Oxwich

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Oxwich
Oxwich st illtyd gower rb 200507.jpg
St Illtyd's Church
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Oxwich
Location within Swansea
OS grid reference SS494868
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town SWANSEA
Postcode district SA3
Dialling code 01792
Police South Wales
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Swansea
51°33′32″N4°10′16″W / 51.559°N 4.171°W / 51.559; -4.171 Coordinates: 51°33′32″N4°10′16″W / 51.559°N 4.171°W / 51.559; -4.171

Oxwich is a village on the Gower Peninsula, in the city and county of Swansea in south Wales. Oxwich is part of the small community of Penrice which extends from the village of Horton to Oxwich Bay, and as of 2001 recorded a population of 454 inhabitants. [1]

Contents

Oxwich's main site of historical interest is the castle which is thought by many academics to be the most historic castle on the Gower Peninsula. The earliest evidence of it being inhabited is in 1459, where Philip Mansel was recorded as holding it. The Mansel family were a minor gentry in South Wales, who grew in power and prestige under the Tudor monarchs. [2] The parish church of St. Illtyd's overlooks Oxwich Bay. A place of worship has stood on this site since the 6th century, but the main tower of today was built in the 14th century. The chancel of this church is thought to be a 6th-century cell. [3] The church bell in the tower also dates back to the 14th century, but was recast in 1892. In the churchyard there is a well, which locals believe is haunted by a ghost. Legend has it that a ghost was seen in the churchyard before vanishing into a well. [4]

National nature reserve

The series of coastal sand-dunes, lakes and woodland form a national nature reserve designated for its great variety of ecosystems, its rare and unusual plant life and for it very unusual combination of environment in such close proximity. [5]

Tourism

The Oxwich Bay Hotel is close to the church of St. Illtyd, set in eight acres of land overlooking the west end of Oxwich Bay. There is also a campsite in Oxwich. It has a heated swimming pool and accepts tents and trailers.

Geography and wildlife

Short video by Natural Resources Wales of some of the animals at Oxwich

Oxwich Bay is one of the most popular beaches in Gower, which has an expanse of curving sand, with Cefn Bryn in the background. The nearby woods at Nicholston however, came under threat in the 1950s, when they were bought by a speculator who 'was more interested in reducing the woods to timber than re-planning an over-mature landscape.' An Oxwich Bay protection Fund was then launched, and a compromise was agreed to ensure limited felling. [6]

Related Research Articles

Swansea City and county in Wales

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. The county is officially known as the City and County of Swansea. Swansea, which includes Swansea Bay and the Gower Peninsula, is on the southwest coast of Wales and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan and the ancient Welsh commote of Gŵyr. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales and the twenty-fifth largest city in the United Kingdom. Swansea is the second most populous local authority area in Wales with a population of 241,300 in 2014. Together with Neath and Port Talbot, Swansea formed a wider Urban Area of 300,352 in 2011.

Glamorgan Historic county of Wales

Glamorgan, or sometimes Glamorganshire, is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. Originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing, then taken over by the Normans as a lordship, the area that became known as Glamorgan was both a rural, pastoral area, and a conflict point between the Norman lords and the Welsh princes. It was defined by a large concentration of castles.

Gower Peninsula Human settlement in Wales

Gower or the Gower Peninsula in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Bristol Channel Large inlet to the river Severn in southwest Great Britain

The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean. It takes its name from the English city of Bristol, and is over 30 miles (50 km) wide at its western limit.

Cefn Sidan Beach in Carmarthenshire, Wales

Cefn Sidan, translated from Welsh, means "silky ridge". This long sandy beach and its dunes form the outer edge of the Pembrey Burrows between Burry Port and Kidwelly, facing southwestwards over Carmarthen Bay in South Wales. Cefn Sidan beach is backed by dunes, salt marshes, Pembrey Forest and the Pembrey Country Park.

Three Cliffs Bay

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.

