Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1136 'packs of wolves descended from the Welsh mountains, and found their way into Gower, and de-
voured the bodies of a large number of men slain in battle between the Normans and Welsh.'
Towards the end of the thirteenth century the earlier structures were replaced by the strong stone
castles present today, at locations such as Oxwich, Penrice, and Pennard. Although some of the castles
were damaged during Owain Glyn Dŵr's revolt between 1400 and 1413, their construction marked the
end of Welsh resistance. One result of the Norman Conquest was that English settlers from the West
CountrycrossedtheBristolChannel,andthiswasamajorforceincreatingthedistinctivecharacterofthe
people and the peninsula.
In this period all land was owned by the Lord Signeur and held under him by the lords of the various
manors. It was worked by the local people, mainly in large open fields. In Gower there were important
and extensive manors, which were part of the Seignory (the lordship) of Gower. The Lord Signeur held
the two principal demesne manors of
Gower Anglicana
and
Gower Wallicana
. The departure of the last
resident lord in the 1320s marked the beginning of a long period of uncertainty over its rulership, and the
later lords hardly visited the peninsula.
CULVER HOLE
Located in a natural cleft some 420 metres west of Port-Eynon Point, the impressive medieval pigeon
house of Culver Hole (Fig. 29) is thought to represent the last remains of Port-Eynon Castle that may
have previously existed on the cliff top above and which was mentioned in lawsuit records in 1353. The
massive 18 metre high masonry wall, pierced with windows, seems to have been used as a columbarium,
or dovecote, where pigeons were bred for food. On the inner face of the wall, and reached by a rough
stone stairway, are hundreds of L-shaped nest holes, typical of pigeon houses. Popular legends maintain
that it was a smugglers' retreat, but the fact that the Old English for pigeon is
culver
almost certainly
proves the matter. One of the mysteries of Gower is why a dovecote came to be built in such a remote
location. Local tradition records that Culver Hole was built by the same family who built Oxwich Castle,
which possesses a more normal dovecote. Alfred Watkins, the extraordinary Victorian country gentleman
best known for his ley theory, who visited the site and undertook 'a rather difficult climb' up the inside of
the wall, also considered the matter in his 1891 article on 'pigeon houses in Herefordshire and Gower':
But why should a dovecote be constructed in this lonely and unusual situation? (high tides wash
the floor of the cave). This was a puzzle until I remembered that the wild rock dove still inhabits
this coast line, that in former times they were far more plentiful, that they nest in the numerous
caves and clefts, and that all our domestic pigeons are direct descendants of, and will interbreed
with these wild doves (
Columba livia
). Here, then, is the inevitable conclusion I arrived at; that
in castle-building times, a dovecote was built in the cliff with the evident intention of enticing and
perhaps partly domesticating the wild pigeons. With what success will probably be never known.
There is another Culver Hole near Three Chimneys at the western end of Broughton Bay, which is a cave
used as a burial place during the Bronze Age. It too was obviously used by pigeons at one stage in its
history.
THE GREAT DEER PARK
With the Normans came an interest in deer management and the creation of deer parks. These are much
rarerinWalesthaninEngland,butGowerhasoneofthebestexamplesatParcleBreos(Fig.30).Thedeer
