Pennard (previously Llanarthbodu) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

on the south of the

Gower Peninsula The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards th ...

, about 7 miles south-west of Swansea city centre. It falls within the Pennard electoral ward of Swansea. The Pennard community includes the larger settlements of Southgate and Kittle. the population as of 2011 was 2,688.

Description and amenities

The village has a church, health centre, library and a primary school. There is also an 18-hole golf course, as well as the remains of a 12th-century castle.

Pennard Castle

To the west of Pennard village, overlooking the valley of Pennard Pill, is the 12th-century ruins of Pennard Castle. The castle was abandoned in the 14th-century due to encroachment from the sand dunes. It was described as "desolate and ruinous" by 1650 and today only the gatehouse and some of the curtain wall remain.

Pennard Golf Club

Pennard Golf Club is an 18-hole golf course known as the "links in the sky" due to its lofty views over the coast and Pennard Sand Dunes. Described variously as "intimidating" and only second in beauty to the Langland Bay Golf Club, the club invited golf architect Tom Doak to rebuild and redesign its bunkers in 2015.

St Mary's Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St Mary's, post dates an earlier medieval church of the same name which was located near Pennard Castle. The older church was abandoned in the 1500s and only the foundations remain. The newer church was restored in 1847 and a porch added. Inside the church there is a Jacobean

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

and

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

cover, as well as some 18th-century wall tablets. The church became Grade II listed in 1964. The poets Vernon Watkins (1906–1967), Harri Webb (1920–1994) and Nigel Jenkins (1949–2014) are buried in the churchyard. Watkins also has a memorial plaque inside the church. St Mary's is open all year during daylight hours, with services every Sunday.

Local politics

Pennard lies in the Gower parliamentary constituency and Senedd Cymru constituency. The Pennard ward elects a councillor to the City and County of Swansea Council. The Pennard

(civil parish) includes the nearby villages of Southgate, Kittle, Sandylane, Cannisland and Langrove. It elects a

Community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

of fourteen members. The council is divided into two ward areas, Southgate and Kittle, who return eleven and three councillors respectively. It made the Swansea news in 2013 when the chairman resigned after other councillors expressed concerns about the running of the council. The community of Pennard is twinned with

Passage West Passage West (locally known as "Passage"; ) is a port town in County Cork, Ireland, situated on the west bank of Cork Harbour, some 10 km south-east of Cork (city), Cork city. Passage West was designated a conservation area in the 2003 Co ...

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

."A renewal of links?"
''Pennard Life'', Autumn/Winter 2013, page 38.

References