About Us
The St. Brides Major Community Council covers the St Brides Major, Castle Upon Alun, Southerndown and Ogmore By Sea areas.
There are 5 councillors in the Ogmore by Sea ward and 6 covering St. Brides Major and Castle upon Alun district. The council meets on the second Monday of the month with meetings being held in All Saints Church at 7pm where press and public are invited to attend.
All matters are covered in the meetings with monthly reports received from the appointed PCSO regarding the crimes in the area, correspondence received within the month, finances for the month, and an action log in order to track progress of concerns. Planning applications are also discussed and concerns received by the Community Council are passed to the Planning Department of the Vale Council.
Various councillors are appointed in the annual general meeting in May to individual positions and are responsible to attend meetings and report back to the main meeting.
Take a look at these stunning overhead images of this beautiful area, set in the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, expertly put together for St Brides Major Community Council by Phil and Kate Chapell.
Ogmore By Sea
Ogmore-by-Sea is about 3 miles [4.5 kms] south of Bridgend and about 20 miles west of Cardiff. The beaches look out on Tusker Rock, and have sand at low-tide and sharp rocks at high-tide.
The River Ogmore estuary is flanked by Ogmore beach on one side and the dunes of Merthyr Mawr on the other. The estuary makes bathing unsafe from most of the beach. The rocky shoreline is well known as a rock climbing location. It is an interesting place geologically with a variety of fossils clearly visible
St Brides Major
St. Brides Major (Welsh: Sant-y-brid) is a village within the community also called St Brides Major in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.
The village is located approximately 1.5 mi from the Glamorgan Heritage Coast. It is connected by bus to the nearby towns Llantwit Major and Bridgend 3 miles (5 km)).
Southerndown
Southerndown is a village in southern Wales to the southwest of Bridgend, in St Brides Major community, close to Llantwit Major and Ogmore-by-Sea.
It is mostly known for its beach which backs Dunraven Bay (Welsh: Bae Dwnrhefn), which is a popular tourist destination during the summer months and since 1972 has been part of a Heritage Coast and is part of the Southerndown Coast SSSI.
Castle Upon Alun
Castle Upon Alun is well known in the area for its Ford at Pont-yr-Brown with its stepping stones.
Castle-upon-Alun Farm was once a thatched farmhouse and it may have been the Home Farm of an old castle (hence the name of the area).
Several stone arches and relics of an old building survive and it is thought that a Welsh castle of pre Norman times could have stood in the vicinity. Graves of the first century Roman-Celtic period containing spears and daggers have been unearthed in the area.