Pencoed (pronounced "Pen-coyd" or "Pen-cawd", in English meaning End or Head of the wood), is a town in the county borough of Bridgend, traditional county of Glamorgan, Wales, mid-way between Wales's two largest cities of Cardiff and Swansea. Lying on the Ewenny River it has a population of around 11,000. It is believed that there was a Norman castle in what is now the town, but Pencoed did not develop until the late nineteenth century, around the coal mining industry. The coal mines have now closed.