Part 18 — THE TOPOGRAPHER.

TRAVELLING NOTES IN SOUTH WALES.

(Continued from page 312.)

The grounds of Penrice Castle, which stretch to the sea-shore, and on which art has embellished scenery possessing capabilities of a high order—are exceedingly picturesque and extensive. Penrice bears marks of having been a Roman station. Henry de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, here defeated the Welsh prince, Rhys, which decided the fate of Gower. He was beheaded after the battle, whence the Welsh name, Pen-Rhys. On the field of battle the victor erected Penrice Castle, which is now certainly a striking ruin. On the coast near Penrice is the village and ruins of the Castle of Oxwich, now a barn—sic transit!

It was getting dusk when we ascended from the shore, on our way homewards, past the wild—the truly shattered, and desolate ruins of Pennard Castle; which bear, we think, decided marks of having been erected long prior to the Norman era. The country people tell you its origin was supernatural; and some writers ascribe it to that great castle-builder, Henry de Newburgh. Pennard stands in a situation of extreme beauty, and deeply rivets the attention:

Our favourite mare and her companion were in high spirits, (horses are generally so on returning) exhilarated by the rapid motion; and our hearts elate with the "songs of spring," we returned home on as sweet an April evening as ever blessed man.

Another interesting excursion maybe made to Cefyn-bryn, the most elevated hill in the district, about twelve miles from Swansea. The road to Western Gower is carried over it; the summit is level, and a carriage may be driven in safety for a couple of miles to the southern point; which commands, on a clear day, in one direction, a vast and unbounded view of the Bristol Channel, the whitened houses of Ilfracombe, with the hills of Devon and Somerset, Lundy Island, and the scenery of Swansea Bay. And on the reverse of the picture, almost the whole peninsula of Gower, the extensive estuary of the Burry River, and part of the beautiful expanse of the County and Bay of Carmarthen, is spread out like a map before you. King Arthur's Stone, an immense rock of lapis molaris, twenty tons weight, supported by a circle of others—the remains of Druidism—invites the attention of the antiquary, on the north-west point of Cefyn-bryn. We may here remark that this district, especially the coast, offers a rich harvest to the geologist. The general substratum of the peninsula is limestone and marble, bounded to the north by an immense iron and coalfield. The limestone stratum is continually "cropping out" in the interior, and of course it can be worked at a trifling expense. This may account for the general healthiness of the district. Though rain in consequence of the western exposure, falls frequently, and sometimes with great violence, yet it speedily runs off, leaving none of the bad effects which would be produced in a tenacious soil. Marble of valuable quality is worked at Oystermouth.

But we must hasten to close our Notes on Gower—to proceed with our circuit of the coast:—West from Oxwich is Porteyron, where there is an extensive lobster and oyster fishery, near which is Landewy Castle. There is a wonderful precipice here. Further west we come to the village of Rossilly, near the Worms-Head, the termination of a range of rocks, which form the western point of the peninsula, being connected with it by a low isthmus. It extends more than a mile into the ocean, and at half-flood becomes an island. The name arose by mariners comparing it to a worm with its head erect, between the Nass Point and St. Gower's Head, in Pembrokeshire. The scenery here is deeply interesting. This wild and desolate coast has proved fatal to numberless ships; the recent erection of the light-house on Caldy Island, near Tenby, on the opposite point of Carmarthen Bay, has, however, been most important. Several Indiamen have been wrecked here, and about fifty years since, a quantity of Spanish dollars, date 1625, were found amongst the sand, when the tide had receded unusually far, supposed to be part of the cargo of the "Scanderoon galley" lost on this coast nearly two centuries ago. This would do for the "Vigo Bay Company." We proceed along the western shore of Carmarthen Bay, till we pass Whitford Point, a singular peninsula of sand, covered with reeds, which stands the fury of the tide, forming one side of the wide estuary of Barry, along the coast of which we pass a Roman encampment at Llanmadoc—the striking Castle of Llanridian, and other ruins, as we return eastward to Swansea; till we arrive at the village—we forget ourselves, the Borough of Castell Llwchyr, or Loughor, the Leucarum of Antoninus, and the fifth Roman station on the Via Julia. It is seven miles from Swansea. Upon a mount, the supposed work of the Romans, is a square tower, the remains of a castle built by Henry, Earl of Warwick. Three miles to the east are two Roman encampments; many Roman coins have been found at Loughor, from whence there is a ferry to the Carmarthenshire side opposite, which is fordable at low water. There is a large colliery here. It is a delightful sail from this village down the Burry River to Whitford Point, or round the coast to Worms-Head.

VYVYAN.