Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIG 9. John Dillwyn-Llewelyn and his photographic equipment. (Swansea Museum)
The famous diarist the Reverend Francis Kilvert visited Gower in April 1872, staying with friends
at Ilston Rectory, and noted that it was the 'cleanest coast I ever saw - no seaweed, no pebbles, hardly
a shell - not a speck for miles along the shining sand, and scarcely even any scent of the sea'. He did
notice, however, that 'the rocks were covered with millions of barnacles, mussels, limpets and sea snails,
andthere were sea anemones inthe little poolsabove the rocks'.Onthe coast path between Langland and
Caswell Bay he records that 'a flock of strange and beautiful black and white birds flew along the rock
faces below us towards the lighthouse piping mournfully. They were I suppose some kind of gull but they
seemed to me like the spirits of the shipwrecked folk seeking and mourning for their bodies.' Kilvert was
well aware ofthedangers oftheGowercoast. The300-tonsteamship Hazard ,wrecked whenitstruck the
rocks at Port-Eynon on 11 January, a few months before his visit, is only one of nearly 360 vessels recor-
ded as lost in the area and there are probably many others. The birds Kilvert noted were without doubt
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