Three Cliff Bay
Gower beaches are renowned for being the best in britain.They regularly win plaudits from top magazines and newspapers for inspirational beauty and cleanliness. Prehaps the most stunning and dramatic of all Gower seascapes is Three Cliffs Bay.The Bay is joined to the east, by Pobbles Beach and Oxwich to the West.
The bay gets its name from three jagged limestone cliffs that project out from the mainland and protects the sandy beach where Pennard Pill enters the sea. The beach is one of the finest in Gower, and is fringed by sand and dunes and the ruins of Pennard castle. Although popular, its relative inaccesibility ensures its never crowded. The limestone cliffs that back the beach contain some good quality climbing routes, and are climbable three hours either side of low tide.
Pennard was originally built on the cliff tops, close to where the Pill runs into Three Cliffs Bay, but sand encroached upon the village, and buried it, as it has done to other places along the Glamorgan coast. The Normans took possession of Gower at the beginning of the 12th Century, and erected defences consisting of earth and stone mounds, protected by ditches. These were the first castles built in Gower. However these simple castles were severely damaged during the Welsh risings, but the Normans held firm until the last half of the 13th Century, when the building of stone castles began. One of these castles was at Pennard.
Soft wind blown sand began to enroach the eastern side of the Pennard Valley, today it is largely covered by blown sand dunes. The castle was eventually covered, and now stands as an impressive ruin. An early church stood near the castle on the dunes, it was also besanded and largely dissappeared from sight. Parts of the old church was reincorporated in the present church of St Mary. There is a plaque on the church wall in memory of Vernon Watkin - "the other Swansea poet". Pennard is often described in the guide books as " a church without a village" - as the name Pennard is now generally used to describe the settlement of Southgate - also the whole of the nearby cliffs.
The currents along the beach at Three Cliffs Bay can be dangerous and caution should be exercised whilst swimming here.
The bay gets its name from three jagged limestone cliffs that project out from the mainland and protects the sandy beach where Pennard Pill enters the sea. The beach is one of the finest in Gower, and is fringed by sand and dunes and the ruins of Pennard castle. Although popular, its relative inaccesibility ensures its never crowded. The limestone cliffs that back the beach contain some good quality climbing routes, and are climbable three hours either side of low tide.
Pennard was originally built on the cliff tops, close to where the Pill runs into Three Cliffs Bay, but sand encroached upon the village, and buried it, as it has done to other places along the Glamorgan coast. The Normans took possession of Gower at the beginning of the 12th Century, and erected defences consisting of earth and stone mounds, protected by ditches. These were the first castles built in Gower. However these simple castles were severely damaged during the Welsh risings, but the Normans held firm until the last half of the 13th Century, when the building of stone castles began. One of these castles was at Pennard.
Soft wind blown sand began to enroach the eastern side of the Pennard Valley, today it is largely covered by blown sand dunes. The castle was eventually covered, and now stands as an impressive ruin. An early church stood near the castle on the dunes, it was also besanded and largely dissappeared from sight. Parts of the old church was reincorporated in the present church of St Mary. There is a plaque on the church wall in memory of Vernon Watkin - "the other Swansea poet". Pennard is often described in the guide books as " a church without a village" - as the name Pennard is now generally used to describe the settlement of Southgate - also the whole of the nearby cliffs.
The currents along the beach at Three Cliffs Bay can be dangerous and caution should be exercised whilst swimming here.
