Designated as Britain’s first area of outstanding natural beauty in 1956
South Wales Region 14
13th Gower Tour - Sunday 19th November 2017
Welcome to the thirteenth Gower Tour, this year approaching by the north road and first stopping at Rhossili to take in the glorious view of the globally-acclaimed beach. We then drive to the Penrice Estate in Oxwich for a talk, refreshments and walk in the stunning grounds, before driving the short distance to the Oxwich Bay Hotel for lunch; recently voted one of Europe’s finest beaches. We hope you enjoy the day, good company and driving your Porsche on Gower roads!
Route & Itinerary
Meet 9:25 am - M4 Jct 47 Services to Rhossili & Bay Bistro - SA3 1PL
1. 9:30 am Leave Services and take A483 Dual Carriageway Swansea
2. Take second exit from the roundabout onto the A484 Gowerton
3. Take second exit from roundabout and follow A484
4. Take first exit from roundabout and follow A4295 Gower & Gowerton
5. At Traffic lights Turn Right and follow A4295 Gower
6. Follow A4295 > Penclawdd > Crofty > Llanrhidian just past Esso garage Turn Left onto the A4271 (CARE - Average Speed Cameras on this stretch of road!)
7. Turn right to Porteynon past Broadpool over Cefn Bryn - Gower’s Highest point!
8. Go straight on at cross roads past King Arthur hotel through Reynoldston village
9. Turn right at T junction signposted Porteynon & Rhossili
10 We’ll stop briefly just to admire to view of the beach from the Car park
Rhossili > Penrice – SA3 1LN
1. Leave Rhossili and retrace route back to T junction at Scurlage.
2. Turn Left along A4118 to Penrice Castle Tower entrance. Turn right, down narrow estate road and park in wide area at bottom and to right. Meet in front of house.
Thomas Methuen-Campbell will give a talk on the Penrice Castle & Estate followed by a glass of wine and short walk to the orangery. The cost is £10 per head.
At 12:30 we leave Penrice and turn right to Oxwich down the hill across the marsh road to the T junction and turn left into to the Oxwich Bay Hotel for lunch at 13:00. There is a Large car park on the right side of hotel.
Tour Ends. Retrace route to Towers and turn right onto the A4118 towards Swansea
Help Number:- Ken Davies – 07532 477192
Penrice Castle & Estate, Oxwich Gower
Penrice Castle is the 13th century fortification built by the de Penrice family who were originally given land at Penrice for their part in the Norman conquest of Gower. The last de Penrice married a Mansel in 1410 and so the castle and its lands passed to the Mansel family who later bought Margam Abbey, which they made their main seat while retaining their Gower lands.
In the 17th century the castle was damaged in the English civil war. The stone castle is a large, very irregular hexagon with a round keep on the west side, to which were attached two other towers and a partial manlet or chemise wall. At the northwest corner is a twin square towered gatehouse with another tower in the interior. The ground falls away steeply on the north, east, south and southwest sides, where there are various other turrets.
The mansion, built in the 1770s by the neo-classical architect Anthony Keck for Thomas Mansel Talbot of Margam and Penrice, is itself Grade 1 listed and one of the finest country houses in Wales. The surrounding park is also Grade I listed and was laid out by William Emes, a student of Capability Brown, in c. 1773–76, while the mansion was built.
The mansion was built to house Thomas Mansel Talbot's collection of antiquities and works of art. He visited Italy between 1769 and 1773 and bought antiquities from Thomas Jenkin, Gavin Hamilton and Giambattista Piranesi, which included a Minerva with bronze helmet and a funerary monument. He also bought modern furniture by Albacini and Valadier, and contemporary sculpture by Johan Tobias Sergel and commissioned busts of himself and Pope Clement XIV from Christopher Hewetson, as well as acquiring paintings by Rembrandt and Hackert and drawings by Poussin. His collections were shipped from Italy in 1772 and 1775 and put on display after his marriage in 1792. A large part of the collection was later transferred to Margam Castle and was sold at auction in 1941. The mansion is now lived in by the Methuen-Campbell family, who are direct descendants of the de Penrice family.