Glamorgan Flag.svg

, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto = ("He who suffered, conquered")
, Image =
Flag adopted in 2013
, Map =
, Arms =
, PopulationFirst = 326,254
, PopulationFirstYear = 1861
, AreaFirst =
, AreaFirstYear = 1861
, DensityFirst = 0.7/ acre
, DensityFirstYear = 1861

, PopulationSecond = 1,120,910Vision of Britain â€
Glamorgan populationarea

, PopulationSecondYear = 1911
, AreaSecond =
, AreaSecondYear = 1911
, DensitySecond = 2.2/acre
, DensitySecondYear = 1911

, PopulationLast = 1,229,728
, PopulationLastYear = 1961
, AreaLast =
, AreaLastYear = 1961
, DensityLast = 2.4/acre
, DensityLastYear = 1961

Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( cy, Morgannwg or ), is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. Originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known in Welsh as the Kingdom of Morgannwg (or Glywysing), which was then invaded and taken over by the Normans as the Lordship of Glamorgan. The area that became known as Glamorgan was both a rural, pastoral area, and a conflict point between the Norman lords and the Welsh princes. It was defined by a large concentration of castles.

After falling under English rule in the 16th century, Glamorgan became a more stable county, and exploited its natural resources to become an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Glamorgan was the most populous and industrialised county in Wales, and was once called the "crucible of the Industrial Revolution", as it contained the world centres of three metallurgical industries and its rich resources of coal.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county boroughs and administrative county of Glamorgan were abolished on 1 April 1974, with three new counties being established, each containing a former county borough: West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan. The name also survives in that of Vale of Glamorgan, a county borough.

Glamorgan comprises distinct regions: the industrial valleys, the agricultural vale and the scenic Gower Peninsula. The county has boundaries with Brecknockshire (north), Monmouthshire (east), Carmarthenshire (west), and to the south is the Bristol Channel. The total area is , and the total population of the three preserved counties of Glamorgan in 1991 was 1,288,309. Glamorgan contains two cities, Cardiff, the county town and from 1955 the capital city of Wales, and Swansea. The highest point in the county is Craig y Llyn () which is situated near the village of Rhigos in the Cynon Valley.

History

Origins

Glamorgan's terrain has been inhabited by humankind for over 200,000 years. Climate fluctuation caused the formation, disappearance, and reformation of glaciers which, in turn, caused sea levels to rise and fall. At various times life has flourished, at others the area is likely to have been completely uninhabitable. Evidence of the presence of Neanderthals has been discovered on the Gower Peninsula. Whether they remained in the area during periods of extreme cold is unclear. Sea levels have been lower and higher than at present, resulting in significant changes to the coastline during this period.

Archaeological evidence shows that humans settled in the area during an interstadial period. The oldest known human burial in Great Britain – the ''Red Lady of Paviland'' – was discovered in a coastal cave between Port Eynon and Rhossili, on the Gower Peninsula. The 'lady' has been radiocarbon dated to c. 29,000  years before present (BP) – during the Late Pleistocene – at which time the cave overlooked an area of plain, some miles from the sea.

From the end of the last ice age (between 12,000 and 10,000 BP) Mesolithic hunter-gatherers began to migrate to the British Peninsula – through Doggerland – from the European mainland. Archaeologist Stephen Aldhouse-Green notes that while Wales has a "multitude" of Mesolithic sites, their settlements were "focused on the coastal plains", the uplands were "exploited only by specialist hunting groups".

Human lifestyles in North-West Europe changed around 6000 BP; from the Mesolithic nomadic lives of hunting and gathering, to the Neolithic agrarian life of agriculture and settlement. They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land and developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production. A tradition of long barrow construction began in continental Europe during the 7th millennium BP – the free standing megalithic structures supporting a sloping capstone (known as '' dolmens)''; common over Atlantic Europe. Nineteen Neolithic chambered tombs (or ''long barrows'') and five possible henges have been identified in Glamorgan. These megalithic burial chambers, or '' cromlechi'', were built between 6000 and 5000 BP, during the early Neolithic period, the first of them about 1500 years before either Stonehenge or the Egyptian Great Pyramid of Giza was completed. Two major groups of Neolithic architectural traditions are represented in the area: portal dolmens (e.g. St Lythans burial chamber (Vale of Glamorgan), and Cae'rarfau (near Creigiau)); and Severn-Cotswold chamber tombs (e.g. ''Parc Cwm'' long cairn, (''Parc le Breos Cwm'', Gower Peninsula), and Tinkinswood burial chamber (Vale of Glamorgan)), as well as tombs that do not fall easily into either group. Such massive constructions would have needed a large labour force – up to 200 men – suggestive of large communities nearby. Archaeological evidence from some Neolithic sites (e.g. Tinkinswood) has shown the continued use of cromlechi in the Bronze Age.Davies (2008), p.605

The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – has made a lasting impression on the area. Over six hundred Bronze Age barrows and cairns, of various types, have been identified all over Glamorgan. Other technological innovations – including the wheel; harnessing oxen; weaving textiles; brewing alcohol; and skillful metalworking (producing new weapons and tools, and fine gold decoration and jewellery, such as brooches and torcs) – changed people's everyday lives during this period. Deforestation continued to the more remote areas as a warmer climate allowed the cultivation even of upland areas.

