Nine of us met up at the Village Hall and made our way to the church carpark in Colwinston, being met there by Moira and Peter Davies. Eleven of us set off on our walk, firstly along the footpath from Colwinston to Pentre Meyrick past Pwllywrach House and the entrance to the nudist camp. Unfortunately none could be seen as we peeped through the gaps in the gate!!
Across the busy A48 and alongside the road towards Pencoed, before branching off to the left into a field of wheat which we had to circle around, across a little lane and then around a field of oil seed rape before traversing a small copse and into an open grass field with views to the north. We found a hay bale on which to sit and have a coffee break, when who should walk up to us with her Labrador, but Annie Williams, who knew a lot about the lead mining industry that once took place in the area. It was also opportune as she took the group photo!
We could see the lone chimney on the edge of, which was the site of some smelting works for the lead mining that took place in this area. This mine was also known as Tewgoed and the ore was known as steel grained ore or potter’s ore.
There were other lead mines in the area, such as Llantrisant, the Golden Mile, Ogmore Downs and Newton. Between 1729 and 1743, a total of 113 tons of lead ore were sent to the Llangyfelach Smelting Works from these four mines. Smelting at Llangan, on site, presumably started in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Llangan was closed for a while in the 1800’s but reopened in 1852 when a new company was formed called Penlline Court. It suffered from flooding and was soon abandoned but a few years later it was reopened by the Glamorgan Mining Company with a capital of £7.500 but this venture, too, was also a failure. However, in 1876 it was reopened and produced 141 tons of ore in the next two years, but sadly, although being taken over by the Glamorgan Consolidated Lead Mining Co, with a capital of £30,000, Llangan Mine proved to be non-viable and closed down.
Our walk now took us down the lanes past Pheasant Acre Farm and across a number of fields full of lambs of varying colours before emerging by Brocastle Farm. We crossed the A48 and walked up the hill back to Colwinston passing a large solar energy farm on the way. Altogether about 15 stiles and 7.3 miles when we arrived at the Sycamore Inn at 2pm for a well-earned drink and meal. We had been so lucky to have had a glorious sunny day, the first for many months.
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