Tag: Walking

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Step Into History: Glamorgan History Walks Festival Returns For 2025.

Glamorgan History walks 2025
Glamorgan History walks 2025

This summer, history lovers and outdoor enthusiasts have an exciting reason to lace up their walking boots. The award-winning Glamorgan History Walks Festival is back, running from May to September, with over 50 fascinating guided walks just announced.

What Is the ‘Glamorgan History Walks’ Festival?

It’s a walking festival like no other—a series of expert-led guided walks that explore the rich history of Glamorgan. Instead of reading about history, participants will walk where it actually happened, with each route ending at a charming old pub—because history is best enjoyed with a tidy pint!

Glamorgan History walkers exploring Ogmore Castle

All walks are hosted by renowned historian, author, and broadcaster Graham Loveluck-Edwards. Last year’s festival was a huge hit, earning a special award from Visit Wales. It turns out that discovering the history behind places you’ve passed a hundred times before—while strolling through stunning landscapes—is a winning formula.

What’s New for 2025?

The festival has expanded to meet demand! Last year, tickets sold out fast, so more dates have been added for the most popular walks. There are also brand-new routes.

Many walks last year were over six miles long, which wasn’t ideal for everyone. This time, there are 33 routes, including 9 walks under four miles. Six of these are even wheelchair and pushchair-friendly. So, whether you’re a keen hiker or a casual stroller, there’s a walk for you.

What Will You Discover?

Glamorgan is packed with hidden history, and these walks reveal incredible sites, including:

  • 18 castles
  • 13 Iron Age hill forts
  • 2 medieval pilgrimage routes
  • A Roman fort
  • 18 ancient burials
  • 6 Neolithic monuments
  • 11 great houses
  • 15 medieval churches and a cathedral
  • 3 battlefields
  • Sites of execution, lost settlements, and industrial landmarks
  • Even the earliest burial ever found in the UK!

Last year these walks were hugely popular as these great reviews on TRIP ADVISOR will confirm.

Glamorgan History Walks and Talks logo

How to Join a Walk

All walks must be prebooked online. The festival’s website offers easy search options by date or location. Each walk listing provides details on distance, difficulty level, places visited, and historical topics covered—plus the best places to park.

Opening Walk: 3rd May in Llangynwyd

The festival begins on Saturday, 3rd May, with a spectacular walk in Llangynwyd, north of Bridgend. This route features:

  • A church established in the 6th-century
  • The remains of a Norman castle
  • A breathtaking Iron Age hill fort
  • A possible site for the Arthurian Battle of Badon Hill
  • Ancient burials, standing stones, and legends—including the famous Maid of Cefn Ydfa

Tickets for this and all other walks are on sale now.

Book Your Spot Today!

Don’t miss the chance to step into history. Explore, learn, and enjoy a great pub at the finish line!

For more details and to book tickets, on this link.

Here is a video to explain more…

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Use the hashtag glamwalks to see Glamorgan History walks content on social media.

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The success story of the Glamorgan History Walks

The Glamorgan History Walks was a walking festival of immersive history and storytelling that took ramblers around places of historic interest throughout South Wales. Bringing the stories of those places to life.

Between May and July in the Summer of 2024, over 350 people joined us on 15 walks to over 50 sites of historic interest in various locations across the counties of Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

We took in many castles, hill forts, barracks, burial chambers and tombs, great houses, churches, the site of lost settlements, smugglers’ coves and pirates’ hideaways. Even the odd battlefield, Prisoner of War camp, windmill and lighthouse. And of course, some great old pubs.

The festival was a great success. But it is not without its legacy.

All of the walks we did are now available to download for free, so you can be guided around them using the GPS on your mobile phone. You can also read notes on the routes and places you visit, and see which periods of history are relevant to those places. You can even watch videos to bring their stories to life.

Start your journey by visiting the Glamorgan History Walks web page. Choose a walk from the list and click through to the relevant page. To use the maps you will need to download the OS Maps App (which is also free).

The places we went to included:

  • Dunraven and Ogmore Castles
  • Llantwit Major
  • Monknash and St Donats
  • Barry and Porthkerry
  • Llantrisant
  • St Athan and Gileston
  • Llangynwyd
  • Coity
  • Merthyr Mawr and Island Farm POW camp
  • Kenfig Pool and Castle and Sker House
  • Mynydd Y Gaer and Peterston Super Montum
  • Cefn Cribwr, Bedford Iron Works and Sturmi Castle
  • Newton and Candleston
  • Dinas Powys
  • Cowbridge and St Hilary

Get out into the great and beautiful scenery of South Wales and enjoy everything these walks have to offer.

