Please note, the majority of properties on the trail are now private residences,

please respect their privacy.

Crosstown

Crosstown is an ancient settlement within the historic parish of Llancarfan, occupying the agricultural plateau to the north of the village. Its origins appear to reach back to the medieval period, when the surrounding landscape was divided into fields, closes and small settlements. The house known as Crosstown is particularly significant: it is a much-altered medieval hall house, with surviving features including a medieval doorway and a trefoil-headed window. During the 16th century the house was substantially altered, including the insertion of a large fireplace and other Tudor features. The first documentary evidence for the house dates from 1561, when it was recorded as belonging to John Giles, and Crosstown subsequently appears among the mansions associated with the Glamorgan gentry.

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The wider Crosstown area also has evidence of an even earlier and more complex history. Nearby Middlecross contains the remains of a probable medieval ringwork and bailey, possibly representing a small timber castle, while the surrounding field boundaries preserve traces of the medieval agricultural landscape. A 17th-century manorial map records named groups of fields around the area, some of whose boundaries appear to have medieval origins. By the 19th century Crosstown remained essentially an agricultural settlement, with the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1879 showing the house, farm buildings and a new vicarage nearby. The survival of the old house, lanes, field patterns and archaeological remains makes Crosstown an important part of the remarkably well-preserved historic landscape of Llancarfan.