By 4000 BP people had begun to bury, or cremate their dead in individual cists, beneath a mound of earth known as a round barrow; sometimes with a distinctive style of finely decorated pottery – like those at Llanharry (discovered 1929) and at Llandaff (1991) – that gave rise to the Early Bronze Age being described as ''Beaker culture''. From c. 3350 BP, a worsening climate began to make agriculture unsustainable in upland areas. The resulting population pressures appear to have led to conflict. Hill forts began to be built from the Late Bronze Age (and throughout the Iron Age (3150–1900 BP)) and the amount and quality of weapons increased noticeably – along the regionally distinctive tribal lines of the Iron Age.

Archaeological evidence from two sites in Glamorgan shows Bronze Age practices and settlements continued into the Iron Age. Finds from ''Llyn Fawr'', thought to be votive offerings, include weapons and tools from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The hoard, described as "one of the most significant prehistoric metalwork hoards in Wales" has given its name to the Llyn Fawr Phase, the last Bronze Age phase in Britain. Excavations at Llanmaes, Vale of Glamorgan, indicate a settlement and "feasting site" occupied from the Late Bronze Age until the Roman occupation. Until the Roman conquest of Britain, the area that would become known as Glamorgan was part of the territory of the Silures – a Celtic British tribe that flourished in the Iron Age – whose territory also included the areas that would become known as Breconshire and Monmouthshire. The Silures had hill forts throughout the area – e.g., Caerau (Cardiff), Caerau hill fort, Rhiwsaeson ( Llantrisant), and Y Bwlwarcau ynydd_Margam,_south_west_of_Maesteg_–_and_cliff_castles_along_the_Glamorgan_coast_–_e.g.,_Burry_Holms.html" ;"title="Maesteg.html" ;"title="ynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg">ynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg – and cliff castles along the Glamorgan coast – e.g., Burry Holms">Maesteg.html" ;"title="ynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg">ynydd Margam, south west of Maesteg – and cliff castles along the Glamorgan coast – e.g., Burry Holms (Gower Peninsula). Excavations at one – Dunraven hill fort (Southerndown, Vale of Glamorgan) – revealed the remains of twenty-one Roundhouse (dwelling), roundhouses.

Many other settlements of the Silures were neither hill forts nor castles. For example, the fort established by the Romans near the estuary of the River Taff in 75  AD, in what would become Cardiff, was built over an extensive settlement established by the Silures in the 50s AD.

Morgannwg

Early History

The region originated as an independent petty kingdom named ''Glywysing'', believed to be named after a 5th-century Welsh king called Glywys, who is said to have been descended from a Roman Governor in the region. Saint Paul Aurelian was born in Glamorgan in the 6th century. The names ' (' + territorial suffix ', 'territory of Morgan') and ' (' + ', 'land of Morgan') reputedly derive from the 8th-century king Morgan ab Athrwys, otherwise known as "Morgan Mwynfawr" ('great in riches') who united ''Glywysing'' with the neighbouring kingdoms of Gwent and Ergyng, although some have argued for the similar 10th-century ruler Morgan Hen. It is possible it was only the union of Gwent and Glywysing that was referred to as Morgannwg. By virtue of its location and geography, Morgannwg or Glywysing was the second part of Wales, after Gwent, to fall under the control of the Normans and was frequently the scene of fighting between the Marcher Lords and Welsh princes.William Rees. (1951). ''An Historical Atlas of Wales''. Cardiff: University College

Early Buildings

The earliest buildings of note included earthwork dykes and rudimentary motte-and-bailey hillside defences. All that remains of these fortifications are foundations that leave archaeological evidence of their existence, though many were built upon to create more permanent defensive structures. The earliest surviving structures within the region are early stone monuments, waypoints and grave markers dating between the 5th and 7th century, with many being moved from their original position to sheltered locations for protection.Newman (1995), p.37 The most notable of the early stone markers still in its original place is on a high mountain ridge at Gelligaer. Of the later plaitwork patterned standing crosses the finest and best preserved is the 9th century 'Houelt' stone at Llantwit Major.Newman (1995), p. 38

Lordship of Glamorgan

History, 1080–1536

The Lordship of Glamorgan was established by Robert Fitzhamon following the defeat of Iestyn ap Gwrgant, .Davies (2008), p.319 The Lordship of Morgannwg was split after it was conquered; the kingdom of Glamorgan had as its caput