COWBRIDGE  , a

market town and a municipal and contributory parliamentary borough of Glamorganshire, Wales, with a station on the Taff Vale railway branch from Llantrisant to Aberthaw on the coast, distant by rail 1622 m. from London, 12 M . W. of Cardiff, 7 M . S.E. of Bridgend, and 6 m . S. of Llantrisant station . The population in 1901 was 1202, a decrease of over 12 % since 1891 . Less than one-third of the number was Welsh-speaking . The town mainly consists of one long street running east and west, and is in a wide valley through which runs the river Thaw (Welsh, Ddawan), here crossed by a stone bridge . Cowbridge is probably situated on the Roman road from Cardiff westwards, which seems to have kept nearly the course of the present main road . Roman coins have been discovered here . It has in fact been suggested, mainly on etymological grounds, that the town occupies the site of the Roman Bovium: the modern Welsh name, y Bontfaen (" stone bridge ") is probably a corruption of the medieval, Pont y f6n, the precise equivalent of " Cowbridge," which is first found in documents of the second half of the r3th century as Covbruge and Cubrigg . Others place Bovium on a vicinal road, at Boverton near Llantwit Major, about 6 m. to the south near the coast, though the most likely site is near Ewenny, 5 M. to the west of Cow-bridge . After the Norman conquest of Glamorgan, the town grew up as an appanage of the castle of St Quentin, which occupies a commanding position half a mile south-west of the town .

It was walled

round before the 13th century . A tower is mentioned in 1487 when it was granted away by the burgesses . Leland in his itinerary (c . 1535) describes the town wall as three-quarters of a mile round and as having three gates . There was even then a considerable suburb on the west bank of the river and outside the walls . The south wall and gateway are still standing . The town was a borough by prescription until 1682, when it received a charter of incorporation from Charles II. confirming its previous privileges . Under the Unreformed Corporations Act of 1883 the corporation was dissolved, but on the petition of the inhabitants a new charter was granted in March 1887 . During the Tudor and Stuart periods Cowbridge was almost if not quite the chief town of Glamorgan, its importance being largely due to its central and accessible position in a rich agri- cultural district where a large number of the county gentry lived . The great sessions were held here alternately with Cardiff and Swansea from 1542 till their abolition in 183o, and the quarter sessions were held here once a year down to 185o . From 1536 to 1832 it was one of the eight contributory boroughs within the county which returned a member to parliament, but since 1832 it has been contributory with Cardiff and Llantrisant in returning a member . It has a separate commission of the peace .

Sir Edward Stradling (1529–1609) established a grammar school here, but died before endowing it; it was refounded in 1685 by Sir Leoline Jenkins, who provided that it should be administered by Jesus College, Oxford, which body erected the present buildings in 1847 . It has throughout its existence been one of the leading schools in Wales . An intermediate school for girls was established here by the county in 1896 . The church of St Mary (formerly chapelry to Llanblethian) is of early English style and has a fine embattled tower, of the same military ' A connexion has also been imagined with cow (O . Eng. cu; common in Scandinavian languages, and of similar root to Skr. go, whence also Gr . &Ds, Lat. bos), the female bovine animal, on account of its timidity . type as the towers of Llamblethian and Ewenny . There are three Nonconformist chapels . There are a town hall and market place . The town is now wholly dependent on agriculture, and has good markets and cattle fairs, that on the 4th of May being a charter fair .