Pencoed (also Pen-coed); ) is a town and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in the county borough of

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It straddles the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

north east of

and is situated on the Ewenny River. At the 2011 census it had a population of around 9,166.

Etymology and pronunciation

The name appears as "Penkoyt" in a 1303 deed of Ewenny Priory and as "Pencoyd" in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The name is likely a contraction of ''pen-y-coed'' (head/top/end of the forest/wood) and has historically been given as both Pen-coed and Pencoed. While some local business, roads and signage use the hyphenated version, the official spelling in both English and Welsh is "Pencoed". The standard pronunciation in modern Welsh is or . However, the diphthong 'oe' in a monosyllable is generally reduced to a long vowel 'o' :in South Wales, so the local pronunciation is . This is sometimes spelled as "Pen-côd" in texts written in

Gwenhwyseg or (also called " Gwentian" in English) is a Welsh dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well ...

(the local dialect).

History

The earliest evidence of habitation in the area is the nearby Ogof y Pebyll ("Tents Cave") or Ogof Coed-y-Mwstwr ("Hubbub Wood Cave")), which is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

and appears to have been inhabited during

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

periods. Worked flint flakes have been found, along with the teeth of numerous mammals of many different species. The area remained heavily wooded and sparsely populated until the eighteenth century. A map of 1729 shows "coal pitts" in the area and coal, lime, timbers and stone all contributed to the growth of the town. The development of the industrial villages was heavily influenced by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

’s route for the South Wales Railway and the construction of a Railway Station between Pencoed and Penprysg in 1856. The two hamlets became the centre of the town of Pencoed. In just over a century and a half, Pencoed’s population increased from less than 500 to more than 12,000.

Present day

The town is in the Ewenny Valley and is divided by the

near Junction 35, although almost all of the town lies to the north of the M4. About two miles north of the town, the upland relief of the South Wales Valleys starts. To the south are the rolling countryside of the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

and the rugged north coast of the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

. The town consists of three distinct areas, which were once four small hamlets. To the north is Penprysg ("copse end"), which lies at the end of the low ridge (100 m) of '' Cefn Hirgoed'' ("long wood ridge"). To the west is ''Hendre'' ("lowland winter homestead", literally "old settlement") which rises gently from the railway line in the centre of the town towards the common land at ''Ystadwaun'', on older maps as ''Ystad y Waun'' and ''Gwastadwaun'' ("level moor"). The central and eastern part of the town, which lies on the valley floor near the railway, consists of Pencoed itself and ''Felindre'' ("mill settlement"). There are numerous streams rising and running through the town, and two main rivers, the ''Ewenni Fawr'' (Great Ewenny) and the ''Ewenni Fach'' (Little Ewenny). At the centre of the town, close to the station, is the war memorial (known locally as the Monument), the shopping centre and the local Community Hall (Pencoed Miners' Welfare Hall). The town is well provided with sports facilities, schools, pubs and clubs. A new development, Earlswood Parc, was announced in 2002 and now has been completed, incorporating various Westbury built homes and Bocam business park. The current

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Barry Doughty. Pencoed hosted the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

in 1998. The

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonst ...

is manufactured at the Sony Technology Centre in Pencoed, which produces 44,000 every week.

Sport

Pencoed is noted for producing Rugby Union players. Pencoed RFC has produced a number of international players for both

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. Most notably, three Pencoed players ( Gareth Thomas, Gareth Cooper and Gavin Henson) all took part in the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand with Thomas captaining the Test team.

Twinning

Pencoed has twinning arrangements with: * Waldsassen, Germany * Plouzané, France

References

External links

Pencoed Town Council websitePhotos of Pencoed and surrounding area
www.geograph.co.uk
2426 (Pencoed) Squadron - Air Training Corp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pencoed Communities in Bridgend County Borough Towns in Bridgend County Borough