England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cowbridge Holy Cross

The Parish

The parish of Cowbridge was created from that of Llanbleddian to serve the growing market town. Cowbridge is located about 12 miles west of the city of Cardiff and sits on the A48 road which connects Cardiff onwards to the west, thankfully that road now bypasses Cowbridge to the north leaving the long main street a much quieter place than once. Cowbridge's origins lie back in the Roman era, tentatively identified as the site of "Bovium" a Romano-British settlement. More solidly Cowbridge was expanded as a planned 13th century market town by Richard de Clare and established in 1254. The walled and gated market town was a planted settlement designed to pacify the local area. The gates are now gone but the planned street-plan still underpins Cowbridge despite modern developments. As a market town and consequent gathering place it depended on the pastoral farming of the Vale of Glamorgan for its livelihood. Cowbridge is drained southwards by the River Thaw which reaches the Bristol Channel just to the east of St Athan. Cowbridge is sited at around 20 metres above the sea in the gently undulating Vale, local heights rise nearby, however, to over 130 metres on St Hilary Down to Cowbridge's east. The parish of Cowbridge covered a tiny area, little more than the urban area of the market town and is almost totally surrounded by its mother parish, Llanblethian. The parish would have supported a population of around 1,100 parishioners. In common with most of Wales there is no mention of Cowbridge in that book which did not cover this area.

The Church

The church of the Holy Cross sits just south of Cowbridge's single main street, on the eastern side of Church Street. The origins of the church lie at the same time as the creation of the planted settlement and the rather monumental structure was largely built within the late 13th century to support that settlement. The structure was clearly intended to have a cruciform layout but the transepts were never added leaving the present form. Little of the 13th century remains beyond the tower as the church has , like many, been altered over the years. In the 15th century a southern aisle was added and in Victorian times, in this case in the 1850s, much alteration and restoration was performed, in particular the windows were restyled to a Perpendicular style and most roofs replaced. The church has a distinctly urban setting being separated from the pavements by a local stone wall topped by post & rail fencing. The churchyard is accessed by a short pathway, it is rather crowded around the western end of the church and this somewhat limits the photographic angles.