Langland Bay
Encyclopedia
Langland Bay is a popular coastal holiday resort in Gower
Gower Peninsula
Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...

, near Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 in south Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. In the right conditions, it is one of the best surf beaches in Britain. Langland annually wins the prestigious European Blue Flag
Blue flag
Blue flag or Blue Flag may refer to:*Blue Flag, the flag of Chelsea F.C.*Blue Flag beach, a beach or marina that meets certain quality standards*Larger Blue Flag or Iris versicolor, a type of iris...

 award for water/sand quality.

History

Langland Bay - together with Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay is a popular UK holiday resort in the south east of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales.Access to the beach is relatively easy and inland from the sandy beach is a recreational park. Caswell is ideal for surfing, holidays in the nearby Hotels and Chalet Park. The beach regularly...

, Rotherslade
Rotherslade
Rotherslade is a small stretch of sandy beach at the eastern end of Langland Bay in the south Gower Peninsula, Wales. Previously known as 'Little Langland', it only exists as a separate beach at high tide. At low tide it is continuous with Langland Bay....

, Limeslade Bay
Limeslade Bay
Limeslade Bay is a small cove just to the west of Bracelet Bay in the south east corner of the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea in south Wales. It is a sheltered, mainly rocky beach with little sand. Bathing is possible. There is a car park in the adjacent Bracelet Bay...

, Bracelet Bay
Bracelet Bay
Bracelet Bay is a small bay on the south of the Gower Peninsula. It is the first bay one comes to after leaving Swansea Bay and rounding Mumbles Head....

 and Port Eynon
Port Eynon
Port Eynon is a village and community in the city and county of Swansea, Wales. The community has its own elected community council...

 - is managed by the City and County of Swansea council. Because of their relative proximity to Swansea and the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...

, Langland Bay and Caswell Bay in particular were extremely popular in the 1950s and 60s with holiday visitors, who would arrive by coach or by public transport. In summer months the sea front serviced by the South Wales Transport bus route 87; at other times of the year, a walk was necessary from Langland Corner, at the top of Langland Bay Road.

The sea front of Langland and the adjacent Rotherslade, or 'Little Langland' as it is sometimes known, were once the location for three hotels: the Langland Bay, the Ael-y-Don, and the Osborne; and three further hotels - the Brynfield Hotel, the Langland Court, and the Wittemberg - were located in the immediate hinterland. All bar one have closed over the past forty years, and have been replaced with apartments (Langland Bay, Osborne and Ael-y-don), converted to a nursing home (Brynfield), closed and subjected to arson attacks (Langland Court and, previously, the Osborne). The Wittemberg was partially demolished and re-opened in its original Victorian core as the Little Langland Hotel.

By far the most dominant building, built in the mid-nineteenth century and backing on to the Newton Cliffs, was originally known as Llan-y-Llan. Built in the Scottish Baronial style by the Crawshay family, the Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...

 Ironmaster
Ironmaster
An ironmaster is the manager – and usually owner – of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain....

s, it was used as their summer residence. In the first part of the 20th century it later became part of the Langland Bay Hotel, and later again the Club Union Convalescent Home for coal miners. After a period of closure it has been renamed Langland Bay Manor and been converted into 27 luxury apartments.

As well as the beach hut
Beach hut
A beach hut is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming costumes and for the safe storing of some personal belongings...

s that still exist, Langland Bay was famous for its 'community' of green canvas beach tents. These were erected annually, usually between April and early September, on the stoney storm beach in front of the promenade. A local spectacle was the early September 'spring tide watch' when rough seas would occasionally cause the loss of one or two. Somewhat safer and more sheltered on the higher ground of the Langland Bay Golf Club, a further two rows of tents were permitted. All succumbed to vandalism in the 1970s.

Langland Bay has always been the site of sports innovation. Every year in the early 1960s saw local teenagers becoming amongst the first in the country to take up American innovations such as skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...

, surfing
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

, and fibreglass canoes; which overtook their parents` use of canvas sea-going canoes.

Access and Facilities

A coastal path links Langland Bay to Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay
Caswell Bay is a popular UK holiday resort in the south east of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales.Access to the beach is relatively easy and inland from the sandy beach is a recreational park. Caswell is ideal for surfing, holidays in the nearby Hotels and Chalet Park. The beach regularly...

 to the west and to Rotherslade
Rotherslade
Rotherslade is a small stretch of sandy beach at the eastern end of Langland Bay in the south Gower Peninsula, Wales. Previously known as 'Little Langland', it only exists as a separate beach at high tide. At low tide it is continuous with Langland Bay....

