Stormy Down is the name given to the upland area between Pyle and Pant Mawr which was part of an even larger tract of common land called Newton Down which extended as far south as Tythegston and Newton, Porthcawl. As such it survived until the middle years of the 19th century when it was enclosed into fields by a consortium of local landowners.

The geology of these downs had a considerable effect on the pattern of early settlement in the area as the underlying rock is a Conglomorate Limestone which is porous and absorbs surface water through fissures and cracks.

It is at these locations that the earliest settlements were found and where villages such as Tythegston and Newton subsequently developed and in the west at North and South Cornelly.

The name 'Stormy Down' however appropriate it often seems, actually derives from a Norman family named Sturmi that settled on the northern fringes about the year 1150.

They created a settlement known as Sturmiestown with a chapel and small castle but increasing problems with neighbouring Welsh tribesmen persuaded them to abandon these after less than 30 years.

Throughout the centuries the Down has also been known as Cornelly Down and Whitecross Down, the latter possibly referring to a monument near the summit of which no trace now remains.

[ Stormy Farm Google Maps ]

This is a representation of the personal seal of Geoffrey Sturmi the earliest member of the family to settle land on the northern part of Stormy Down in the mid 12th century. He was a member of the Esturmi family of Wiltshire who, following the Norman conquest, became hereditary wardens of the Royal Forest at Savernake.

The seal depicts him in the guise of such a warden, holding a boar spear and blowing a hunting horn. There is indeed evidence to suggest that Geoffrey may have been warden of a similar forest on Newton Down but belonging to the Lord of Glamorgan rather that the King. However this, like the Sturmi family's stay in the area was quite short lived because of mounting Welsh unrest.

The term 'forest' in this connection related to an area which was a game reserve where the hunting rights were reserved to the King or some other great magnate. It was the task of the Warden to enforce the harsh 'forest law' designed to protect the game with the reserve.

Ballas Cottage, which lies near to Old Ballas Woods, was formally a small farmstead believed to date from the medieval period. When the house was modernised and enlarged about 20 years ago, a small crampe and concealed room was found alongside the fireplace, and is thought to have been a 'priest hole' for hiding Roman Catholic fugitives escaping religious persecution in the 16th & 17th centuries.

The lane known as Heol y Sheet connected Cornelly Cross in North Cornelly to the summit of Stormy Down and once formed part of the main road through South Wales known as 'The Portway (a precursor of the A48) that connected the towns of Cardiff, Cowbridge, Kenfig, Aberavon and Neath. When the city of Kenfig was abandoned in the 15th century, however, the highway was diverted further inland through a new village at Pyle and Heol y Sheet became a lane of only local importance.

It is aslo widely believed that its origins as a road lie even earlier than the medieval period and that it was first built as part of the Roman road built by their army to connect the legionary base at Caerleon with forts and outposts in West Wales. This would have been during a prolonged and bitterly contested campaign between AD50 & AD78 to subdue the Silures, a Celtic tribe that occupied much of South East Wales at that time. Subsequently the road developed into an important trade route along which goods and produce arrived here from across the Empire whilst exports including corn, iron and gold from mines in West Wales were shipped out in the opposite direction.

Today Heol y Sheet which having beed severed by the construction of the M4 motorway is now a cul-de-sac, terminates at the entrance to Ty Tanglwyst Farm, a place with a long history of its own. The name is actually a corruption of 'Tir Tangeuestel' a Welsh translation of 'Tangestellond' (Tangeuestel's Land) reference to which is made in the 13th century manuscripts.

Tangeuestel was the wife of Ketherick Du a man who in the 1190's gave land in the vicinity to Margam abbey to the monks, who created a small grange or farm. This does not seem to have been of any great size and was probably simply used to maintain flocks of sheep on the adjoining open land of Stormy Down as wool production was at this time an important element in the Abbey economy and attracted buyers from as far away as Flanders.

It is likely that the limestone measures underlying Stormy Down have been exploited since the Roman Period. Stone reduced to lime in kilns has in the past been used to make motar (an early form of cement) and lime-wash for painting walls and buildings.

Applications of raw 'quick lime' also improved agricultural land but the quantities produced were quite small for in practice production was limited by the amount of wood and charcoal available to fuel the furnace.

Locally this was a particular probelm as by the Tudor Period this district was particularly noted for its dearth of standing timber.

By the 1650's however coal from mines at kenfig Hill and Margam had become freely available and local farmers were using it to produce lime in quarries and kilns on their own land. By the end of the century lime was also being produced commercially at quarries on Stormy Down itself. These were again very small scale operations generally carried on by just two men (a quarryman and a 'burner') who tended the kiln.

With the opening of the Bedford Iron Works at Cefn Cribbwr in the 1790's, quickly followed by others at Aberkenfig and Maesteg, the demand for lime increased enormously as it was used in the furnaces as a flux during the smelting process. Transport problems were overcome with the construction of a horse-drawn tram road in 1825-9 and large scale quarrying gegan in earnest in 1841 when a consortium led by John Melville secured a 31 year lease to work the limestone measures both here at Pant Mawr and upon land to the east of South Cornelly village.

Although by the end of the 19th century the early iron works had all closed down, this area continues to produce lime for the steelworks at Port Talbot, although only two quarries now remain in operation. With the aid of a regeneration scheme this former wasteland of abandoned quarries is therefore now being reclaimed by nature and clothed with woodland.

Bibliography:

(1) Cornelly Community Council

(2) Mr Rob Bowen, personal local historical knowledge

(3) Photograph: Sturmi Seal, Pant Mawr Quarry - Rob Bowen.

Webpage Author:

Mr Rob Bowen, Kenfig.org Local Community Group,2008.