Aberthin is a small village, just outside

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, South Wales, on the north side of a shallow valley, less than a mile northeast of

across the

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South ...

. Cowbridge Comprehensive School lies just to the southwest of the village. About 250 metres to the south is an old quarry, with a "faulted strip of grey oolite". Aberthin is also the name of a brook, the River Aberthin. The village was served by the Aberthin Platform railway station between 1905 and 1920, now a field to the west of Aberthin.

Etymology

Thomas Morgan recorded an early belief that the village had been a place of druidic sacrifices, and that the name derived from the word ''Abertha'' (sacrifice). However, this derivation is now considered a folk etymology. As the Nant y Berthyn's confluence (or "

Aber Aber may refer to: Places * Aber and Inver (placename elements) * Aber, Ceredigion * Abergwyngregyn, popularly known by the short form "Aber" * Aberystwyth, popularly known by the short form "Aber" * Aber Village, Powys, Wales * Abergavenny, M ...

" in Welsh) with the

River Thaw The River Thaw ( cy, Afon Ddawan) (also Ddaw) is a river in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. At 20 kilometres/12.4 miles, it is the longest river entirely in the Vale of Glamorgan. Course Its source is in the hills just south of th ...

located just to the west of the village's centre, the name is most likely a contraction of "Aber-Nant-y-Berthyn".

Notable landmarks

It has no shops, but does have two

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s, a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

which when built in 1749 was created as Wales's second purpose-built Calvinistic Methodist meeting house,''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies,

Nigel Jenkins Nigel Jenkins (20 July 1949 – 28 January 2014) was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was an editor, journalist, psychogeographer, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction, as well as being a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the crea ...

, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg500 and a notable tree in the middle of the roundabout. The Methodist church and village was visited in 1746 by Howell Harries and it was at the church where Peter Williams gave a speech in which he was disowned by the Methodists. Houses in the area include

Llansannor Court Llansannor Court is a Grade I listed building in Llansannor, near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It became a Grade I listed building on 16 December 1952. It is believed to have been built during the Elizabethan era. The walls are ...

and Great House, Aberthin.

Culture

The village hall committee organises many events throughout the year, such as a duck race (where plastic yellow ducks are raced down the stream), a free bonfire and

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

display (held on the Downs overlooking the village), quiz nights, amateur dramatics, barn dances, and an annual Village Day, which has a barbecue, live music and a dog show.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Aberthin and surrounding area
* {{authority control Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan