In the 18th century, this spot had a more sinister reputation: smugglers used the cove to land French brandy, which was brought in via Ireland. Despite all the best efforts of the excisemen, the smugglers' leader — known as Sión Cwilt because of the patchwork coat he always wore — was never captured.
A stiff climb up the side of the cove leads to clifftops from where porpoises and seals can sometimes be seen sporting in the waters below. Inland, there are stands of yellow gorse that attract a variety of butterflies in summer, including painted ladies, small tortoiseshells, and common skippers.
Further along the route on your left is the site of the ancient settlement of Castell Bach. This Iron Age earthwork occupies a huge vantage point and commands sweeping views that would have given plenty of warning of the approach of any aggressor. The earthen banks, once topped by timber fences, enclosed an inner circle of thatched ground huts and storage places, while cattle were kept in and out of the compound. The settlement on this exposed but lovely site was occupied between 300 BC and 100 AD, and it is thought that as many as 40 people lived here at any one time.
Below Castell Bach, the path descends into a wooded valley and climbs again to the remote Church of St Tysilio (Eglwys Llandysiliogogo), which is set within an ancient stone circle.
There have been two saints by the name of Tysilio: one is thought to have been the son of Brochwel, the Prince of Powys (born at Pengwern, the Shrewsbury of today, around 575 AD, who on becoming a monk moved to a monastery in Brittany), while the other Tysilio was probably the son of Corun, descended from Ceredig and Cunedda Wledig before him. One of the two — though it is not known which — came to this spot, already a sacred site, to preach Christianity.
Renovation work carried out in 1890 led to the discovery that the pulpit had been sited on a stone so massive that the builders of the church were unable to remove it and were forced to incorporate it into the fabric of the building.
From here, your route leads back through narrow lanes and along the valley road, following the stream back to the beach car park. Shortly before the beach, you pass an old limekiln — a reminder of a more legitimate form of coastal trade that took place here in the 18th century alongside the smuggling.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
