Porthcawl is a town and community in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales. It is located on the south coast, 25 miles west of Cardiff and 19 miles south-east of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the South Wales coast, overlooking the Bristol Channel, Porthcawl developed as a coal port during the 19th century, but its trade was soon taken over by more rapidly developing ports such as Barry.