Bridgend (Welsh: Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a town in the unitary authority of Bridgend in South Wales. It is midway between Cardiff and Swansea. The river crossed by the original bridge which gave the town its name is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town. Historically is part of Glamorgan.

Picture: A cottage at Merthyr Mawr. Bridgend.

Prehistoric and Roman.

Several burial mounds have been found in the vicinity of Bridgend suggesting that the area was settled before Roman times. The A48 between Bridgend and Cowbridge has a portion, known locally as "Crack Hill", a Roman road. The Vale of Glamorgan would have been a natural low-level route west to the Roman fort/harbour at Neath (Nidum) from settlements in the east like Cardiff and Caerleon (Isca).

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the new establishment looked westwards in the following decades to create new seats for lords loyal to William The Conqueror. Groups of Norman barons arrived in Wales and in the south and east created what would later become the Welsh Marches, while the north and west remained largely unconquered due to the harsh terrain.

At Coity, the local chieftain Morgan Gam already had a stronghold. Sometime in the 11th century Norman Lord Payn de Turberville approached Morgan to turn over control of the Coity Castle to de Turberville but only if he (de Turberville) either fought Morgan for the land, or took his daughter Sybil's hand in marriage. Turberville married Sybil and became Lord of Coity, rebuilding the castle. In 1106, Newcastle Castle (on Newcastle Hill, overlooking the town centre) and Ogmore Castle (1116) were built by Robert Fitzhammon and William de Londres respectively. About 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Ogmore Castle, Maurice de Londres founded the fortified Benedictine Ewenny Priory in 1141.
These three castles provided a "defensive triangle" for the area. (A quadrilateral if you include Ewenny Priory.)