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Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major (Welsh: Llanilltud Fawr) 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 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) from Cowbridge, 9 miles (14 km) from Bridgend, 10 miles (16 km) from Barry, and 15 miles (24 km) 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 14 miles (23 km) from Gileston to the east to Southerndown and Newton Point to the west.
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 (Llanilltud Faerdref) near Pontypridd and Llantwit Minor (Llanilltud Fach; also known as Llantwit-juxta-Neath and Lower Llantwit) near Neath. The Welsh place-name element llan referred to the sanctified community around an early Christian settlement in Wales and its parish, rather than merely the church itself (eglwys).
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.
The Roman villa at Caermead (51°25′09″N 3°29′56″W / 51.4192°N 3.4989°W) 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.
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Llantwit Major
Llantwit Major (Welsh: Llanilltud Fawr) 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 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) from Cowbridge, 9 miles (14 km) from Bridgend, 10 miles (16 km) from Barry, and 15 miles (24 km) 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 14 miles (23 km) from Gileston to the east to Southerndown and Newton Point to the west.
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 (Llanilltud Faerdref) near Pontypridd and Llantwit Minor (Llanilltud Fach; also known as Llantwit-juxta-Neath and Lower Llantwit) near Neath. The Welsh place-name element llan referred to the sanctified community around an early Christian settlement in Wales and its parish, rather than merely the church itself (eglwys).
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.
The Roman villa at Caermead (51°25′09″N 3°29′56″W / 51.4192°N 3.4989°W) 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.