Coychurch Higher is a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Bridgend County Borough Bridgend County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. I ...

, south

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It covers the westerly area of the county north of Pencoed and south of

Ogmore Vale Ogmore Vale ( cy, Cwm Ogwr) is a village (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore. The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolate ...

. The community is sparsely populated and contains only one settlement, the small village of

Heol-y-Cyw Heol-y-Cyw is a little village in Bridgend County Borough, Wales, located near Bridgend, in the community of Coychurch Higher. The village, and its surroundings, had a population of 538 in 2011 census. Amenities Heol-y-Cyw has one Nonconformis ...

, which is located on the southerly border of the community. The majority of the community is made up of hilly terrain populated by several farm houses. It was once the site of Wern Tarw Colliery, the site of the first major coalminers' strike post-nationalisation of the coal industry. The population of the community in 2011 was 888.

Buildings of note

The largest industry in the history of the area was the Wern Tarw Colliery. First opened in 1915 as a

drift mine Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is above ...

by Meiros Colleries, a deep pit was later added and by 1938 over 400 men were employed at the site. By 1945 the drift and pit, along with workers at the Hafod Seam, employed 700 miners. In 1951, a decision by the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

to move 87 workers to the nearby Llanharan Colliery, resulted in the first major coalminer's strike since the nationalisation of the industry. The colliery closed in 1964. A major employer in the community is Rockwool, whose factory and chimney stacks at the site of Wern Tarw dominates the area.
St Paul's church
on the High Street of Heol-y-Cyw, is the largest religious building in the community. Built in 1889, after a local cottage used for services could no longer accommodate the growing congregation, the church was funded by a £50 grant from the

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

. The church organ, purchased second-hand in 1909 and restored in 1992, is believed to be over 150 years old.

Sport and leisure

Coychurch higher is home to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club

Heol y Cyw RFC Heol y Cyw Rugby Football Club are a rugby union club based in the Heol-y-Cyw, Wales. Heol y Cyw RFC are members of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues. Heol-y-Cyw RFC were formed in 1906. The present club house was ...

, whose ground is also used by Australian Rules team, the Bridgend Eagles.

Notes

External links

Map showing the community boundaries of Coychurch HigherSt Paul's Church (Parish of Llanilid w Pencoed & Heol-Y-Cyw)
{{Bridgend Bridgend Communities in Bridgend County Borough