BAGLAN, a parish, in the hundred of NEATH, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (S.) from Neath, on the road to
Cardiff, comprising the townships of Higher Baglan and Lower Baglan, each maintaining its own poor, and containing 410
inhabitants, of which number, 58 are in Higher Baglan, and 352 in Lower Baglan. This small parish, which comprises not
more than two thousand five hundred acres, is delightfully situated in the midst of rich and beautifully diversified
scenery, bounded on one side by mountains, the acclivities of which are thickly wooded, and commanding over the lower
grounds a magnificent view of Swansea bay. The beauty of its situation, and the local advantages which it possesses,
have made it a favourite place abrupt acclivity, in this parish, are the venerable remains of East Orchard castle, erected
by Roger Berkrolles, or Berclos, one of the twelve knights who accompanied the Norman adventurer, Fitz-Hamon, upon whom
this lordship was bestowed at the time of the Conquest. A small rivulet winds pleasingly round the base of the eminence on
which the castle is built, and the mined walls, mantled with ivy, present an object highly picturesque. Berclos is said to
have divided his lands with the original proprietor of the whole, and out of his reserved moiety to have afforded
subsistence to other families, who had been dispossessed of their property by the Norman usurpation. The average annual
expenditure for the support of the poor is £261. 6.