England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Coity St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Coity lies in southern Glamorgan roughly 2 miles northeast of the modern industrial town of Bridgend, indeed the wider parish includes a substantial portion of eastern Bridgend. Coity sits just under a mile east of the A4061 road which forms Bridgend's eastern bypass. The village of Coity, a small and compact village gathered around its 12th century ruined castle and its church, is by far the largest settlement within the parish. Bridgend is a major urban centre stretching for several miles along the valley of Afon Ogwr and modern developments spread substantially into Coity parish. In addition smaller settlements such as Pen-yr-hoel & Pant-y-pyllau are mere hamlets. One cannot discuss Coity without reference to its ruined castle which dominates the village despite its ruinous condition. The keep from the late 12th century is enclosed within a curtain wall and outer ward roughly 120 feet in diameter. Pevsner states it to be the most impressive ruined medieval castle after Caerphilly in Glamorgan. The parish is typical of much of the Vale of Glamorgan with pastoral farming a speciality, Bridgend became the regional market town and in modern times has attracted much industry. A substantial extractive industry of mines and quarries also employed many within the parish. Modern developments have come to the parish, the Brridgend to Maesteg railway line scraping into the parish area to the west whilst to the north the modern M4 passes through en route from Cardiff to Swansea. Despite the close presence of Afon Ogwr to the west Coity drains southwards into the Ewenny River which only meets the Ogwr just before entering the outer Bristol Channel. Coity is sited at around 60 metres above the sea overshadowed by the low ridge of Cefn Hirgoed to its north which reaches 134 metres, beyond to the north rise the fore-hills of mightier hills with wind-farm topped Mynydd Maendy just crossing the 300 metres contour. Coity parish was an extensive one covering just under 4,600 acres and divided into High Coity and Lower Coity, the population being close to 1,900 parishioners. Like most of Wales Coity is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church sits just east of the castle site with both accessed from Heol Yr Eglwys. Whilst the castle dates from the 12th century the church, despite its cruciform design which is often indicative of early churches, is a product of the early 14th century. The style of the church is of the Decorated period from the first half of that century and has been left relatively untouched by Victorian restoration which was very light and sensitive. The windows show a consistency of design rare in our much-modified churches. The only significant variation to the 14th century origins is that of the central crossing tower which has the feel, to Pevsner, of the 16th century Tudor times and if this is correct it must have been a replacement of an earlier version. There was a Victorian restoration in 1860 which was modest and restrained. Internally one of the oddities of the church is the long flight of steps in the northern transept providing access to the belfry, a most unusual feature worth a look. Heol Yr Eglwys is well-used by locals for parking either close to the gates or further along, the church entrance sits beside a footpath which divides churchyard from castle site. The rather shady access path gives way to an extensive churchyard with only trees to the southwest to concern the photographer.