Ewenny

The village grew around the Priory and Church. The Norman church of St. Michael was built in the 12th century by one of the Norman knights of Glamorgan, William de Londres. His son Maurice founded the adjacent Benedictine priory in 1141 when he granted the church to the abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, together with the churches of St Brides Major, St. Michael at Colwinston and the manor at Lampha.

The priory is widely regarded as one of the finest fortified religious buildings in Britain.

Over the centuries the priory has sustained some damage, but nonetheless it is still inhabited by its current owners, the Turbervill family. The priory is not open to the public but the attached Church is still in use today.

File:Ewenny Pottery - geograph.org.uk - 354259.jpg and showrooms, the oldest working pottery in Wales]]

Records show that the pottery industry has existed in the area since 1427. This is probably because the materials required for the production of pottery are readily available in this area, including a local red earthenware, glaze materials, stone to build the kilns and coal to fire the pots in the kilns. There have been fifteen potteries in the Ewenny area at one time or another, all small family concerns.

The village is home to the Ewenny Pottery, founded in 1610 and the oldest working pottery in Wales. The business is run by the descendants of the pottery's original founders, the Jenkins family.

{{main article|Y Ladi Wen}}

Ewenny is associated with {{langnf|cy|Y Ladi Wen|the white lady}} apparition of Welsh folklore. In 1909, Marie Trevelyan recorded a number of local accounts claiming that a woman in white could be seen around the village. The figure was said to appear either wringing her hands in despair or more commonly, pointing or guiding people to the same, unvarying location.{{cite book |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Marie |title=Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales |date=1909 |publisher=E. Stock |page=198}}

One popular legend recounts that when Y Ladi Wen appeared to a certain man, he was not scared or frightened, but spoke to her calmly, offering her his assistance. The lady is relieved by the offer and replies that if the man could just hold her tightly in his arms then all of her problems would be solved. The story ends unhappily, as the man began to carry out her wish, he was startled into letting her go when a dog loudly barked upon seeing the two figures. At this Y Ladi Wen unleashed a scream and states "I shall be bound for another seven years!"{{cite book |last1=Haughton |first1=Brian |title=Famous Ghost Stories Legends and Lore |date=2011 |publisher=Rosen Publishing |isbn=1448848407 |pages=28-29 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Famous_Ghost_Stories/77SQ_kvt3ZMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="ewenny+priory"+"white+lady"&pg=PA28&printsec=frontcover |access-date=7 March 2025}} In another version of the story, the man again offers his help but Y Ladi Wen simply ask him to take her hand. The two then walk a short distance before Y Ladi Wen disappears.{{cite news |title=Ghost Tour Season: Top 10 terrifying tales in Wales |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/ghost-tour-season-top-10-2020422 |access-date=7 March 2025 |date=8 October 2012}}

Sightings of another version of Y Ladi Wen are recorded at the nearby Ogmore Castle. However, the Ewenny version is invariably linked with the vicinity of Ewenny Priory, with the figure appearing to people on "White Lady's Lane" and guiding or pointing them to a place on "White Lady's meadow".

The nearby Coed-y-Bwl nature reserve has around a quarter of a million ‘wild’ daffodils. The reserve was established in 1971 and in 1975 received a Prince of Wales trust award. The daffodils were planted in the early 19th century by Mrs Nicholl of Merthyr Mawr.

A Roman bridge is situated near the reserve.

Ewenny has a community council which elects or co-opts eight community councillors.{{cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/ewennycommunitycouncil/Council-Members|title=Council Members |publisher=Ewenny Community Council |access-date=24 February 2019}} Until 2022 the community was part of the county ward of Llandow/Ewenny for elections to the Vale of Glamorgan Council. It was transferred to the St Brides Major ward as a result of recommendations from the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales.{{cite news|url=https://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/19086262.vale-glamorgans-ward-boundaries-redrawn-council-gets-seven-councillors/ |title=Vale of Glamorgan’s ward boundaries redrawn as council gets seven more councillors |work=Penarth Times |date=13 February 2021 |access-date=7 May 2022 }}

• List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060406153809/http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/Web1/groups/tourism/documents/marketing/001761.hcsp Description of the Priory provided by Bridgend County Council]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060503205252/http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/Web1/groups/tourism/documents/marketing/002265.hcsp History of the village]
• [http://www.ewennypottery.com/ Ewenny Pottery]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060508215045/http://www.ewenny.org.uk/ The Village website]

• [http://www.britainexpress.com/wales/cardiff/abbeys/ewenny-p1.htm Priory interior]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312105038/http://www.mkomor.plus.com/ewenny/images/Priory-across-the-moors.jpg Priory Exterior]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060113214643/http://www.glamorganwalks.com/wpeA2.jpg St. Michael's Church]
• [https://archive.today/20110814161558/http://blog.diobach.com/images/2004/09_2004/ewenny-stores-views-(6).jpg The Village Shop]
• [http://www.ogmoreriver.com/images/winter_grayling/ewennyriver3.jpg Ewenny River]

• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2732032 Geograph.co.uk], photos of Ewenny and surrounding area
• {{gbmapping|SS906771}}

{{Vale of Glamorgan}}

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Category:Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan

Category:Communities in the Vale of Glamorgan