Barland Quarry, located 1km north of Bishopston, is now disused, but large amounts of limestone have been quarried here in the past. The area is now used mainly by climbers and cavers.

On the nearby Barland Common, evidence of the old Barland Castle is still visible. This was the first medieval earthwork castle excavated in the whole of Glamorgan and is now visible as a broad ditch protecting a level platform some 25 metres across. During its excavation, several pieces of glazed pottery, fragments of a leather shoe and a bronze ornamental buckle were discovered. The site, unfortunately, lies on private land.

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There is a small pond on the green which has become quite notorious for its maverick geese – who have been known to launch more than the odd unprovoked attack on unsuspecting admirers (this author included).

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A particular favourite walk from Cheriton, chosen from the many available here to the enthusiastic rambler, can be followed from the stone style located at the rear of the cottage opposite the church. From this old style, the footpath leads through the length of Cheriton Valley, following the Burry Pill stream (where otters used to frequent in their search for trout), and passes the remains of several ancient and sunken roads in what truly is a most beautiful and rewarding walk to Stembridge.

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A settlement of at least a couple of families is believed to have existed here since the 14th Century but Crofty only really grew as a true village in the latter half of the 19th century when the land here began to be mined for its numerous veins of coal. The original mining cottages built around this time still exist on the downward slope of hill from Zoar Chapel to the Morlais River and give the village its rural feel despite the huge sprawl of modern housing estates that have sprung up around it. Mining now part of Crofty’s long history, the village is now chiefly known for being the chief site of the North Gower cockling industry.

At the rear of the new housing estates of Crofty, at the edge of Crofty Industrial Estate, is an interesting man-made feature known as Salthouse Point. Now a relic of its former self, Salthouse Point was an important part of the shipping history of North Gower. During World War II, when the army used the Burry Estuary as a practice range, gun towers and artillery buildings were constructed on the Point. These have only recently been demolished. Now, the stone construction is an important habitat for wildlife. The salthouse that gave this feature its name is believed to have once stood at the end of the point.

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Less dependant on the sea for its early industry that its bigger sister, Horton developed primarily as an agricultural community. Until the 1950s, the village was somewhat reknowned for the belief that every household there kept at least one pig and that these animals held the primary source of interest and conversation for the locals of Horton.

There are two main theories as to the origins of the village name. The first is taken from the old English words Horu and Tun – meaning muddy place. The second, perhaps more credible theory, is that the name derives from Hoarton – meaning a grey place. Given that Horton is both built upon and is surrounded by limestone and the village well is still known as the Hoar Well it is understandable how this latter theory is held the more superior of the two.

The village follows a lane that drops some 200 feet in less than 0.25 miles from its height to sea level.

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The hamlet is tucked amidst a beautifully wooded valley, through which runs the gently meandering stream known locally as the ‘Killy-Willy’. Following this stream through the wooded valley may sometimes reward the walker with a rare glimpse of the beautiful Kingfisher whilst an investigation of the stream itself reveals Minnows, Bull Heads and Eels of modest to large size.

From St. Illtyd’s Church, noting the huge yew tree which is as old as the church itself, an excellent walk can be undertaken which leads all the way down through Parkmill to Three Cliffs Bay. This walk passes the remains of Wales’ first Baptist Chapel. The ruins are celebrated by a commemorative plaque which was unveiled by Lloyd George in 1928.

Access to the village requires some tight navigation through some very narrow country lanes, which can require a little give and take with oncoming traffic, especially in summer months when the whole of the peninsula can become quite clogged with traffic.

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The village’s main interest to holiday makers in Gower is its local amenities shop which can provide refreshment en route to more popular destinations. The remains of Backinstone Chapel are also reached via the village. The Gower Society records the village as having a population of 569.

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The remote village of Llangennith, little served by local transport and now mainly the haunt of surfers, was once the liveliest and most notorious village on the Gower Peninsula. Weaving, music-making, prize-fighting and cock-fighting were all prevalent here and most people in the village were connected to smuggling in some form or another. Always first on the scene of any local shipwreck, especially on Rhossili Bay, the village seemed to be in perpetual feud with their neighbours over any booty that might have found itself wrecked along the shorelines here.

Life in such a remote area as Llangennith produced an independent, perhaps arrogant people who considered themselves apart, not only from the rest of the peninsula, but from the rest of Britain as well. During World War I, when the government decided to introduce the daylight saving measure of putting clocks forward an hour during summer months, the villagers here had to hold a public meeting to vote whether they should follow suit. The outcome was that they should, but only on a one month trial.

Up until fairly recent history, Llangennith used to hold the ‘Mapsant’ – a 3 day celebration commencing each July 5th, St. Cennydd’s Day. Lighting a huge bonfire, people from all over Gower would gather to dance around its flames, singing and dancing and drinking ‘white pot’ – a local drink of flour, milk, currants and other ingredients boiled together in commemoration of the milk that nurtured St. Cennydd from his ‘titty bell’.

Near the village, some 600 metres from the church, stands the ruined medieval village of Coety Green. Now abandoned and overgrown, the remains of at least 6 houses can be seen scattered around the green.

The Gower Nightingale, Phil Tanner, the famed singer who spent many an hour outside the King’s Head public house practicing his art, is buried in the churchyard as well as St. Cennydd himself, whose remains are believed to lay somewhere beneath the church foundations.

The northern half of Rhossili Bay is referred to locally as the Llangennith Sands and is popular with campers and surfers alike. Offering a fabulous view over Rhossili, south to Worm’s Head and north to Burry Holmes, this is the best area on the whole of Gower for both surfing and wind-surfing, and is the first place to pick up the swell of the Atlantic Ocean before it drives through the Bristol Channel to the rest of the Gower beaches. The remains of the paddle steamer “City of Bristol” is a feature here – its metal carcass a continued memorial to the many who lost their lives aboard when the ship grounded here in 1840.

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Climbing the ridge of Llanmadoc Hill – which affords excellent views over the neighbouring hamlets of both Llanmadoc and Cheriton, as well as holding a gorgeous panoramic sweep towards all four corners of the Gower Peninsula – the strange earthwork construction known at the Bulwark can easily be identified. This was an Iron Age hillfort enclosure (see Castles) and is the second largest construction of its kind in Gower (the largest being that of Cilifor, in Llanrhidian). Originally designed to hold cattle and other livestock, the site was later adapted and fortified to protect the entire community at times of war. Two further such earthwork constructions can be visited at the height of another of Llanmadoc’s numerous hills, that of Harding’s Down. Llanmadoc Hill itself also hold at least 14 Bronze age cairns . Although many now lie broken and/or overgrown, the Great Cairn still makes for quite an impressive sight.

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Llanmorlais is a village settlement, spreading inland from the Burry Estuary, and usually associated with Crofty. It is now home to the dwindling cockling industry that is more familiarly linked with Penclawdd. Formerly known as Glasmorleys and Glanmorlais, the village started life as a small row of cottages along the Morlais stream. With the opening of numerous coal pits, however, it was not long before the village grew into quite a sizeable population.

Llanmorlais was the terminus of the North Gower Railway that ran from here to Gowerton. Remains of the railway bed can still be traced in the area but it is now largely overgrown. The area had a petrol station/village shop until the close of the 20th Century. This was located at the Post Office letter box which marks the start of the footpath to Crofty Park (children’s playground located on the estuary). The village has a small Baptist chapel – Tirzah, located towards the centre of the locale.

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