales and mid-west along the coast of the Vale of Glamorgan. The town can be accessed from the north directly by the B4268 road and indirectly by the B4270 road (St. Athan road) which branches from the A48 road, and directly by the B4265 road which leads to Bridgend in the northwest and Cardiff Airport and Barry in the east. It is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan with the third largest population after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowbridge, which is about to the northeast. Llantwit Major is about from Bridgend, 10 miles from Barry and about from Cardiff. Boverton is an eastern suburb of Llantwit.
The River Ogney, runs through the town and joins the streams [Hoddnant and Boverton Brook] which flow in from Eglwys Brewis in the northeast; these then merge and become the Afon Colhuw, which meanders down the Colhuw meadows before discharging through an outfall into the sea. The Llantwit Major area is built on a range of different levels and the town itself is sloping. At the lower coastal level is the flat, glacial Colhugh Valley, marked by steep cliffs on both sides, leading to a pebble beach. The beach, located to the south of the town (), has the remains of an ancient old stone wall from the large Iron Age hill fort, Castle Ditches. The steep cliffs at Llantwit which allow walks along the coast to St Donat's Castle and Atlantic College have undergone dramatic erosion in recent years: in many places, the rock structure has collapsed in piles, particularly on the eastern face.
The cliff path, once set about from the edge is now within metres of the nature pathway, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council has installed extensive new barriers to prevent fatalities. The of coastline from Gileston in the east to Newton Point in the west, passing through St Donat's and Southerndown, is protected as part of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast. Tresilian Bay is between Llantwit Major and St Donat's. Along this stretch of coast the cliff path winds through numerous valleys. Llantwit Major beach has one of the finest sites in Wales for Jurassic fossils, including corals, giant brachiopods, gastropods and the bones of Ichthyosaurus.
The beach is popular with summer tourists, and has a campsite on the nearby fields. The beach has a snack bar and restaurant and associated amenities to cater for the increased public demand in recent years. There is an expansive rocky beach at low tide, with a stretch of sand towards the far west, and views of the Bristol Channel and the coastline of Somerset, with the landmark white roof of Butlins, Minehead.
Climate
Economy
Llantwit Major is a small town which is largely dependent on local retail and earnings from further afield. The majority of the inhabitants commute to work elsewhere, especially Cardiff or Bridgend. During the summer months tourism is important to the town which has "The Precinct", Rainbow Plaza and several pubs and restaurants. Of note are the Old Swan Inn, Old White Hart Inn, The Tudor Tavern, and the 17th century West House Country Hotel Heritage Restaurant.
Llantwit Major railway station on the Vale of Glamorgan Line reopened in June 2005. Passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales as part of the Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes network.
Although it is much less known than Porthcawl further down the coast, Llantwit Major has considerable renown in South Wales as a surfing location. The beach has a lifeguard station funded by the Vale of Glamorgan Council, built in the late 1990s, functioning during the summer months. There is a beach cafe and often organised walks.
The Victorian Fair Day, established in 1983, is usually held in June on the Saturday nearest to the 22nd of the month, with a Victorian theme which attracts people from across southern Wales. The town has several supermarkets including Co-op Food and Filco, and a town library. The local artistic community supports a number of arts and crafts shops, some selling locally made pottery and other ceramics.
Governance