Burry Holms is a tidal island located on the north end of Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales. Evidence of human inhabitation goes back to the Bronze Age although at that time the sea levels were much lower and the Burry Holms would have been 12 miles inland. Since then the island has been used for various purposes although today it’s deserted.
You can walk up the beach from Rhossili but it’s a long way. I parked next to Broughton Farm Caravan Park and walked along the coast path. However, a word of warning, the island is obviously only accessible at low tide and, from what I’ve heard, the current can be pretty strong when the tide is in. But as it only takes a few minutes to get from one end to the other there’s no real excuse for getting stuck!
Iron Age
Coflein records an Iron age promontory fort with:
A bank and ditch, about 100m in length with a simple causewayed entrance, cuts off the higher, western part of Burry Holmes island, effecting an enclosure, about 112m east-west by 60-100m.
The remains of this bank and ditch are obvious today as can be seen from the following 3D model created using LiDAR data:
- LiDAR data obtained from the Welsh Government portal – https://lle.gov.wales/home?lang=en
- Image data ©2020 Google
Medieval Times
On the eastern side of the island are the obvious remains of some buildings. These were a medieval hermitage site linked to the church of St Cenydd in nearby Llangennith. They certainly picked the right location. I was there at the end of February with the usual south-westerly blowing and I could walk around the remains in shirt sleeves. As soon as I went over to the west side then it was coat and hat back on pretty quick!
This is the church in Llangennith with apparently the only lych gate in a Gower churchyard.
There are more details here but beware that parking in Llangennith is difficult at the best of times and a complete nightmare in the summer. However if you do manage to park then the church is usually open and worth a visit.
Modern History
On the highest point of the island on the west side there’s an obviously modern concrete circle ( just in front of the Bronze Age cairn! ). It’s not immediately clear what this was used for but after some research I found a couple of references to a navigation beacon [ 1, 2 ]. Reference 2 states:
When [the Whiteford Point Lighthouse] was decommissioned in 1921, it was replaced by a 12ft-high white circular navigational beacon, which flashed twice every 12 seconds, on Burry Holms. This was dismantled in 1966, with only a concrete disk remaining today.
That makes sense and if you look and an old OS map from 1960 then sure enough there’s the beacon
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
Other Sights
There are a couple of small caves on the island accessible at low tide. The more interesting is called Vome Hole on the south side:
This is a sea cave located in a west facing gully on the south side of Burry Holms, the cave being visible looking down from the south cliff. The mouth is about 11 metres wide and 8 metres high and the interior extends into the cliff for about 8 metres. The floor and rear are covered with large water worn boulders.
At low tide the rocks around give a good vantage point and I was able to capture this 3D model from 67 photos without too much risk to life and limb:
Conclusion
All in all a fascinating day with a lot of history packed into a small area. The 3D model capture of Vome Hole was a bonus as I didn’t expect to be able to get enough photos to create a decent model.
The Retired Engineer 