Torchwood, Dr Who and centuries of history at the edge of Gower

Rhossili is one of the most spectacular bays in Gower, with its sweep of unbroken golden sand stretching from Worm's Head to St Cenydd point, and just the one solitary building standing on Rhossili Down Commons above it.  Overlooking the beach, which is a popular destination for surfers, is the highest point on Gower, rugged cliffs that are often used as a launch point for hang gliders.

Rhossili Down and Cliffs are among the larger of the commons on Gower covering 354 hectares in total and also boast prehistoric stone circles, cairns and burial chambers.. Rhossili Down is predominately composed of dry acid dwarf shrub heath (Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat) and bracken dominated areas. The site supports a good biodiversity of flora and fauna including a number of protected species.

There is also considerable historical interest on both the cliffs and Down. Particularly obvious are the remains of a World War II radar station situated on top of the Down towards its north western end. From this position the radar station was able to send early warning to Swansea of approaching enemy planes. On the cliffs to the right of the path that leads to Worm's Head are distinct grass covered mounds and ditches which are the remains of Old Castle Camp, an Iron Age Fort.

There is a buried medieval village at Rhossili, lying hidden beneath the sand dunes of the area known as the Warren, located on the lower ground just north of the modern village at the base of Rhossili Down.

Originally built around 1100, the settlement was entirely swallowed and deserted in the early 14th century after catastrophic sandstorms and severe weather buried it under heavy layers of windblown sand. Following the disaster, the community abandoned the shore and rebuilt the village of Rhossili higher up on the safer cliff tops where it stands today.

As this website says, the sole building studding this seascape is the Old Rectory, a remote dwelling with a breathtaking view of Worm’s Head promontory and the skeletal remains of the shipwreck Helvetia, which was swept into the bay in 1887.

The story on that website is of Dylan Thomas' camping holiday with a group of school friends in Rhossili, which forms the setting for his short story ‘Extraordinary Little Cough’ that appears in his semi-autobiographical short story collection, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. They say that Dylan read the story in October 1948 for a BBC broadcast, and later wrote to friend and fellow Swansea poet Vernon Watkins, ‘I wish you had heard my story about Rhossilli [sic]. I wish I were in Rhossilli’:

At the time he was living in the Oxford countryside and Dylan’s memories of the vast emptiness of the ‘wild, bleak and barren’ bay with its expanse of sea and sky were clearly reawakened and rekindled a sense of longing for Gower.

Interestingly, in 1953, when it appeared the family would have to leave their home, the Boat House at Laugharne, at short notice, Dylan considered bringing them to live at the isolated Old Rectory in the middle of the bay overlooking Rhossili sands. An old school friend, Guido Heller, was managing the Worm’s Head Hotel at Rhossili, and he recalls in Dylan Remembered Volume Two that when Dylan and Caitlin visited he mentioned that the Old Rectory (accessed along a mile long uneven path) was empty: ‘And he thought that this was a wonderful place.’ Then he asked Guido, ‘Tell me, where’s the nearest pub?’ At the time the hotel was unlicensed and the nearest tavern was miles away. (The Ship Inn at nearby Middleton had closed in 1906). A disappointed Dylan said ‘I could never stick that, that’s much too far away’. Consequently, the idea to relocate to the ‘old & ratty rectory owned by a batty farmer’, as Dylan described it in a letter, was abandoned.

The lack of licensed premises would not have concerned the Reverend J. P. Lucas, Rector of Rhossili church, who brought up his large family there in the 19th century. Although there is no evidence to suggest that Dylan knew anything about the rector’s family, the Reverend’s son Loftus’ career bears some distinct coincidental similarities with Dylan’s life and work.

The old Rectory is in fact a grade II listed building and is now owned and managed by the National Trust, who rent it out as a holiday destination. It has four bedrooms and can accommodate up to seven people, but no dogs. There are sea views from many of the rooms and woodburners in both the sitting room and snug. You can waatch the sun set over the beach from the window seat or the garden. If you are interested you can find out more here, but note that there is a long waiting list, possible as long as a year or more.

The house served as a base for radar workers during the Second World War and more recently appeared in Torchwood episode The New World, when it stood in for Gwen and Rhys' house. My recollection is of the main characters being chased along the beach and shot at from a helicopter.

Astonishingly, this site tells us that Rhossili Bay was also used as a filming location for the Doctor Who episode New Earth, where it was the backdrop to the cliff facing New New York Hospital (used as a CGI matte painting).

Just for completenesss, here is a poem I wrote about Rhossili some considerable time ago, and which is featured in my Selected Poems:

Rhossili

Hand in hand on the winding spine of the worm,
Stretching out for the cold Atlantic’s caress,
The wind braced against our corporeal form,
Sun-beaten whispers of the past press our flesh.

Here in the earth-buried fort of ancient wars,
The fossilised cinders of warning beacons
Flare up once more to re-awaken old sores,
In a flurry of needs, desires, and passions.

Here, perched above the long-abandoned village,
Snuffed out beneath the fine sand of ages,
As our feelings too, will be extinguished,
Lost in distance and time, though need still rages.

Here, the bitter salt air clings like memories,
Smothering the capacity for thought,
The seagulls soar above with the furies,
Searching to define a future of sorts.