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Newton Nottage - Gazetteers

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 Extract from A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833) by Samuel Lewis

"NEWTON - NOTTAGE, a parish, comprising the hamlets of Newton and Nottage, which separately maintain their own poor, in the hundred of NEWCASTLE, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 4 1/2 miles (W. S. W.) from Bridgend, and containing 626 inhabitants.

This parish, which is situated on the shore of the Bristol channel, comprises a tract of land of which a considerable portion is unenclosed and uncultivated. The sea has encroached greatly on the shore, and a considerable portion of the parish, which within the recollection of persons now living formerly afforded excellent pasturage for sheep, is now covered with sand. A few persons resort, to this place for the benefit of sea-bathing.

Iron-stone is procured to a limited extent on Newton Down, and both lead-ore and manganese have been found in the white limestone of this parish : a facility of conveyance and of communication with the limestone and freestone quarries, and with the other mines in the vicinity, is afforded by the Dyfryn Llynvi and Porthcawl railway. This railway commences at the little harbour of Porthcawl, in this parish, which has been greatly improved by the construction of a breakwater extending several yards into the sea, and proceeds by Nottage village to North and South Cornelly, and Pyle, whence it pursues an easterly course to the iron-works at Cevn Cribwr, where it is joined by the Bridgend railway, and, taking a northerly direction in a line parallel with the western bank of the river Llynvi, passes the village of Llangonoyd, and, crossing the river at Typhylly Chwyth, terminates at Dyfryn Llynvi, extending in its whole course a distance of seventeen miles.

From Newton Down may be obtained a fine view of Penllyne castle, near Cowbridge, to the east, and to the west, over Swansea bay, the whitewashed habitations about Oystermouth and the country adjacent to Swansea.

The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Llandaf, rated in the king's books at £ 17.4.7., and in the patronage of Mrs. Knight, for two turns, and Calvert Jones, Esq., for one : the former had the last, and is entitled to the next, presentation. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient and venerable structure, displaying portions in the successive styles of English architecture, with a massive square tower : the number of sittings has been recently enlarged by the erection of a gallery, in which there are forty free : the pulpit appears to have been formed out of one solid stone, and is rudely carved with a representation of the scourging of our Saviour. There are places of worship for Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists.

A school for the gratuitous instruction of poor children is about to be established in the parish upon Dr. Bell's system ; and a Sunday school is supported by the rector in the village of Nottage.

Some traces of the Julua Strata Maritima may be discerned on Newton Down, a little to the left of the turnpike road, in its course towards Nidum (Neath). Near the church is a curious well, noticed by Camden as ebbing and flowing in opposition to the tide, being full at low water and empty at high water : various conjectures have been formed to account for this phenomenon, which may be satisfactorily explained on the principle of a natural syphon.

The poor are supported by an average annual expenditure amounting to £ 136.12., of which sum, £ 50. 12. is raised on the hamlet of Newton."

 

"NOTTAGE, a township, in the parish of NEWTON-NOTTAGE, union of BRIDGEND-AND-COWBRIDGE, hundred of NEWCASTLE, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (W. by a.) from Bridgend: the population is included in the return for the parish. It is bounded on the west by the sea; and the Dyfryn Llynvi and Porthcawl railway passes close to the village, on the east. A Sunday school has been established, and is supported by the incumbent of the parish, for the instruction of poor children." [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis 1833  © Mel Lockie 2016]