Penrice Castle

Penrice Castle is a 13th-century castle near Penrice, Swansea on the Gower Peninsula, Wales. Nearby is a neo-classical mansion house built in the 1770s.

Oxwich Bay

Oxwich Bay is a bay on the south of the Gower Peninsula, Wales.

Oystermouth Castle

Oystermouth Castle is a Norman stone castle in Wales, overlooking Swansea Bay on the east side of the Gower Peninsula near the village of the Mumbles.

Oxwich Castle

Oxwich Castle is a Grade I listed castle which occupies a position on a wooded headland overlooking Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales. Although it may occupy the site of an earlier fortification, it is a castle in name only as it is a grand Tudor fortified manor house built in courtyard style.

Llangennith Human settlement in Wales

Llangennith is a village in the City and County of Swansea, South Wales. It is located in the Gower. Moor Lane leads westwards to a caravan park near Rhossili Bay and Burrows Lane leads northwards to a caravan park overlooking Broughton Bay. The village has a scattering of houses, centred on St Cenydd's church, and the King's Head pub.

Port Eynon Human settlement in Wales

Port Eynon is a village and community within the City and County of Swansea, Wales, located on the far south tip of the Gower Peninsula within the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The A4118 from Swansea city centre terminates here.

Loughor Castle Medieval fortification in southwestern Wales

Loughor Castle is a ruined, medieval fortification located in the town of Loughor, Wales. The castle was built around 1106 by the Anglo-Norman lord Henry de Beaumont, during the Norman invasion of Wales. The site overlooked the River Loughor and controlled a strategic road and ford running across the Gower Peninsula. The castle was designed as an oval ringwork, probably topped by wicker fence defences, and reused the remains of the former Roman fort of Leucarum.

Pennard Human settlement in Wales

Pennard is a village and community on the south of the Gower Peninsula, about 7 miles south-west of Swansea city centre. It falls within the Pennard electoral ward of Swansea. The Pennard community includes the larger settlements of Southgate and Kittle. the population as of 2011 was 2,688.

Pennard Castle Castle ruins on the Gower Peninsula, south Wales

Pennard Castle is a ruined castle, near the modern village of Pennard on the Gower Peninsula, in south Wales. The castle was built in the early 12th century as a timber ringwork following the Norman invasion of Wales. The walls were rebuilt in stone by the Braose family at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, including a stone gatehouse. Soon afterwards, however, encroaching sand dunes caused the site to be abandoned and it fell into ruin. Restoration work was carried out during the course of the 20th century and the remains of the castle are now protected under UK law as a Grade II* listed building.

Gower and Swansea Bay Coast Path

The Gower and Swansea Bay Coast Path is part of the Wales Coast Path, an 1,400-kilometre (870 mi) long-distance walking route around the whole coast of Wales that opened in 2012. The Gower and Swansea Bay stretch is 156 kilometres (97 mi) 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.

Church of St Illtyd, Penrice

The Church of St Illtyd is Grade II* Listed Building in the city and county of Swansea in south Wales. It is 1 km from Oxwich village, on a site overlooking Oxwich Bay and reached by the Wales Coast Path. It has a square churchyard with a stone wall and a modern gate. The church was originally listed on 6 March 1964. The church was originally dedicated to Hylledd, and no reason is known as to why it was changed.

Penrice is a village and community in Swansea county, Wales on the Gower peninsula. It had a population of 451 as of the 2011 UK census and includes the villages of Oxwich and Horton. Penrice has an elected community council.

The geology of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales is central to its 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.

References

  1. ↑ Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Menna, Baines; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 666. ISBN   978-0-7083-1953-6.
  2. ↑ "Oxwich Castle". castlewales.com. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "St. Illtyd's Church, Oxwich". the-gower.com. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "Oxwich Church". explore-gower.co.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Oxwich National Nature Reserve, near Swansea". Natural Resources Wales. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Gower. Collins. 2006. ISBN   0-00-716066-6.
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