England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ystradowen St Owain

The Parish

The parish of Ystradowen lies in southern central Glamorgan on the southern edges of the Vale of Glamorgan and roughly 3 miles northeast of the market town of Cowbridge. Ystradowen sits on the A4222 road which connects Cowbridge with Llantrisant. Ystradowen is a small and compact village with most properties alongside the A4222 or in adjacent lanes. Ystradowen has a long history, a 10th century residence of the Prince of Glamorgan, an 11th century battle site between Saxons & Britons and an early 12th century site of a Norman motte, which shows of having been abandoned unfinished. Like many parishes of the Vale of Glamorgan, Ystradowen's economy would have been underpinned by pastoral farming of both cattle, in the main, and sheep. Modern developments temporarily came to Ystradowen, a branch rail line linking Cowbridge and Llantrisant has disappeared and been dismantled. Ystradowen is drained northeastwards by the Nant Dyfrgi which soon reached the Afon Elaf and turns back south to reach the outer Bristol Channel through Cardiff Bay. Ystradowen is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in moderately undulating countryside where local hills reach 130 metres on nearby Mynydd y Fforest. Ystradowen parish was fairly typically sized for the Vale, covering close to 1,500 acres it would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Like most of wales Ystradowen, despite that moote, is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Owain's church sits just west of the A4222 at the southern end of the village where a lane turns left towards Llansannor. Sadly this is not some medieval masterpiece but largely a copy of its predecessor and built between 1865 & 1868 to replace the former church in which these marriages took place. Strangely the builders & architect decided to largely copy the design of the church they replaced, building in a 13th century Early English Gothic style and even replicating the unusual saddle-backed roof-line of the previous church's western tower. Despite being a relatively modern church Pevsner praises its faithfulness to replicating that prior church. The entrance to the churchyard, through local stone walling, sits barely 50 metres into the lane and parking may be sought with the White Lion Inn at the junction. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles to photography.