Nash Point () is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

and beach in the Monknash Coast of the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

in south

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, about a mile from

Marcross Marcross () is a small village in the rural community of St Donats in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It consists of a public house (the Horseshoe Inn) and a few scattered houses, farms, and a small medieval Church (building), church in th ...

. It is a popular location for

ramblers The Ramblers' Association, branded simply as the Ramblers, is Great Britain's walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path network. T ...

and hiking along the cliffs to Llantwit Major beach. The lighthouse meadow is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, containing rare plants such as the

tuberous thistle Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reprodu ...

, and other wildlife such as

chough A chough ( ) is any of two species of passerine birds that constitute the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'' of the Corvidae (crow) family. These are the red-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax'') and the Alpine chough (or yellow-billed chough) (''Pyr ...

s can be seen. Nash Point 062415

Parts of the section of the

Glamorgan Heritage Coast The Glamorgan Heritage Coast is a stretch of coastline in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, UK. The Glamorgan Heritage Coast lies between Ogmore-by-Sea and St Athan (with Nash Point at its midpoint) on the South Wales coast. There is a Herit ...

where the lighthouse stands consists of "cliffs of Lias

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

interbedded with softer erodible material" and has been identified as potentially at risk from erosion and flooding. Many

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 preserve ...

s, including

ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

s and

gryphaea ''Gryphaea'', one of the genera known as devil's toenails, is a genus of extinct oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Gryphaeidae. These fossils range from the Triassic period to the middle Paleogene period, but are mostly restricte ...

are to be found there. Marcross Brook passes through the cliffs and an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

, usually called Nash Point Camp, stands on the north side of the brook, although its remains have been largely eroded by the sea.

Round barrow A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...

s are also to be found nearby. A study of the rocks shows that they exemplify "a 12,000 year old sequence of tufa, scree and slope deposits containing abundant fossil snails", while the Nash Bank offshore is formed by "Jurassic mudstones overlain by bands of sand and gravel".

Nash Point Lighthouse

The Nash Point Lighthouse is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, dating from 1831 to 1832. There are two lights, a high light and a low light, located at a distance of around 300 metres from one another. The leading light was removed during the 1920s because of the shifting location of the Nash sandbank. The lighthouse was designed by James Walker, the chief engineer for

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

. Its construction is said to have been spurred by the wreck of ''The Frolic'' on the Nash Sands in March 1831, which resulted in over 50 deaths, including that of Lt-Col N McLeod. The ship was on its way from Bristol to Haverfordwest. First lit in 1832, the lighthouse was electrified in 1968. Nash Point Lighthouse became the last staffed lighthouse in Wales, and was automated in 1998.

Shipwreck

In 1962, the empty tanker ''BP Driver'' (formerly the ''BP Explorer'', which had been rebuilt following a disaster in the River Severn) was pushed on the rocks and was abandoned by its crew of five, all of whom survived. Despite the assistance given by the lighthouse, the ship's captain was unable to bring her in safely to land. At low tide, remains of the wreck can be found about 200m north of the beach access by the light house.

References

External links

Information and photos

Trinity House

{{Authority control , additional=Q15717627 Headlands of the Vale of Glamorgan

Nash Point Lighthouse

Shipwreck

See also

References

External links