At low tide, the beach is best accessed from Broughton Bay along the shoreline. As the tide comes in, however, Blue Pool Bay is cut off from Broughton, making this approach impossible. At these times, a walk southwards along the cliffs at Broughton will lead to a beautiful walk along cliff top dunes. By following this path, the walker will eventually reach Burry Holmes and Llangennith Sands. However, if a careful watch is kept to the seaward view, well before these two land marks are reached, a wide stretch of sand will be noticed clinging to the foot of the cliffs. Descending the well-used slope to the northerly edge of the beach will soon bring the large rock pool, which gives this bay its name, into view.

Blue Pool itself is an immense rock pool which legend has held is bottomless. Whilst this is obviously not the case, the depth of the rock pool has been measured at between four and eight metres, depending on tidal and weather conditions. This depth of water has made the rock pool popular for diving.

Although the bay is charming, caution should be taken when swimming in the bay, as at certain times of the tide a strong rip current is present and has the potential to drag swimmers away from the beach, especially children.

The cliffs around Blue Pool Bay has an interest formation known as the Three Chimneys. Here is located a small bone cave known as Culver Hole (which is not to be mistaken for the Port Eynon/Overton cave of the same name). This cave has yielded numerous prehistoric finds.

Near Three Chimneys, gold doubloons from a Portugese shipwreck, were discovered in 1770 and again in 1840. The cliffs here still evidence the blasting they received as prospectors wondered whether more coins were hidden within their deep crevices.

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Swim here with caution however, for the tides off Mumbles Head are treacherous as its naval history testifies. The first Mumbles lifeboat disaster occurred here in 1883, resulting in the loss of four lives and numerous ships have floundered off its rocky coastline.

Bracelet Bay offers great views towards Mumbles Lighthouse, whose operation is now the responsibility of Trinity House. A stone lighthouse has stood on the outer islet at Mumbles Head since 1794. Originally a twin platform construction with a coal fired beacon on each, it was designed to alert passing ships of the dangerous Mixon Sands and Cherry Stone Rock – two massive undersea sand banks that have caused the destruction of countless ships and taken the lives of hundreds of seamen over the centuries. In 1799, the twin coal-fired beacons were replaced by a single oil lantern and in 1905, this was made to flash at regular and precise intervals. With the retirement of the last lighthouse keeper in 1934, a modern automatic light was added to the structure of the original lighthouse. The collection of buildings that surround the lighthouse were a coastal defence fort, built in 1861.

The bay is easily reached by road and car parking facilities are ample, stretching completely around the natural curve of the limestone beach. Such is the view from this car park that it is not unusual to find drivers parked here even on the most inclement of days, sipping from the Thermos flasks as they watch the sea, surf and sand. There is also a restaurant and bar situated here, a nightclub and, during the summer months, numerous vans selling ice-creams and take-away fast foods.

At low tide there is an interesting cave to explore to the east of the beach, but please be wary of the tide!

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Perhaps less well known than its history of smuggling are the two stories of the supernatural connected with the beach. The first concerns a certain old woman who went by the name “Old Moll”. “Old Moll” was said to have made her home in one of Brandy Coves’ caves, but spent much of her time wandering through the many small villages and farms on the Gower Peninsula . A later tale of the supernatural connected with Brandy Cove has a chilling link with a real life murder that took place on or near the beach during the winter of 1919.

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In past ages, the bay used to be regularly visited by sailing vessels up to 700 tons. These were able to anchor here up until around the 1850’s, after which the sand of the Burry Estuary silted the bay too heavily to afford their traffic.

The sands here can shift quite drastically with the tides, especially after a gale. At low tides, especially after such conditions as just mentioned, many a rewarding find had been discovered by walking this stretch of beach – more especially in the past, perhaps, but historians and archeologists all insist that this area still has a lot of treasure to disclose to the lucky beachcomber. Not so long ago, the handle of a 17th Century sword was discovered, protruding from the sands like King Arthur’s Excalibur itself. The handle had become separated from the blade itself but, remarkably, this also was found, and by the same man, a few days later whilst patrolling the same stretch of bay.

