as lime, mud, sand and coarse pebbles, and over long periods of time these were compacted and solidified into limestone, shale and conglomerate. The oldest rocks are hard, grey limestones that make up the Carboniferous Limestone. These were laid down in a warm, shallow, subtropical sea and are rich in fossils, especially corals, crinoids and brachiopods. About 300 million years ago movements in the Earth's crust deformed and folded the rocks, as a result of which the rocks above the Carboniferous Limestone were worn away. Deposition resumed during the Triassic Period when the area was a desert with hills of limestone, and a dry plain where the Bristol Channel is now. Short violent storms caused flash-floods which carried debris down the hillsides and deposited it as alluvial fans of coarse, red conglomerate at the edge of the plain. These Triassic lie unconformably on the Carboniferous Limestone. About 205 million years ago, at the beginning of the Jurassic Period, the sea began to drown the land and the limestone hills became islands before finally being submerged. Sutton Stone, which contains pebbles of carboniferous limestone, represents rocks deposited close to the shore of these islands. In deeper water the Southerndown Beds were deposited. Finally, when deep water covered the area the alternating limestones and shales of the Blue Lias were deposited. After the early Jurassic no evidence of geological events is preserved until the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. Fluctuating sea levels caused by the growth and melting of the ice sheets affected the shape of the landscape, and the coastline was moulded into its present shape by both subaerial and marine erosion, both of which continue today. Notable landmarks Ogmore centre was built in the 1930s for the benefit of children from all over South Wales. It was closed in the mid-1990s, but was reopened as a Trust in 1998 and continued as such until 2007. Southerndown Golf Club and Portobello House are nearby. Culture and arts "Ogmore-by-the-Sea" is mentioned in the song "Don't get along with me Babe" by Cardiff band Doofer. Cardiff-born poet Dannie Abse (1923 - 2014) has a number of poems about or referencing "Ogmore-by-Sea" and other parts of the surrounding South Wales countryside. References External links St Brides Major Southerndown and Ogmore-by-sea community website www.geograph.co.com : photos of Ogmore-by-Sea and surrounding area Villages in the Vale of Glamorgan Seaside resorts in