Walkers on their way to Kenfig CAstle on the Glamorgan History Walk
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History Walks and Talks in Glamorgan | Summer 2024

Glamorgan History Walks and Talks logo
Glamorgan history walks and talks

It has been raining so hard for so long here in Wales lately that I’m beginning to forget that it ever wasn’t raining. A depressing prospect for someone who loves nothing more than taking a walk around some local, historic monuments or sites of historic or legendary interest. Without having to wipe raindrops off my glasses to be able to appreciate them.

But of course we had a glorious Summer last year. So, the time has come to start looking forward and thinking about what we are going to do when weekends start to get warmer and dryer. When it stays light well into the evening.

To that effect I am planning a programme of history walks and talks this summer which I am inviting you to join me on. The plan is that they will all incorporate the following magical ingredients:

  • Walks of between 4 & 6 miles for various abilities
  • Start times around 9:00am
  • Beautiful Welsh countryside
  • Places of historical interest
  • The setting of some of Wales’ most wonderful legends and folklore
  • An author and broadcaster of Welsh history and other experts to tell the stories, sing the songs and bring them to life
  • Some weather (not necessarily sunshine, but definitely something!)
  • Some fun and laughs along the way
  • Always ending up at a pub for lunch and refreshments.
Jasper the history hound guarding my seat

This is roughly how the progamme is likely to look, but at this early stage it is subject to change:

History Walks and Talks in the Vale | May 2024

  • Saturday 4th May: Southerndown – Dunraven – St Brides – Ogmore Castle – Ogmore Estuary – The Three Golden Cups.
  • Saturday 11th May: Llantwit Major Square – The Castle Ditches – Collhugh Beach – Tresilian Bay – The Olde Swan Inn
  • Saturday 18th May: Monknash – Wick Beach – Nash Point – St Donats – The Plough & Harrow
  • Saturday 25th May: Dinas Powys Square – St George Woods – The Iron age Fort – Salmon leaps – The Star Inn
  • Bank Holiday Monday 27th May: St Athan – Berkerolles Tombs – East Orchard Castle – Boys Village – Gileston Manor – The Roost

History Walks and Talks in Bridgend | June 2024

  • Saturday 1st June: Ogmore Castle – Merthyr Mawr – Candleston Castle – Dipping Bridge – The Pelican in her Piety
  • Saturday 8th June: Coity Castle – Coity Common – Hendre – The Five Bells
  • Saturday 15th June: Llangynwyd Village – Llangynywd Castle & Woods – Gelli Lenor Fawr – The Old House Inn
  • Saturday 22nd June: Blackmill – Primaevel Woods – Mynydd Y Gaer – Peterston Super Montum – The Fox and Hounds
  • Saturday 29th June: Kenfig Pool – Sker House – Kenfig Castle – Mawdlam Church – The Prince of Wales

If there is enough demand, I may well add further walks in the other counties of Glamorgan. Namely Cardiff, RCT, Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly through July and August. As well as a pilgrimage walk I am planning from Llancarfan to the shrine of St Baruc on Barry Island on his feast day of Friday 27th September 2024. So watch this space.

In a nutshell, if you love history, and you love walks, pubs, South Wales and chirpy banter – then you’ll probably enjoy these walks.

If you would like to come along, tickets with be on sale soon for £10 per walker per walk, and will be available from this site and Eventbrite.

Over the coming weeks I will be doing risk assessments on each of the walks to make sure the routes are suitable but if you do fancy joining me, there are a couple of things you need to take into consideration.

  • We will be walking across country on public footpaths rather than just on roads and pavements. There will be mud, puddles, rocks and uneven surfaces. So stout footwear is required.
  • Many of these public footpaths require you to be able to climb over gates and styles. Dogs (on leads) and push chairs are welcome on these walks but you need to be prepared to lift them over such obstacles.
  • Like any outdoor activity you will need to be prepared for the predicted weather conditions of the day. Waterproofs for rain, sun hats and sunscreen for sunny days and so on.
  • Water bottles are essential to keep hydrated on these walks. You may also want energy boosting snacks.
  • When I publish the individual walk details they will feature important information to help you decide if the walk matches your abilities. These include distances in miles, the type of terrain we will cross, if the going is easy or tough, and if any climbing is involved. I will also flag any potential hazards such as stepping stones or cliffs. Please read these details carefully before committing to a walk. 🚶

If you would like to be notified when the itinerary is completed and tickets are available, or even if you just want to ask a question, please use the form below:-

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