, Limeslade Bay
Limeslade Bay
Limeslade Bay is a small cove just to the west of Bracelet Bay in the south east corner of the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea in south Wales. It is a sheltered, mainly rocky beach with little sand. Bathing is possible. There is a car park in the adjacent Bracelet Bay...

 and Bracelet Bay
Bracelet Bay
Bracelet Bay is a small bay on the south of the Gower Peninsula. It is the first bay one comes to after leaving Swansea Bay and rounding Mumbles Head....

 to the east. The bay is accessible by road, and is serviced by public transport for a short period during the school summer holidays; there are also two large Pay-&-Display car-parks. Hot and cold snacks are available from two small shops, though these tend to operate limited opening times during the winter and focus on ice-creams and gifts for children. Public showers are available near the beach, and a St John's Ambulance Hut and Information Office operate at peak times.

Swansea City Council operate a Surf Lifeguard
Lifeguard
A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...

 service at the beach from the end of May to the beginning of September.

The beach hosts 79 Council-owned holiday beach hut
Beach hut
A beach hut is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming costumes and for the safe storing of some personal belongings...

s, of which the newest, at the western end of the Bay, were built in the early 1960s and the rest in the 1920s. Over the years most had been gradually falling into a sorry state of repair, but in 2007 reconstruction of them all was begun. At the eastern end of the Bay are a number of privately owned beach huts within their own grounds and gated car park.

At the western end of the beach promenade is a brasserie, which opened in the summer of 2007.

Tennis

Six tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 courts can be hired by the public. These have been the location in recent years for the popular Swansea Junior Tennis Championships supported by Swansea City Council. (In the 1960s the courts hosted a similar tournament but covered a wider age range.)

Golf

The course of Langland Bay Golf Clubhttp://www.langlandbaygolfclub.com/ overlooks the bay from the west, and has great views of Langland Bay and Caswell Bay. The 18-hole course is relatively short, with a standard scratch score of 70. However, the tightness of the course is enough to challenge any golfer, and unpredictable winds from the exposed headland can often affect the game.

Surfing

Langland Bay is popular with surfers, as it is conveniently located near residential areas and because of the variety of waves that can be ridden at different tide levels.

At low tide, Crab Island provides one of the best shaped and most powerful right hand waves in the country; however, many are put off by the fact that the wave breaks onto the exposed reef, so it is considered dangerous for novice surfers. The sandbar situated offshore between Langland Point and Crab Island is actually a reef, which creates a powerful and dangerous wave breaking in shallow water. Langland Point offers a more gentle wave on days when the swell is large.

At mid-tide the reef (which is more secluded from the main swell) provides a smaller but crowded wave.

At very high tide the shore-break deposits unwary surfers directly onto stones.

Several local surfers have competed on an International level, most notably Carwyn Williams
Carwyn Williams
Carwyn Williams is a ex-professional Surfer from Mumbles, Wales. He won European Professional Surfing Association tour in 1985 and 1986...

, whose parents ran a small hotel in the resort. Carwyn Williams once beat Australian Damien Hardman, the World champion at the time, in Hossegor, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Shortly after this he endured a horrific car crash, doctors telling him he would not walk again. He is now living and surfing in France after making a full recovery.

Fishing

Fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 is not commonly practised in Langland these days, either from the beach or from the rocky shore. A strikingly marked large rock on the western side of the bay called Cross Rock used to be a popular spot to fish at high tide in the summer months with float and soft crab as bait. Catches included bass
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...

, sea bream
Black seabream
The Black Seabream is a species of Sparidae fishes. They are recognisable by their oval compressed body and jaws containing 4-6 rows of slender teeth which are larger at the front. They are silvery in colour with blue and pink tinges and broken longitudinal gold lines...

 and dogfish
Squaliformes
Squaliformes is an order of sharks that includes about 97 species in seven families.Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and five gill slits. In most other respects, however, they are quite variable in form and size...

. Langland Point held similar promise, but the use of spinners or feathers here sometimes delivered mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...

 as well as bass. Occasional Common dab
Common dab
The common dab, Limanda limanda, is an edible flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish native to shallow seas around Northern Europe, in particular the North Sea, where it lives on sandy bottoms down to depths of about...

 and European plaice
European plaice
The European plaice, Pleuronectes platessa, is a commercially important flatfish.- Distribution and habitat :The geographical range of the European plaice is off all coasts from the Barents Sea to the Mediterranean, also in the Northeast Atlantic and along Greenland...

 were caught with lugworm
Lugworm
The lugworm or sandworm, Arenicola marina, is a large marine worm of the phylum Annelida. Its coiled castings are a familiar sight on a beach at low tide but the animal itself is rarely seen except by those who, from curiosity or to use as fishing bait, dig the worm out of the sand.When fully...

 or ragworm from the beach, although the worm population of the beach has always been small.

External links

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