The East Aberthaw Conservation Area was designated in 1973 by the former Glamorgan County Council in recognition of the special architectural and historic interest of the village.
Although not exhaustive, the defining characteristics of the Conservation Area that reinforce the designation can be summarised as follows:
Other unlisted cottages and modest houses, some of them former farmhouses, are considered to be ‘positive’, such as:
East Aberthaw is located on the east bank of the River Thaw. It lies immediately adjacent to the Vale of Glamorgan railway line. One kilometre to the north is the B 4265 which connects Barry to Bridgend, via Llantwit Major and St Brides Major. Cardiff Airport is just three kilometres to the north east.
The small settlement developed in the 19th century as the neighbouring quarry and limeworks, which lie to the north of the village, grew in importance. To the west, on the other side of the estuary, a high grass covered bund conceals all but the chimney of the power station. The larger settlement of Rhoose is just two kilometres further along the coast to the east. The East Aberthaw Conservation Area covers the whole of the small village and the cross roads which form its centre, around which the principal historic buildings are concentrated. From this crossroads, a lane (Well Road) drops down the hill to a tunnel underneath the railway lines. To the east, a similarly narrow lane leads up the slight hill to a farm group (Upper House Farm) and then into open countryside and woodland. Beyond this, is the very large limestone quarry.
The village of East Aberthaw derives its name from the Welsh word ‘aber’, meaning estuary or river mouth, of the river Thaw, and the existence of a safe natural harbour provided an early impetus for development and trade. Settlement appears as early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries, as demonstrated by the discovery of Roman pottery, shells and tiles when a new pipeline was laid through East Aberthaw in the 1950s. Further excavations in Well Road also revealed the foundations of walls which may have belonged to the Roman settlement. Further discoveries included coins, jewellery, tiles and Samian ware pottery, all suggesting that the nearby bay served as a landing point or port during the Roman invasion.
By the time of the medieval period, the site had come to be occupied by a small village centred, as now, upon the intersection of the two lanes. To the east, what is now Port Road led towards Fonmon and Penmark, whilst to the west the present Well Road (previously known as Marshe Way) led towards the marshland and a ford across the estuary. The road leading north- south connected the coast with the settlements inland, and as the trade conducted from Aberthaw flourished, it would be used for the conveying of imported goods to the markets at St. Athan and Cowbridge.
Of the buildings grouped around the crossroads, the original fabric of Lower Farm House and the once- thatched Rose Cottage and Marsh Cottages can all be dated to the medieval era; the Blue Anchor Inn is likewise of medieval origin, and appears to have been erected during the 14th century. The village, which came within the parish of Penmark, is also known to have included a small chapel which was possibly located towards the south of the settlement, as suggested by the marking of ‘Chapplefeld’ on the Evans Mouse map of 1622. This was to serve as a place of worship until being converted to a house at the turn of the 17th century.
By this time the port of Aberthaw, situated to the south east of the village proper, had emerged as a small but thriving harbour: ‘a drie Haven for small vessels’, as Phaer’s Memoranda of 1562 described it; ‘the Countrie upon the Coaste somewhat bare but within daily passage to Mynet [Minehead] and Douster [Dunster]’. The ships took wool and foodstuffs from Wales and returned laden with wine, salt, dried fruit and leather from the towns of northern France. Its importance was to be furthered by the loss of Porthkerry harbour to a storm of 1584, rendering Aberthaw the principal calling- point within South Wales between Cardiff and Swansea.
By the first half of the 17th century boats were departing for a wide variety of destinations in not only England and France but also Spain and Ireland. A similarly flourishing trade with the West Indies, chiefly in sugar and tobacco, did not, however, survive the disruption caused by the outbreak of the Civil War.
Within the context of East Aberthaw village, the significance of the port is indicated by the fact that more than 20 members of the small community had come to depend upon it for their livelihoods by the 17th century. The manner in which this was conducted was not always scrupulously legal: smuggling was rife within the Bristol Channel, and buildings such as the fortified Marsh House, built just to the west of the village in 1636, appear to have been used for the storing of illegally imported goods. Beyond the business of the harbour, agriculture also continued to be of central importance to the settlement. At this time, the land to the east of the village, between East Aberthaw and Fonmon, was marked by windmills and orchards. To the west, the marshes provided land suitable for grazing.
Aberthaw carried on attracting maritime trade throughout the course of the 18th century, but by the 1840s its role as a port was in decline: the harbour ‘is resorted to by a few coasting-vessels of inferior burthen’, as the Topographical Dictionary of Wales in 1849 reported. The principle material then being exported, however, was the local lias limestone, called Aberthaw tarras, which was used to make hydraulic lime, which sets under water and was therefore very useful for building light houses (including the Eddystone Lighthouse) and canal locks. This limestone was to play a key role in the local economy during the ensuing years, beginning with the opening of Aberthaw Lime Works in 1888. From 1897 the area was served by the newly-constructed Vale of Glamorgan Railway, and a second plant, the Aberthaw and Bristol Channel Portland Cement Works, began production to the north of the village in 1916. Today, the Vale of Glamorgan line remains open. This provides a link to the power station and cement works, and has recently been reopened for passenger traffic.
The establishment of these industries in close proximity to East Aberthaw was to result in an increased demand for residential accommodation, and by 1919 two new stretches of housing, namely Burton Terrace and Railway Terrace, had been added at the northern and southern edges of the village. The community, by this time, had gained a Methodist Chapel and a Mission Room, the latter erected in an Arts and Crafts style on Station Road. Services such as a post office and village shop were also established.
The last significant change to the area was to be brought about by the opening of the Aberthaw Power Station in 1966, which resulted in the course of the river being diverted and last remains of the port essentially removed. Beyond the conversion of the former mission hall and a number of former agricultural buildings to residential use, East Aberthaw itself, however, has undergone little development.