Naturalists and Visitors - Gower - page 14

the county, including Gower. He had many interests but his reputation was unfortunately tainted by nu-
merous literary and historical forgeries that he produced with the intention of enhancing the history and
culture of his native county. Because of his forgeries, the prevailing view until recently has been that
anything written by him must be ignored. This interpretation is now being challenged and there is every
reason to suggest that Williams was in fact Wales's greatest Romantic scholar. Included amongst the 88
volumes of literary manuscripts in the National Library of Wales there is a vast collection of notes on
Glamorgan. A preliminary analysis of the archaeological information contained in these has shown not
only that he produced field records of quality and accuracy, but also that his work was far superior to
that of the contemporaries who ridiculed him. The same high standards apply to his notes on agriculture,
botany and topography, although they have never been properly analysed. It is likely that there are many
references to the natural history of the peninsula contained within these, but to find them would be a ma-
jor academic undertaking.
FIG 7. The 'Wesley' cottage in Oxwich, frequently used by John Wesley on his preaching tours in the eighteenth
century. (Jonathan Mullard)
The Romantic Revival epitomised by Williams was accompanied by an increasing interest in botany
and a new era began, that of the production of a variety of local lists and floras. The first such list to
include Gower plants, although his main interest was the study of shells, was produced by Dr William
Turton for the first edition of the Swansea Guide , produced in 1802 by the Reverend John Oldisworth,
Master of the Free Grammar School. Unfortunately, while Turton's collection of shells, including some
from the peninsula, was well regarded and is now at the United States National Museum in Washington,
hisbotanicalrecordswerenotalwaysaccurate.TheguidealsoincludedachecklistofbirdsbyJohnLucas
of Stouthall, which includes a remarkable 146 species. This list, however, requires careful interpretation
and many of the names such as 'black and white gull', 'greater tern' and 'Welsh sandpiper', a 'new' spe-