Caerfai Bay is a rocky cove on the north coast of

St Brides Bay St Brides Bay ( cy, Bae Sain Ffraid) is a bay in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its no ...

near

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

in Pembrokeshire,

West Wales West Wales ( cy, Gorllewin Cymru) is not clearly defined as a particular region of Wales. Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of '' Deheu ...

. It is enclosed by steep varicoloured cliffs and has a sandy beach at low tide accessed by pathway and steps. The beach is situated in the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro) is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of three national parks in Wales, the others be ...

and on the

Pembrokeshire Coast Path The Pembrokeshire Coast Path ( cy, Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro), often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. Established in 1970, it is a long-distance walking route, mostly ...

. There is free parking above the beach with picnic benches and views of the islands of Penpleidiau,

Skomer Skomer () or Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in the community of Marloes and St Brides in west Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters nest on the island, the At ...

and

Skokholm Skokholm () or Skokholm Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the neighbouring island of Skomer. The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and all are part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Both islands ...

Location

Caerfai beach is only from centre of the cathedral city of

. Along the coast to the west is the

Chapel of St Non St Non's Chapel The Chapel of St Non is located on the coast near St David's in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Held by tradition to mark the birthplace of St David, the ruin cannot be accurately dated but is unusual in that it is aligned north–south ...

() which is the most westerly in Wales. On the eastern headland are ramparts of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fort of

Castell Penpleidiau A ''castell'' () is a human tower built traditionally at festivals in Catalonia, the Balearic islands and the Valencian Community. At these festivals, several ''colles castelleres'' (teams that build towers) attempt to build and dismantle a t ...

and Caer Bwdy is next bay to the east.

Commercial activity

Caerfai Bay Caravan and Tent Park which started in the 1930s is open between March and November and has static hire, touring and camping pitches which overlook Caerfai Bay. Caerfai Farm is producing

organic milk Organic milk refers to a number of milk products from livestock raised according to organic farming methods. In most jurisdictions, use of the term "organic" or equivalents like "bio" or "eco", on any product is regulated by food authorities. I ...

, cheeses and potatoes using sustainable energy sources, including solar, geothermal, wind and

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

energy. The farm also has a seasonal shop and a campsite. Penpleidiau Geological Map

Geology

Both western and eastern cliff sections display distinctive red, purple and greenish mudstone,

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

formations representing parts of the Caerfai and Porth-y-rhaw geological Groups of Lower to Middle

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

age. The southern tip of the eastern Penpleidiau headland and its small islets are composed of

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

, an Intrusive igneous rock. The intrusion is in sharp

sill Sill may refer to: * Sill (dock), a weir at the low water mark retaining water within a dock * Sill (geology), a subhorizontal sheet intrusion of molten or solidified magma * Sill (geostatistics) * Sill (river), a river in Austria * Sill plate, a ...

-like contact with baked

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

iferous Middle Cambrian (

Drumian The Drumian is a stage of the Miaolingian Series of the Cambrian. It succeeds the Wuliuan and precedes the Guzhangian. The base is defined as the first appearance of the trilobite '' Ptychagnostus atavus'' around million years ago. The top is d ...

) mudstones from within the lower part of the Menevia Formation.

Trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...

fossils found within the Menevia Formation at Penpleudiau include ''

Ptychagnostus ''Ptychagnostus'' is a member of the agnostida that lived during the Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 mi ...

'' (s. l.) ''barrandei'' (Hicks), '' Condylopyge'' cf. ''rex'' (Barrande), ''

Peronopsis ''Peronopsis'' (meaning "broach-like" or possibly "boot-like") is a genus of trilobite restricted to the Middle Cambrian. Its remains have been found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Etymology The subgenus ''Svenax'' is a cont ...

'' ''scutalis'' cf. ''exarata'' (Grönwall), ''Tomagnostus brantevikensis'' Weidner and Nielsen, ''T''. cf. ''perrugatus'' (Grönwall), '' Mawddachites'' ''hicksii'' (Salter), ''

Paradoxides ''Paradoxides'' is a genus of large to very large trilobite found throughout the world during the Middle Cambrian period. One record-breaking specimen of ''Paradoxides davidis'', described by John William Salter in 1863, is . The cephalon was se ...

'' (s. l.) ''illingi'' lake, ''Parasolenopleura''? ''elegans'' (Illing), and ''Holocephalites incerta'' (Illing), which enable correlation with Illing's (1916) ''Paradoxides hicksii'' fauna in the Abbey Shale Formation of Nuneaton,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England and with the ''Tomagnostus fissus''

Biozone In biostratigraphy, biostratigraphic units or biozones are intervals of geological strata that are defined on the basis of their characteristic fossil taxa, as opposed to a lithostratigraphic unit which is defined by the lithological properties ...

of Scandinavian

biostratigraphic Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. “Biostratigraphy.” ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Bio ...

terminology (Rees ''et al''., ''op. cit''.). There are disused quarries below the car park and at Caer Bwdy Bay which provided the purple sandstone used in the original construction of

St Davids Cathedral St Davids Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi) is situated in St DavidsBritain's smallest city in the county of Pembrokeshire, near the most westerly point of Wales. Early history The monastic community was founded by Saint David, Abbot o ...

and for its more recent stonework renovation during the 1980's. Distinctive purple-coloured sandstone of the Caer Bwdy Bay Formation (Rees ''et al''., ''op cit.'' p. 53) was also used in the construction of the stepped mount supporting the medieval stone cross in the centre of St David’s at Cross Square rid reference

References

{{reflist

External links

Video panorama of Caerfai Bay

Caerfai beach guide
Beaches of Pembrokeshire Bays of Pembrokeshire

Location

Commercial activity

Geology

See also

References

External links