Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Gower is a land set apart from the rest of South Wales. It is a peninsula heading out into the Bristol
Channel owing allegiance to neither east nor west Wales. And yet it is a region of contrasts, boast-
ing much of the topographical diversity of Wales in miniature.
Diane Williams,
Gower
G
OWER IS INDEED
a land apart. Separated from the rest of Wales by the sprawling urban area of
Swansea, it retains its own identity, despite being only a short drive from the city centre. The broadcaster
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas called it a 'rare patch of the Earth's surface' and went on to say, 'No one born
in Swansea or the peninsula ever calls it The Gower. And after all the original name was Gwyr and not Y
Gwyr. People do not take kindly to this practice.' The hated definite article was once included in the title
of the new metric series of Ordnance Survey maps, and caused a lot of anger. After a strong campaign by
theGowerSocietytheerrorwascorrectedinsubsequenteditions.Sothetitleofthis topic is simply
Gower.
To Isaac Hamon, steward of the manor of Bishopston in the seventeenth century, it was 'Gowersland', al-
though he records that the peninsula was 'in Welsh called formly Tyr Gywr and Cwmwd Gwyr'. In con-
trast, the spelling of individual place names in the peninsula has always been inconsistent, and Rhossili is
a notorious example. 'It seems to be spelt differently in the church-porch, the post-office, the signposts, on
thecar-parkticketandonthemaps.IsitRhossili,Rhossily,Rhosili,Rhossilly,orRhosily?'askedVaughan-
Thomas.
Historically there have always been two Gowers. Following the Norman invasion the medieval Lord-
ship of Gower, which extended beyond the peninsula into mainland South Wales, was divided into English
Gower, Gower Anglicana, and Welsh Gower, Gower Wallicana. To the south and west of the dividing line
compact rural settlements were created and English was spoken. To the north and east of the dividing line
singlefarmsandhamletswerethedominantelementsinthesettlementpatternandWelshwasspoken.From
thisitisclearthattheNormanstookthelandwiththebettersoilsandclimate fortheirownuse.Thecultur-
alboundary,stillevidenttoday,thereforehasitsoriginsinthegeologicalboundaryandwasthereasonwhy
the area was once known as 'Little England beyond Glamorgan'. In this Gower has much in common with
south Pembrokeshire, which was known as 'Little England beyond Wales', referring to the invisible divide
known as the Landsker line that was created there between the English and the Welsh during the Norman
period.
This account is concerned mainly with the natural history of peninsular Gower (Fig. 1), an area that
is slightly larger than the present-day boundary of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (
AONB
). The
small, formerly industrialised, northeast section of the peninsula around Crofty and Pen-clawdd was ex-
cluded from the designated area, an omission that does not make sense today. Gower is approximately 25
kilometres in length and between 5 and 10 kilometres wide, covering an area of around 200 square kilo-
metres. It is bounded on the south by the Bristol Channel, on the west by Carmarthen Bay, on the north by
