Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Estate, it was bought by a firm of timber merchants and in 1952 a licence was granted by the Forestry
Commission for the selective felling of 'certain mature trees' in the woodland. It was promised that the
operation would 'in no way alter the external appearance of the wood'. Despite assurances to the relevant
government minister, Glamorgan County Council, the National Parks Commission and the Gower Soci-
ety,MeadMoorandMillWoodweredestroyedandreplacedbya'abaldandscarredhillside'.Onlyafew
stately and ancient-looking oaks now remain, surrounded by birch and ash woodland and deteriorating
beechandconiferplantations, asareminderofthepastrichnessoftheareaandthefailurebygovernment
agencies to protect this 'national possession'.
The report also covered the geological importance of the peninsula and recommended that the fol-
lowing Geological Reserves be scheduled: Worms Head, Bishopston Valley with Pwlldu Head, Minchin
Hole, Caswell Bay, Oystermouth Old Quarry, Ilston Quarry. All of these sites are now protected by legis-
lation.
THE GOWER SOCIETY
On 23 December 1947 four people - a forty-year-old doctor, Gwent Jones, an architect of seventy, Ernest
Morgan, a young teacher, Jim Rees, and a student at college, David Bernard Rees - who had been for
some months pursuing their common passion, which was the study of Gower, held a meeting to propose
the formation of a public society 'to look for kindred spirits among the general public'. The first public
meeting oftheGowerSociety washeldon7January1948.Around125peopleattended alecture evening
attheRoyalInstitutionofSouthWaleswhereJimReesandDavidBernardReesreadpaperson'Invasions
of Gower' and 'Gower churches'. On Port-Eynon Point there is a memorial to two of the early founders
of the Society, Gwent Jones and Stephen Lee (Fig. 166).
The original aim of the Society was to 'encourage research and appreciation of Gower', although this
was not quite how it worked out. The fateful role of protector of Gower and organiser of public opinion
was thrust on the fledgling society quite suddenly, and unexpectedly, by the Rhossili holiday-camp scare
of July 1948. It was proposed to build a holiday camp at Hillend, and a partial levelling of the Burrows
was planned. Gower by this time was a National Parks 'reservation area' and the scheme was eventually
dropped, but the publicity provided a great boost to the Gower Society, which soon had over 200 mem-
bers. Today it is one of the most active amenity societies in Britain. Other battles successfully fought by
the Society in those early days included the proposed siting of a shell testing range in the Burry Estuary
and a radar mast and 'large concrete installation' onthe top ofRhossili Down.The woodsat Nicholaston,
however, were in particular danger in the early 1950s. They had been bought by a speculator who was
'more interested in reducing the woods to timber than in re-planning an over-mature landscape'. An Ox-
wich Bay Protection Fund was launched by the Society and a public enquiry held. A compromise, which
involvedlimitedfelling,wastheresult,andtheForestryCommissionwasbroughtintogiveadviceonre-
planting. The controversy eventually resulted in the Forestry Commission acquiring a lease over the site,
following which the Nature Conservancy acquired the woods and brought them into the Oxwich National
Nature Reserve. A proposal too was made in 1954 by the Swansea Corporation to set up a civil airport on
part of the derelict RAF station on Fairwood Common. A parliamentary Bill was drafted 'to make provi-
sion for the extinguishment of certain common or commonable rights and other rights …' This was one
battlethattheSocietydidnotwin,andhereagainacompromisehadtobeaccepted.Aclausewasinserted
into the resulting Act, however, stating that 'if the enclosed area ceases to be used as an aerodrome, it
shall revert to an open space'.
