Beauty And The Beast
Whether you’re enjoying a ramble along this stretch of the Wales Coastal Path, enjoying a coffee or hot Welsh cakes from the café, or just stopped by to take in the views, Nash Point continues to wow visitors every day. With a large bedrock beach full of fossils and fertile rock pools, stunning rugged cliffs and rock formations, the views are topped off with the majestic Nash Point Lighthouse. In 1977 a rare plant, the Tuberous Thistle, was even discovered growing within the lighthouse station and the grounds were subsequently declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest. However Nash Point has a much darker, even tragic history, meaning walkers and seamen still need to keep their safety firmly in mind.
For those walking the coastal path the Summer experience, of course, changes dramatically in the Autumn when the reason for the Nash Point lighthouse becomes increasingly clear. Together with frequent storms and thick fog, the strong currents have led to many a shipping disaster with many vessels driven aground on the Nash Sands. There is in fact a long history of shipwrecks in the area. In 2019 excavations carried out near Nash Point by Cardiff University unearthed bones thought to be from shipwreck victims from Tudor and Stuart times. There are many local tales of the period when smugglers and wreckers apparently lured vessels onto rocks, attacked the crew, and looted the cargo.
It was a shipping tragedy in 1831 which led to the building of the Nash Point lighthouse. Frolic was an early wooden, steam powered vessel based in Bristol and used for a cargo service between West Wales and Bristol. It was also one of the first paddle steamers to be operated in the Bristol Channel as a ferry service. Frolic was very popular because before the age of the railway it was quicker to travel by sea than road. It’s life came to a violent end whilst sailing from Haverfordwest during a violent storm on the night of 16th March. The 34 metre long ship came to grief on Nash sands at around 3.00 am. In all, 78 lives were lost, consisting of 63 passengers, including high ranking officers and a General, many women and children, and 15 crew. Their remains were washed ashore from Barry to Southerndown and buried in various churchyards along the coastal area of the Bristol Channel.
The public outcry at the loss of the Frolic led to the Nash Point Lighthouses at Marcross being built by Trinity House in 1832 to warn shipping of the danger. Originally, two towers 300 metres apart had fixed lights powered by paraffin. When navigating the Bristol Channel the pilot would sail so that these were lined up in his sights, ensuring that the vessel would be south of Nash Sandbank. The Lighthouse Tower (originally painted black and white stripes) near the lighthouse keepers’ cottages, once housed the west or low light and was 25 metres high. The Lighthouse Tower with the east or high light is 37 metres high and is nearer the fog horn. At the beginning of the 20th century the low light was removed and the high light was changed to a catadioptric lens with white and red group flashing. It was modernised again in 1968 when it was electrified. Interestingly Nash Point Lighthouse was the last manned lighthouse in Wales to go automatic when it became computer controlled in 1998 and the keepers left two years later. The fog horn is no longer used for shipping purposes but is heard when it is sounded on special occasions.
Shipwrecks and other related debris still litter the beaches and coastal waters. In 1948 there were 24 notified wrecks in the Bristol Channel. By 1950, 14 had been cleared by either demolition charges being placed on board, or if sunk on a muddy bottom, by placing explosive charges around them, and covering them by exploding the charges and depositing a thick layer of mud over them. One ship, a tanker of over 10,000 tons that was sunk off Nash Point, required the use of 129 tons of explosives by HMS Tronda to breakup the wreck. We were given a sharp and somewhat surprising reminder of just how strong the Bristol Channel currents can be in 2004. After the flood disaster at Boscastle, Cornwall in that year, a boat from the area washed ashore at Porthcawl and along the Heritage Coast a number of different items were found such as “Boscastle Tourist,” “Fish & Chips” and “Car Park” signs.
