:Aberthin
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = Wales
| welsh_name =
| official_name = Aberthin
| coordinates = {{coord|51.46704|-3.42948|display=inline,title}}
| static_image_name = Aberthin1.jpg
| static_image_caption = Aberthin
| unitary_wales = Vale of Glamorgan
| lieutenancy_wales = South Glamorgan
| constituency_welsh_assembly = Vale of Glamorgan
| constituency_westminster = Vale of Glamorgan
| community_wales = Cowbridge with Llanblethian
| post_town = Cowbridge
| postcode_district = CF71
| postcode_area = CF
| dial_code =
| london_distance =
| cardiff_distance =
| population =
| os_grid_reference = ST008752
}}
Aberthin is a small village, just outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, on the north side of a shallow valley, less than a mile northeast of Cowbridge across the A48 road. Cowbridge Comprehensive School lies just to the southwest of the village. About 250 metres to the south is an old quarry, with a "faulted strip of grey oolite".{{cite book|author=Geological Survey of Great Britain|title=The Geology of the South Wales Coal-field ...: The country around Bridgend (Sheets 261, 262 of the map), by Aubrey Strahan and T. C. Cantrill, with parts by H. B. Woodward and R. H. Tiddeman. 1904|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oijPAAAAMAAJ|year=1927|publisher=Printed for H.M. Stationery off., by Wyman and sons, limited}} Aberthin is also the name of a brook, the River Aberthin.{{cite book|last=Willett|first=Mark|title=The Stranger in Monmouthsire, and South Wales; or, Illustrative sketches of the history, antiquities, and scenery, of South Wales, and its borders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLYHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA354|year=1825|page=354}} The village was served by the Aberthin Platform railway station between 1905 and 1920, now a field to the west of Aberthin.
Etymology
Thomas Morgan recorded an early belief that the village had been a place of druidic sacrifices, and that the name derived from the word Abertha (sacrifice). However, this derivation is now considered a folk etymology.{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Thomas |title=The Place-Names of Wales |date=1912 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=163 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfvEDwAAQBAJ&q=placenames+of+brecknock |access-date=8 September 2021 |language=en}} As the Nant y Berthyn's confluence (or "Aber" in Welsh) with the River Thaw located just to the west of the village's centre, the name is most likely a contraction of "Aber-Nant-y-Berthyn".
Notable landmarks
It has no shops, but does have two pubs, a village hall which when built in 1749 was created as Wales's second purpose-built Calvinistic Methodist meeting house,The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg500 {{ISBN|978-0-7083-1953-6}} and a notable tree in the middle of the roundabout. The Methodist church and village was visited in 1746 by Howell Harries and it was at the church where Peter Williams gave a speech in which he was disowned by the Methodists.{{cite book|last=Davies|first=D. Elwyn|title="They thought for themselves": a brief look at the story of Unitarianism and the liberal tradition in Wales and beyond its borders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w3_ZAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Gomer Press|page=71|isbn=9780850889161}} Houses in the area include Llansannor Court and Great House, Aberthin.{{cite book|author=Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales|title=An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: The Iron Age and the Roman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GgvAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=H.M.S.D.|isbn=9780117007543}}
Culture
The village hall committee organises many events throughout the year, such as a duck race (where plastic yellow ducks are raced down the stream), a free bonfire and fireworks display (held on the Downs overlooking the village), quiz nights, amateur dramatics, barn dances, and an annual Village Day, which has a barbecue, live music and a dog show.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2755649 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Aberthin and surrounding area]
- {{gbmapping|ST008752}}
{{Vale of Glamorgan}}
{{authority control}}