Llangan

Llangan (Welsh: Llan-gan) is a small village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) outside the market town of Cowbridge. As a community it contains the settlements of St Mary Hill, Treoes and Llangan itself.

Llangan became an important religious site in the late 18th century due to the work and preaching of its church’s Baptist minister.

Llangan Conservation Area

The Llangan Conservation Area was designated in August 1973 in recognition of the special architectural and historic interest of the village. Read more…

The Lead Mines of Glamorgan and Gwent

There were numerous lead mines in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Nearly all these sites have been worked at some time before the resurgence of the lead industry in the mid-nineteenth century, and some of them have evidence of ancient working, particularly in Roman times.

Only five of the sites were positively worked from the mid-nineteenth century onwards and none after 1878. Little has been published on the history of lead mining in Glamorgan and Gwent. One such site is the lead mine at Llangan that operated into the mid-nineteenth century, and physical remains can be seen at the site to this day.

St Mary Hill is a small village and home to Llangan and St Mary Hill Village Hall.

In the Middle Ages St Mary Hill was located partly within two manors, Gelligarn and Ruthin. Gelligarn, known historically as Kilticar, belonged to the De Alweias (De Haweys) during the 12th century. The De Alweias held the manor under the Le Sores of St Fagans, before it switched ownership to Neath Abbey during the reign of Henry II. The lordship of Ruthin, of which Gelligarn once formed part, contained the medieval parish church, known locally in the Welsh language as Eglwys Fair y Mynydd to distinguish it from a second St Mary Church located in Llanfair, also in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Treoes

Treoes is a thriving village consisting of new modern housing, such as Nant Canna, Glan-y-Nant, Yr Efail and Brookside, alongside many of its old traditional buildings, a vibrant thatched pub, excellent primary, and secondary schools close by, and with easy access to shops in Bridgend and Cowbridge and the motorway. It is an attractive and much sought-after village in the Vale of Glamorgan.

This tythe map of 1833 shows the village of Troes, or Goston as it was known and recorded from medieval times. 

During the period of the Norman Conquest Goston/Troes was bound up as a manor with Llangan and Penllyn. Today it is the largest village in the parish of Llangan, covering an area of approximately 1,200 acres, much of it high quality pastureland. Several roads run from Treoes into the open fields which during the Medieval period were once divided into strips, then later hedged, and made into small enclosures. 

The corn mill for the three manors of Penllyn, Llangan and Goston was built on Treoes Moors and called Moor Mill. It is still possible to trace the old routeway, Heol-y-Millway, which ran all the way from Penllyn to Moor Mill.

Treoes is seen as the starting point in the area of the non-conformist cause in 1831, when a barn was used as its first Chapel. In 1832 villagers purchased land, raised funds, and built Saron Chapel as it exists today, holding its first meeting in February 1842. It is recorded that on 30th March 1851 there were 140 worshippers present at morning service, 91 in the afternoon and 300 in the evening.  After the religious revival of 1859/60 it became necessary to erect a gallery, the uniqueness of which gives Saron Chapel its Grade II listing of today.

The Vestry of Saron Chapel is thought to be the first school in the parish dating from the mid/late 19th century. It is said an exciseman called Truman, supposedly a relation of President Truman of America, “spared not the birch of which he never kept fewer than half a dozen”!

Treoes is considered to be the home of two very famous people: John Pritchard in 1817 the architect who was responsible for the rebuilding and restoration of Llandaff Cathedral, and David Howell (Llawdden), the famous preacher-poet and the Dean of St. David’s Cathedral.

Until very recent times Treoes remained very agricultural, little changed and with a high level of Welsh speakers.

In 1936 mains water was introduced into the village, and electricity installed around 1950. 

For more information please see the Saron Chapel, Heritage Hub, History Group and Treoes Allotments pages on this site.

For more information on Treoes, please visit the Treoes Community Facebook page.