Nooks and Corners of PembrokeshireTimmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
History
Nooks and Corners of Pembrokeshire
Timmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
Pembrokeshire (Wales) -- Description and travel
Rousing ourselves at length from these cogitations on the sandhills, we
put the best foot foremost and hie away past a spring of pure water
known as the Druid's Well, to the sunny slopes of that selfsame Priest's
Nose. Scrambling warily amidst brakes of prickly furze, we presently
espy a mighty cromlech standing in a nook of the hill, beside the narrow
path. A soft westerly breeze draws in 'gently, very gently from the
sea,' as we perch beside this relic of the immemorial past; wafting the
scent of wild thyme and gorse over warm, crisp turf that shimmers
beneath the lusty summer sunshine. Hence unfolds yet another charming
view of the gray old castle, set amidst a breadth of feathery woodland
that clusters under the lee of the sheltering hill. A turn of the head
reveals the varied line of coast stretching away, league upon league,
past the groves of Stackpole to the bluff, perpendicular landfall of St.
Govan's Head.
Returning to quarters by another route we fetch a wide compass round;
pursuing the path that hugs the shore, which, hereabouts, is indented by
several fissures of very peculiar character. A short distance beyond
the cromlech we encounter the first of these; a chasm so narrow that a
boy might leap across it, yet of imposing depth, with sides as smooth
and perpendicular as any house wall, and floored with the seething
ocean.
[Illustration: The Church Path Manorbere]
A quarter of a mile farther on we strike a little way inland, to
investigate a still more remarkable _lusus naturæ_ of a similar kind.
Here the insidious onslaught of the waves has tunnelled beneath the
intervening cliff, and penetrated far into the land; excavating a dark,
narrow, and profound fissure in the perpendicular strata of the Old Red
sandstone; so that, gazing seaward through the cleft, we can see the
foaming surf sparkling in the sunlight upon the rocks beyond. Thence we
extend our ramble to Castle Head, a rocky point jutting boldly out to
sea, and scarped with the broad, fern-clad furrows of a prehistoric
earthwork. This appears to have been the stronghold of some invader from
over seas; for the protecting banks curve inland, and, sweeping down to
the rocks on either hand, enclose the outer extremity of the headland.
Secured thus against attack upon their landward flank, the occupants
were protected in rear by the broad expanse of the 'inviolate ocean,'
whose restless billows, surging far below, mingle their music in wild
harmony with the harsh cries of countless sea-fowl.
[Illustration: MANORBERE CHURCH.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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