At the northern end of the bay, set high amongst the cliff, lays the twin entrance of Spritsail Tor Cave . Discovered in 1839 whilst quarrying the rock here, remains of Ice-Age animals and two fragments of worked bone suggest that the cave was occupied by Palaeolithic man. Further animal and human bones were also uncovered here, along with fragments of pottery, detailing how the cave later came to be used as for domestic and funerary use during the Roman occupation of the area.

The southern end of the bay gives access, at low tide only to a series of small coves, the largest of which is Broad Pool Bay.

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Burry Holmes itself derives its name from the Viking word “holmr.” The islet, cut off from the mainland for five hours at high tide, marks the northern end of Rhossili Bay and has a rich and varied history. Mesolithic flints have been found here as well as a pin dating as far back as the Bronze Age. At the western end of the islet once stood a five acre fort and this site is still separated from the other 10.25 acres of land by a double rampart and wide ditch. Later, during the Middle Ages, a monastery was constructed on the landward end of the islet and remains of this building are easily identified today.

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Caswell takes its name from the stream that meanders down Caswell valley and out and along the beach to the sea. The stream travels underground for some distance, giving rise to curious bubbling pools along certain stretches of the bay.

At low tide, the eastern side of Caswell Bay is by far the more interesting aspect of the beach to explore – with a shallow cave and some of Gower’s more spectacular geology to investigate. It is also along this stretch where starfish can sometimes be found in abundance amongst the many rock pools which form here. An eye should be kept on the incoming tide, howeve, as this part of the bay is cut off during certain tidal conditions.

The larger parts of Caswell Bay – the middle and western sections of the beach – offer good batheing conditions and excellent flat sands for relaxing in the sun or for children to play and build sand castles.

Further attractions, leading from the bay, include a fine cliff walk eastwards towards Langland and Mumbles, a rougher track that spreads westwards to Brandy Cove, Pwlldu Bay and beyond and walks through the well maintained Bishop’s Wood. For those with an interest in history, Red(ley) Cliff, on the western end of Caswell Bay , has the remains of an Iron Age earthwork at its summit.

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The beach can be reached directly from the village of Rhossili via footpaths across several fields or, for a longer and MORE awe-inspiring walk, by following the cliff path from Rhossili, past Worm’s Head and round the headland – keeping the dry stone wall directly to your left.

The beach has an expansive Pleistocene raised beach as well as evidencing some great fossil displays. Above the beach, an example of an old limestone kiln can be found just below the foot style which leads to Middleton.

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Fox Hole Bay has become infamous lately for its rapidly depleting sand, which is believed by many to be the result of the continued heavy sand dredging taking place off the Gower coast. The beach only exists at low tidal conditions.

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During WW2, Horton villagers watched in awe as a German Heinkel bomber, returning from a bombing raid over Swansea, was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in flames into the Bristol Channel here. The crew did not survive the hit.

Slightly later, a camp was established nearby for U.S. soldiers. Proving popular amongst the village, especially by the children, most of the U.S. men stationed here sadly lost their lives on the beach of Normandy .

On the sands at the foot of Horton, Hoar Well provided the villager’s water supply into the second half of the twentieth Century and may hold a surviving clue as to the origins of Horton’s name. Near here, the modern Lifeboat Station can also be found.

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There are two unique features to Langland Bay – the rows of green beach huts that are leased for the season by Swansea City Council and the large mock-gothic mansion that looks out magnificently over the sea from the middle section of the beach. This rather magnificent and imposing building was built circa 1850 as a summer villa for Henry Crawshay, son of a Merthyr Tydfil iron-master. Later enlarged to form a hotel, the mansion is now used as a convalescent home.

For those after something a little more invigorating than an afternoon soaking up the summer sun, there is an excellent 2.5 kilometre cliff walk east to Mumbles, which is suitable for families, and a slightly rougher cliff walk west to Caswell – 2.5 kilometres to the west.

The bay and surrounding area’s name is a corruption of ” Long Land ” – a reference to the way the farming land here used to be divided into long field strips.

The eastern end of the bay, separated by a brief spur of rock, is known as Rotherslade. This beach only exists separately from Langland at high tide.

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