The village was established in the 12th century and was situated around
Kenfig Castle. The encroaching sand caused by intensive cattle grazing and increasing temperatures due to the
Medieval Warm Period made habitation of the area difficult and by the 14th century most of the fields and buildings were unusable. The village was abandoned by 1650. The borough contributed with other
Glamorgan towns to sending a member of parliament to
Westminster until the
Reform Act 1832. The municipal
ceremonial mace is in the
National Museum of Wales, but a
pewter copy is held in the
Prince of Wales Inn, a pub and Grade II-listed inn, which was built in the 17th century and over the years has served as town hall, courthouse, and a mortuary for sailors whose bodies washed ashore on nearby beaches. In 1940, work commenced on a
calcium carbide plant at Kenfig, built for the
Ministry of Supply and operated by British Industrial Solvents, a subsidiary of the
Distillers Company. Calcium carbide was a vital raw material for
acetylene production. The Kenfig plant closed in 1966, overtaken by cheaper methods of producing acetylene from the
catalytic cracking of oil and foreign competitors lower electricity costs. In 1968,
BorgWarner opened a plant at Kenfig for the manufacture of automatic transmissions. In January 1976 the plant completed its two millionth gearbox, which was 'presented' to
A B Volvo. In 2009, two
Grob Tutor T1 aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed in the nature reserve, killing both pilots and two teenage air cadets. ==In literature==