 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2014) |
| Gower |
|---|
 |
Rotherslade is a small stretch of sandy beach at the eastern end of Langland Bay in the south Gower Peninsula, Wales. Previously known as 'Little Langland', it only exists as a separate beach at high tide. At low tide it is continuous with Langland Bay.
At the head of Rotherslade once stood a large concrete structure. This was the site of a beach café and dance hall. However, it was left abandoned and derelict for many years and became a major eyesore to some people. After much discussion, including the idea of getting the Army to use explosives to demolish it, in the new millennium the structure was knocked down and replaced with concrete terracing.
On the top level of the terrace is a small café which is open for business on most days of the year, as well as public toilets. The cliff path from the Mumbles to Langland Bay and Caswell runs directly outside the café, which also has an outside seating area overlooking the beach.
Above the concrete terrace are a number of rows of privately owned beach huts, which are located on another concrete terrace structure.
The beach is serviced by Rotherslade Road which runs from the busy, multi-junction, Langland Corner and has a number of large houses and maisonettes on its eastern side, but only a small hotel and a few houses at the top end on its western side. The road has never seen its own bus service, mainly due to the fact there is no turning space at the beach end.
From 1892 until the final years of the 20th Century, Rotherslade hosted the Osborne Hotel. The famous Impressionist artist, Alfred Sisley, stayed in the Hotel during his honeymoon in 1897. While there, he painted at least eleven views around the Bay. These included two views of Langland Bay, and six views of Rotherslade Bay from different angles, some in stormy or misty weather. He also made three views of the large rock (Storr Rock, then known as Donkey Rock) close to the entrance to the Tor Cave. His painting of 'Donkey Rock in the Evening' now belongs to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. [1]
During the 20th century the hotel was often frequented by visiting rugby and cricket teams playing at the St. Helens ground in nearby Swansea. The hotel fell on hard times and after it lay derelict for a short period, it was demolished in 2003. It was replaced by a large complex of luxury apartments, known as 'The Osborne Apartments', that were completed in 2006. A public right-of-way has been maintained from Rotherslade Road, on new steel staging and steps to emerge on the sharp bend in Langland Bay Road.
The construction of the Osborne Hotel gave rise to the discovery of Rother's Tor Cave. In 1892, numerous prehistoric finds, including a mammoth's tooth, were found here and, like most of the other finds from Gower caves, are kept on public display in Swansea Museum. Rother's Tor Cave was filled in and sealed to secure the foundations of the hotel.
Swansea is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea.
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is in South West Wales and is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, Wales. It projects towards the Bristol Channel. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air. He deviated into figure painting only rarely and, unlike Renoir and Pissarro, he found that Impressionism fulfilled his artistic needs.
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales and South West England. It extends from the smaller Severn Estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean. It takes its name from the English city and port of Bristol.
Swansea Bay is a bay on the southern coast of Wales. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan, River Kenfig and Clyne River flow into the bay. Swansea Bay and the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel experience a large tidal range. The shipping ports in Swansea Bay are Swansea Docks, Port Talbot Docks and Briton Ferry wharfs.
Three Cliffs Bay, otherwise Three Cliff Bay, is a bay on the south coast of the Gower Peninsula in the City and County of Swansea, Wales. The bay takes its name from the three sea cliffs that jut out into the bay. Pennard Pill, a large stream, flows into the sea in the middle of the bay.
The Maritime Quarter is a residential area of Swansea, Wales, UK located immediately south of the city centre shopping core. It falls within Swansea's Castle ward. The area is bounded by Brynmill to the west, Swansea Bay to the South, the River Tawe to the east and the A4067 to the north.
Bishopston is a large village and community situated on the Gower Peninsula, 6 miles (9.7 km) west south west of the centre of Swansea in South Wales.
Langland Bay is a popular coastal holiday resort in Gower, Swansea in south Wales. It is a popular surfing beach which regularly meets the European Blue Flag award for quality.
Caswell Bay, is a beach on the south east of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales. It is a sandy beach popular with families, holiday makers and surfers, and it regularly achieves Blue Flag status.
Trebarwith Strand is a section of coastline located near the coastal settlement of Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, England, UK, 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) south of Tintagel. It has 800m of sandy beach contained by cliffs in which natural caves are found. The beach can only be accessed at low tide. The strand was once used to land ships to export slate from the nearby quarries while sand from the beach was used for agricultural purposes. The view from the beach is dominated by rocks 300m offshore known as Gull Rock or Otterham Rocks.
Whiteford Sands is a two-mile expanse of beach on the northern side of the Gower Peninsula, south Wales. It is the most northerly beach on Gower and sits on the edge of the Loughor estuary.
Mumbles Beach is a very small sheltered area of sand and rock pools sandwiched between Swansea Bay beach and Bracelet Bay in the south eastern corner of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales.
Blue Pool Bay is a small cove near the village of Llangennith in Gower, Wales. The cove is bordered by cliffs, and is accessible via a clifftop path and a steep, unstable path down to the beach. The beach is covered fully at high tide and takes its name from a large, natural rockpool. Rhossili Bay is nearby.
The Mumbles is a district of Swansea, Wales, located on the south-east corner of the unitary authority area. It is also a local government community using the same name. At the 2001 census the population was 16,774, reduced slightly to 16,600 at the 2011 Census. The district is named after the headland of Mumbles, located on its south-east corner.
Swansea Beach stretches for five miles along Swansea Bay between the Maritime Quarter and the "Knab Rock" near Mumbles in Wales. It is backed by a promenade/cycle track and a coastal road. The southern section of the Swansea Bay beach between Blackpill and Mumbles is designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The cuisine of Gower, a peninsula in south Wales, is based on ingredients grown, raised or collected on or around the peninsula. The cuisine is based on fresh ingredients with recipes based around a fish or meat dish. Until the twentieth century, the peninsula was virtually cut off from other markets due to poor roads, and no rail connection. The result was that Gower became self-sufficient in food.
The Gower and Swansea Bay Coast Path (Welsh: Llwybr arfordir Penrhyn Gŵyr a Bae Abertawe is part of the Wales Coast Path, an 1,400-kilometre long-distance walking route around the whole coast of Wales that opened in 2012. The Gower and Swansea Bay stretch is 156 kilometres in length, running along the coast of the Gower Peninsula from Loughor, Swansea to Kenfig Dunes near Port Talbot, South Wales. The number of people using the Wales Coast Path in the Swansea local authority area was 349,333.
The geology of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales is central to the area's character and to its appeal to visitors. The peninsula is formed almost entirely from a faulted and folded sequence of Carboniferous rocks though both the earlier Old Red Sandstone and later New Red Sandstone are also present. Gower lay on the southern margin of the last ice sheet and has been a focus of interest for researchers and students in that respect too. Cave development and the use of some for early human occupation is a further significant aspect of the peninsula's scientific and cultural interest.
