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PenmaenBurial Chamber
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I've never been here before, I've only been to the Gower peninsula for a couple of hours stone spotting and that was ten years ago, the return was long overdue. So we are here for one more camp of the summer, with my 17 yr old daughter, who is far more comfortable at home with wi-fi than tramping round endless fields with her graying father. Nevertheless I have pried her out of the house which is nearly as good as seeing stones itself. I parked in the only carpark on the main road through Penmaen, passed through the gate, walked down a concreted path, through another gate, ignore first right turn, that will take you to the beach. Then when the concrete runs out look for a very ruined chapel on the left with a right hand turn opposite it. Go down right hand turn and the burial chamber is twenty yards hence. Quite easy to find if you ignore the first right turn. This site has been in my sights for ten years, and it's good to finally scratch that itch, but I didn't feel much for the site, no magical vibes, no deep insights, just another minor league ruined burial chamber, unless they clear the sand and brush to reveal more I can think of no reason ever to come back. Sorry, but my mind is on some other site, not the camp site were off to next to pitch our tent, but a rather special little place close to the sea, very close indeed. |
Posted by postman4th September 2016ce |
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Visited 11.10.13 As I was passing on my way to Crawley Rocks Promontory Fort I just had to stop by and say ‘hello’. The site is pretty much how I remembered it although it was a bit more overgrown. The inside of the chamber was full of high nettles. I had however forgotten that the stones had a pretty pink hue to them. Quite unusual I thought? Although the Burial Chamber is collapsed and in a bit of a state I still think it is quite impressive and certainly worth a visit when in the area. As mentioned before, you can’t see the tomb from the path. You need to come off the path to your right and have a wander around the brambles until you find it – not difficult. |
Posted by CARL 16th October 2013ce |
| Visited on 31.1.10. Follow Gladman's directions and you will find the site ok. Just to add that you need to go to the right about 10 yards after the 'proper' path ends. (I went too far and had a bit of a problem finding it). |
Posted by CARL 8th March 2010ce |
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After an aborted attempt to find this lovely little chamber back in September - I'll blame an ancient OS map and not my own incompetence for once - we were more than happy to achieve success this time around. What a wonderful site! Hidden away in sand dunes long since colonised by vegetation, the location is somewhat confusing to modern visitors. However I assume the ground topography has changed considerably in the intervening 5000 years or so, the monument originally having clear sight of the wonderful Three Cliffs Bay before the sand moved in? Perhaps. The chamber, although lacking in elevation, is more extensive than I anticipated (see Coflein description posted under 'miscellaneous') and, no doubt thanks to the sand, pretty well preserved. And then there's the location! Truly exquisite, it has to be said, with the haunting, shattered remnants of Pennard Castle perched across the bay (speaking of castles a short detour to the cliff edge is also recommended to visit a nearby Norman ringwork). If you can tear yourself away from all this prehistory and history, the beach is a real cracker as well. Park as Jane suggests and follow the path past a gate until the concrete becomes a cinder track. Veer right here and....... well, the rest is up to you. |
Posted by GLADMAN5th December 2009ce |
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Lurking in the dunes on a promontory close to Penmaen village is a small burial chamber. We parked at SS527885 by the bus stop and post box and walk down the path marked 'Tor Bay 0.8kms'. Once on the promontory be prepared for a stomp about! We scoured the hillside on the left of the path where the dunes dip down sharply to the dramatic beach below. It wasn't there. We searched the tip of the promontory, but no cigar. Finally as we were about to give up, I spotted it 20 metres from the end of main path as it breaks up into many tracks through the dunes, on the right of the 'mainest' path. It has a good sized solid capstone, now fallen on one side, and a few stones making up a short passageway. Surrounded by dead bracken, half buried in a dune, it's not a burial chamber to write home about, but I loved it anyway. The views down to Threecliff Bay are breathtaking! Up here on top of the dunes reminded me of Porth Hellick Downs on Scilly's St Mary's. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Gower power
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Posted by Jane29th December 2005ce Edited 30th December 2005ce |
Miscellaneous |
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The chamber is more extensive than may at first be apparent. According to Coflein it is:- 'A chambered tomb is located at about 45m above OD in sand dunes in south Gower, on a low headland flanking Three Cliffs Bay which lies to the immediate east. Two rectangular hambers and an entrance passage are exposed in a hollow below a large dune, which is believed to conceal the remains of the cairn to the W. The ruined structure is made of slabs of limestone, sandstone and conglomerate. The main chamber is 4m long and 2m wide, has six uprights in their original positions including the one which closes the W end. It is entered from the E by a narrow gap between transverse portal slabs from a passage 1.2m wide, of which the outer end is buried. Between the two uprights of the chamber's S side is the entrance to the second chamber, 2.6m (N-S) by 1.4m. There was probably a similar chamber on the N but its entry from the main chamber is obscured; a possible component slab lies loose on blown sand. The displaced capstone resting on the SE uprights of the main chamber, and on loose stones within it, is large enough to have covered the whole of a side chamber or half of the main one'. |
Posted by GLADMAN 5th December 2009ce |
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