Colwinston
A rolling ride through the Vale of Glamorgan’s green hills and valleys, centred around the charming and historied village of Colwinston, whose past features legends, lords and life after the darkest of times.
Colwinston is a village with curious connections to the world of warfare, dating as far back as the Norman conquest of Wales up until as recent as World War 1. It is one of only 53 villages in the whole of the UK to be numbered a ‘Thankful Village’, because when its men went away to fight in the Great War, every single one of them came back. This miraculous occurrence is remembered to this day, and to see its War Memorial so clean of names is a moment of deep contemplation on the terrible price of the World Wars, and how joyous it must have been in 1919 to have had every soldier return home safe.
Colwinston’s Norman history relates to the fascinating legend of the Golden Mile. When two ancient kings of Wales feuded, one of them enlisted the Norman forces from over the border to fight for him. In return, he promised them a mile of gold in payment. Once this superior army had bested the other Welsh king, it lined up along a mile of the Roman road of Via Julia Maritima, which linked forts between Gloucester and Neath.
Gold coins were placed side by side up the whole length of the mile, the army standing beside the line of gold, after which they took their payment from the ground and returned home to England. The Roman Road still exists, only its now known as the A48. The point at which the Great Glamorgan Way crosses it may well be the location of that golden mile from so very long ago. Maybe keep an eye open, in case a coin got accidentally kicked to the curb. You never know!
The Norman connection continues within Colwinston, with the 12th century Norman church of St Michael and All Angels. It is well worth a visit, with its fine stained-glass windows and even the remnants of 600-year-old painted wall murals. The white exterior of the Church is particular to Wales, and the churches who sport it are uniformly referred to as being like ‘Stars in a Cloudless Sky.’