Welsh Icons - Towns & Villages
Port Eynon

Port Eynon

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Photograph © Peter W

Port Eynon is the name of a village and a community in the city and county of Swansea, south Wales. The village is located in a remote south western corner of the Gower Peninsula which is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.

Port Eynon Bay
Port Eynon Bay is a very popular beach resort beside the village of Port Eynon. Port Eynon Point, to the south west of the bay, is the most southerly point of the Gower Peninsula. The bay is also in the area of outstanding natural beauty.

Port Eynon Village
The village itslef is fairly small and extends from the beach to the top of the hill. Port Eynon village has two fish and chip shops at the sea front, a Youth Hostel, a pub, a coffee shop and a restaurant.

A neighbouring village, Overton, is to the West/North West of Port Eynon and footpaths from Overton lead to Overton Mere, a stony and rocky beach. Also, the village of Horton is at the east end of the Main Beach, approximately half a mile from Port Eynon.

History
Port Eynon is thought to be named after an Eleventh Century Welsh Prince named Eynon. Eynon is a surname in Wales and the church graveyard in the village shows gravestones with this surname. It is believed that the Prince built Port Eynon castle which no longer exists.

Smuggling is thought to have been a common engagement of the local residents in the 17th to 19th Centuries.

A derelict "salt house" used for extracting salt from sea water is located a quarter of a mile from the village, just off Port Eynon Point.

In the second half of the 18th Century, through to 1919, a lifeboat was operated from Port Eynon. On several occasions, the lives of lifeboatmen were lost. On the 1st January 1916 the lives of three young men were lost in the Port Eynon Lifeboat Disaster when the lifeboat went to the assistance of SS Dunvegan which was shipwrecked off Oxwich point. A memorial to these men exists in the village churchyard. Copies of news articles on the Disaster can be seen on the wall of the local fish and chip shop in Port Eynon - The Captain`s Table.

Overview for Visitors

  • The villages of Port Eynon and Horton have numerous camp sites.
  • Footpaths exist for walking to Rhossili in the west and Oxwich towards the east.
  • Children often use the rock pools at Port Eynon point for crab fishing etc.
  • The Gower Holiday Village is a few miles inland from Port Eynon and offers indoor facilities such as Swimming and Sauna.
  • Windsurfers and Kite Surfers use the east end of the beach at Horton as a launch point. In rough southwest to westerly conditions, expert Windsurfers sail out to Port Eynon Point where excellent wave sailing can be found. Near high tide the wave breaks can make launching difficult. Surfers also use the beach near high tide for the same reason, but the quality of surf is not as good as can be found a Llangennith.

 Youth Hostels in Port Eynon:
 Gower Bunkhouse
 Port Eynon


 Pubs/Bars in Port Eynon:
 The Ship Inn
       Port Eynon
       Swansea
       West Glamorgan
       SA3 1NN
 01792 390204


Dunes at Port Eynon

 Campsites/Caravan Parks in Port Eynon:
 Carreglwyd Camping & Caravan Park
       Port Eynon
       Gower
       Swansea
       West Glamorgan
       SA3 1NN
 01792 390795

 Gower Holiday Village
       Scurlage
       Nr Port Eynon
       Swansea
       West Glamorgan
       SA3 1AY
 01792 390431

 Newpark Holiday Park
       Port Eynon
       Gower
       Swansea
       West Glamorgan
       SA3 1NP


Memorial to a lost lifeboat crew at Port Eynon

St Cattwgs, Port Eynon


Port-Eynon (Porth-Einion) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
PORT-EYNON (PORTH-EINION), a parish, in the union and hundred of Swansea, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 15 miles (W. S. W.) from Swansea; containing 364 inhabitants. It lies on the Bristol Channel, and is inclosed and in a good state of cultivation. The village occupies a pleasant situation on the west, and forms an agreeable feature in the picturesque scenery with which its environs abound. There is an extensive oysterfishery on the coast, which, with the exportation of the fish, affords a lucrative employment during the season to a large portion of the inhabitants. There are from fifteen to twenty vessels, varying in burthen from thirty to sixty tons, engaged in this and the limestone trade, the oysters, when obtained in sufficient quantity, being shipped off to Bristol. The parish abounds with limestone, which is procured in large quantities for exportation, and also for the supply of the neighbouring districts; on that which is exported a toll of two-pence per ton, called "cliffage," is paid to the lord of the manor, and the toll frequently amounts to £40 per month. The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 5. 10., and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor; present net income, £121, with a glebe-house. The church is dedicated to St. Cadocus. There are two day schools and a Sunday school, in connexion with the Established Church. John Clement, in 1784, left £14. 9. 6., directing the interest to be laid out in bread for distribution on Christmas-day, among the poor not receiving parochial relief.



 

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