Walking on the Gower. Andrew Davies

left behind raised platforms, or raised beaches, containing beach deposits cemented with calcium carbonate. Where the beach deposit contains limpet shells among the rounded limestone fragments and sand it is known as the Patella raised beach. Many of the coastal caves open onto the platform of these beaches and it is likely that the caves were enlarged by wave action when they were at sea level.

History

      The first humans to appear in Gower were small groups of nomadic hunters and gatherers who left behind little evidence of their visits as they moved through the landscape during the Palaeolithic era. Clues to their presence come from stone tools or waste from their manufacture. The chance find of a flint axe on Rhossili beach has pointed to human activity in this area as early as 125,000 years ago; then there is nothing until 100,000 years later, when further evidence for human presence is found, mainly from cave sites such as Cathole.

      Excavations in the limestone caves have revealed evidence for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic activity, with the most famous of these being the ‘Red Lady of Paviland’. This was in fact the burial of a Cro-Magnon man, the earliest known modern human, just before the final advance of the ice sheets 28,000 years ago in the Upper Palaeolithic. For around 15,000 years afterwards the climate was too cold for human occupation but, as the temperature warmed from around 13,000 years ago, people returned and the cave sites were again occupied by hunter-gatherer groups pursuing prey. There were probably no more than 50 people in the whole of Wales at this time, consisting of one or two extended families.

      Goat’s Hole, the burial site of the ‘Red Lady of Paviland‘ (Walks 15–17 and 21)

      As the ice finally retreated around 10,000 years ago plant communities dominated by grass and sedge spread northwards. Many of the present-day plants found in the heathland and limestone grassland grew within these open communities, but by about 8500 years ago, when the climate was slightly warmer and drier than it is today, trees and shrubs, such as birch and pine followed by ash, oak, elm and hazel, had largely replaced them.

      Mesolithic people are known to have fished and gathered shellfish when the coastline was only a few kilometres beyond its present location, with sea level rising rapidly to reach just 15-20m below its present-day height.

      Evidence of activity is more plentiful during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods as people began to construct various funerary monuments for their dead, such as chambered tombs and cairns like those in Parc le Breos and Sweyne’s Howes. The communal graves and flint scatters suggest that groups of people inhabited the area during the Neolithic period, although no evidence for settlements has been found.

      Many enclosures were constructed on hilltops and coastal promontories during the Iron Age and the remains of earthwork banks and ditches are still visible. Limited excavation at a number of these sites has found evidence for domestic activity. Iron Age pottery has also been recovered during the excavation of caves on Gower.

      Interior chamber of Cathole Cave (Walks 7–8 and 30)

      The Romans conquered the Silures, the dominant Iron Age Welsh tribe, in AD50 but there is surprisingly little structural evidence of Roman activity in Gower, even though there were military forts at Loughor to the north-east and Neath to the east. However, the recovery of Roman finds from the region, including two large coin hoards, illustrates that there was a degree of Roman activity on the peninsula; remains excavated near Oystermouth Church show the presence of a Roman Villa at this site. The Romans departed around AD410 allowing South Wales to revert to the Iron Age-like structure of small independent kingdoms.

      Evidence of early medieval activity in Gower is attested to by a number of carved stones, such as those at Llangennith, Llanmadoc and Bishopston. These stones originate from early Christian sites with the Christian tombstone at Llanmadoc Church dating from around AD500. St Cenydd founded a small monastery at Llangennith in the 6th century but it was destroyed by Viking invaders and no structural evidence of it has been found. The Leper Stone in the porch of Llanrhidian Church has simple carvings of human figures and stylised animals and is thought to date from the 9th or 10th century.

      Weobley Castle (Walks 26–29)

      As a consequence of the Norman invasion many English settlers migrated across the Bristol Channel from the West Country into south Wales. Around 1106, the Norman King Henry I granted to Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, the right to conquer the Welsh commote of Gwyr, which then extended between the rivers Tawe and Llwchr and as far north as the rivers Amman and Twrch. The Earl ruled Gwyr as a Marcher lordship, based at Swansea Castle, the control of which subsequently passed between a number of Norman families throughout the medieval period.

      The Welsh fought back at least six times between 1113 and 1217 by burning the turf and timber castles, but they failed to take control of the peninsula. The strong stone castles still standing today at Oxwich, Penrice and Pennard were built at the end of the 13th century, and many village churches also date from this period. The castles were subsequently attacked and damaged by Owain Glyn Dwr’s revolt between 1400 and 1413. Other evidence from the medieval period comes from the remains of strip field systems that can still be identified in parts of South Gower, the best example being the Viel at Rhossili.

      Many farmhouses and associated out-buildings survive from post-medieval times. The large number of lime-burning kilns in the region reflects the agricultural activity during this period together with the associated remains of quarries, bell pits and collieries.

Wildlife habitats

      Gower is extraordinarily rich in high-quality wildlife sites, boasting three National Nature Reserves, 24 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, 18 Wildlife Trust Reserves and three Local Nature Reserves. This is due to its diverse habitats that include large areas of salt-marsh and mudflat, woodland, stream valleys, moorland, sand dunes, cliffs, extensive intertidal rocky reefs and exposed and sheltered beaches.

      Ilston Cwm (Walk 6)

      The limestone cliffs, up to 70m high, of the south Gower coast are a classic botanical habitat, supporting large numbers of plant species that are nationally rare. A combination of geological, climatic and historical factors has contributed to this diversity. The limestone bedrock is a controlling factor in the creation of nutrient-poor thin soils and a varied geomorphology from vertical rock faces to incised clefts creates a variety of specialist niches. These habitats are influenced by the mild winters and cool summers, giving rise to a prolonged growing season.

      Historic and present-day land use has left a surviving belt of semi-natural vegetation along the cliffs, unlike much of the UK where coastal areas have been ploughed right up to the cliff edge. Many species found here are unique to limestone grasslands as they are able to grow in the lime-rich thin soils. In turn, these plants attract a variety of insects which feed and lay eggs on them. Plants such as hoary rock-rose, spring cinquefoil, bloody cranesbill, viper’s bugloss and greater knapweed along with insects like the silky wave moth occur here.

      The south Gower cliff slopes are covered with numerous cracks and fissures created where rainwater has dissolved the limestone. Thin soils build up in the cracks, supporting specialised plants that are tolerant of the constant salty spray, such as sea plantain, thrift, rock samphire and sea beet. The cliffs all along south Gower contain some of the best examples of this habitat anywhere in the UK.

      Sea campion

      Tree mallow is found on the cliffs between Mewslade and Fall Bay, and the cliffs between Thurba and Deborah’s Hole are a stronghold for yellow whitlowgrass, an alpine flower that blooms as early as the first week in March. It can also be found in narrow crevices in the upper cliffs between Pwlldu Head and Rhossili