Pavements led through the town which developed in the early 15th century when the hamlet of Nolton and the village of Newcastle were linked by the old stone bridge across the River Ogmore, built on the site of a ford.
Passing the impressive memorial to Caroline Wyndham, Countess of Dunraven, who provided the much-needed free clean drinking water to the town in 1857, Merthyr Mawr Road led them to the very tall, spired St Mary’s Church Nolton built in 1887.
An underpass led to the bridge over the clear River Ogmore and on past the standing stone, excavated in June 1964, that covered a cremated burial from the New Bronze Age.
Some pavement walking brought them into the very pretty Craig y Parcau Nature Reserve and following its leafy pathway high above the river led to the A48, and carefully crossing New Inn Bridge with its sturdy buttresses came into view.
Dating back to the 15th century, its nickname is the ‘dipping bridge’ as in years gone by, farmers would push their sheep through the holes in its sides for their yearly dip in the river.
The staging post inn that stood there, gifting its name to the bridge, had a notorious landlord, Cap Coch, who would steal from his guests before murdering them, which only truly came to light many decades after his death, despite the fact that the locals were suspicious about the number of bodies washing up in the estuary.
On past the entrance to Merthyr Mawr House and estate purchased by Sir John Nicholl in 1804, with the house being built between 1806-1809.
The original road to Merthyr Mawr village was unofficially seized by Nicholl as the driveway to the new house, at the entrance to which New Inn Lodge had been built by 1813, with a gateway salvaged from one of Thomas Telford’s road-building projects and which is Grade II listed.
Crossing a stile and walking through fields beside an old stone wall past two horses, one of which took a fancy to the leader’s jacket, brought them to a lane and onward to Home Farm, where two donkeys and a Shetland pony reside in the field at the rear of the Church of St Teilo.
Entering its churchyard for their morning break in warm sunshine, the present church dates to 1849-1851 and refreshed, they went inside to admire its huge medieval Norman font, unusual pulpit and stained glass, before exiting and viewing the ancient Celtic stones dating from the fifth to the 11th and 12th centuries, that were dug up locally in an open shed at the rear of the church.
Passing through the idyllic chocolate box beauty of the thatched cottages in Merthyr Mawr Village, clustered around the village green, and crossing the white-painted suspension bridge over the River Ogmore, fields containing grazing horses brought them to the footbridge over the River Ewenny and into Ogmore-by-Sea village.
Walking beside the busy road and deviating by lane to Ogmore Castle signalled a stop for lunch within the ruins, whilst two of the group crossed and re-crossed the stepping stones in the river, no doubt for enjoyment and just to say they had done it!
The atmospheric remains of Ogmore Castle, which is Grade I listed and where the first castle was built by William de Londres, who was gifted the land by Robert Fitzhamon for services given during the Norman Conquest of Glamorgan, allegedly has a ghost named Y Ladi Wen or the ‘white lady’ who is said to guard the castle’s secretly hidden treasure.
Legend states she showed a man the hidden gold and gave him half of it, but greedily he stole the other half, after which, in her anger, she attacked the man who became ill and subsequently died.
Returning through fields beside the Ogmore River and crossing the ancient stone bridge which gave the town its name, pavements led past the Carnegie Library and arriving at the station they had around five minutes to spare before the hourly train pulled up ready to convey them back home.
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