Ogmore-by-Sea (Welsh: Aberogwr, meaning "Mouth of the River Ogmore") is a seaside village in St Brides Major community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the western limit of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast of south Wales. The population in 2011 was 878. History A polished flint axe-head of Seamer type was found at Ogmore Mill in 1976. Just like its counterparts in Cornwall, Ireland and Brittany, the west-facing beach and coast was notorious as a graveyard for ships during strong on-shore winds (south-westerly winds from the Atlantic). Many ships, in particular, were destroyed on Tusker Rock, a brutal reef slightly out to sea that is totally covered at high tide. There are urban legends of organised shipwrecking at Ogmore (and all across the Vale of Glamorgan coastline) like tales from Cornwall of the use of false lights so that passing ships would mistake a flickering light as a lighthouse or ship at anchor and be lured to destruction, but there is no historical evidence for that. In 1954, a church was begun in one of the houses in the village. It grew too big for the house and in 1968, a building was erected to provide a place in which the group could meet. The church is still there now and meets in the same building; it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. Geography Ogmore-by-Sea is about south of Bridgend and about west of Cardiff. The beaches look out on Tusker Rock, and have sand at low-tide and sharp rocks at high-tide. The River Ogmore estuary is flanked by Ogmore beach on one side and the dunes of Merthyr Mawr on the other. The estuary makes bathing unsafe from most of the beach. The rocky shoreline is well known as a rock climbing location. It is an interesting place geologically with a variety of fossils clearly visible. Many people use the car park by the estuary to the River Ogmore after entering the village, others move on to Southerndown. Ogmore has many beaches; along the path from the car park are Hardee's Bay and Horseshoe Bay. Further on below Brig Y Don hill there are deeps with caves and secluded coves, many only accessible at times permitted by the tide. Geology The rocks exposed along the stretch of coast near Ogmore-by-Sea were laid down between 340 and 195 million years ago. They are all sedimentary rocks, originally deposited