beach Located immediately to the west of Cardiff between the
M4 motorway and the
Severn Estuary, the county borough of Vale of Glamorgan covers 33,097 hectares (130 square miles) and has of coastline. The
physiographical district from which the modern administrative area derives its name is the slightly larger, generally low-lying area which extends from the River Kenfig in the west, eastwards as far as the
Rhymney. The
Pennant Sandstone scarp forms its northern boundary. The largest centre of population in the borough is
Barry (51,502 inhabitants). Other towns include
Cowbridge (6,180),
Dinas Powys (7,799),
Llantwit Major (10,621) and
Penarth (22,083). Much of the population inhabits villages, hamlets and individual farms. The area is low-lying, with a maximum height of above sea level at Tair Onen to the east of Cowbridge. The borough borders
Cardiff to the north east,
Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north,
Bridgend to the north west and the
Bristol Channel to the south. The yellow-grey cliffs on the
Glamorgan Heritage Coast (which stretches between
Gileston and
Ogmore-by-Sea) are unique on the
Celtic Sea coastline (i.e.
Cornwall,
Wales, Ireland and
Brittany) as they are formed of a combination of
Liassic limestone, shale and
Carboniferous Limestone. The rocks were formed between 360 and 200 million years ago when the whole area lay underneath a warm, shallow sea at the start of the
Jurassic period. Thus today the cliffs contain traces of Jurassic sea creatures, such as ammonites. The
calcium carbonate (
limestone) in the soil allows crops to be grown which would be difficult elsewhere in Wales. The Liassic limestone and Carboniferous Limestone are also used in the Vale as building materials; in previous centuries it was taken by
sloops across the Bristol Channel to North Cornish ports such as Bude,
Boscastle and
Port Isaac to fertilise Cornwall's poor
slate soils; the hard Devonian slate was brought back from Cornwall as a roofing material for houses in the Vale. As the Glamorgan Heritage Coast faces westwards out to the Atlantic, it bears the brunt of onshore (westerly and south-westerly) winds: ideal for surfing, but a nuisance for ships sailing up the
Bristol Channel to
Cardiff. As in North Cornwall and South-West Ireland, the fierce Atlantic gales created ideal conditions for
deliberate shipwrecking, which until 100 years ago was very common along the coast.
Nash Point,
Southerndown and
Ogmore-by-Sea have some of the highest shipwreck victims on the coast of Wales; as recently as 1962 an oil tanker, the BP Driver, crashed into Nash Point during a violent westerly storm, was torn to shreds by the reefs and eventually sank, although the crew were saved by various Bristol Channel lifeboats and helicopters. ==Economy==