Gwithiansandpitjackmoon: Photo Essay 2: Surfing At Gwithian

The following series of images will document the activity of several people undertaking one of Gwithian's main recreational uses. Surfing.

On arriving at the site about half an hour is spent unloading equipment and preparing for the conditions in the sea which can often be hostile.

Kitted up and ready, the surfers make their way out to the sea.

Surfing is a common use for the site throughout the year especially on days like this with excellent conditions, when hundreds of people flock to Gwithian and indeed the whole north coast of Cornwall.

This environmental portrait depicts a surfer moments after emerging from the water.

Archaeology Beneath the Towans

Along certain stretches of the north Cornish coast lie undulating sand dunes that that are unique havens for wildlife and archaeology. Gwithian is one such place.
This particular landscape became the focus of a major campagn of archaeological work from 1949 through to the early 1960s.
Over 70 sites of different periods dating from the Mesolithic through to the post medievil periods were discovered. All were recorded and some were excavated. This campagn became one of the major national projects in Britain during the post-war period as sites of national significance were discovered.

Human Land Uses (past & present)

1) The growth of housing.

2) Agriculture - the light, well drained soils are perfect for arable farming and market gardening.

3) Sand extraction - the sand has a wide variety of uses such as in the construction industry, as bedding for farm animals kept in stalls for winter and as a source of valuable minerals.

4) As the site of the National Explosives Works - put here in 1888 to manufacture nitro-glycerine and ammunition until 1919 for the first world war and then to store explosives until its demolition in the 1960s. Much of the debris from this has been left behind.

5) Holiday parks, caravan parks and campsites to accomodate the thousands of visitors to the dunes and beach during the summer months.

6) Large number of electricity pylons, which were put here originally as there used to be a small coal-fired power station at the southern end of the dunes on the shores of the Hayle estuary.

7) Car parks, roads and footpaths to allow access to the increasing numbers of people who use the dune for recreation. Evidence can be found of erosion from both uncontrolled car parking and the footpaths which run all over the dunes.

8) Chalet development - these have been built in the last 50 years with little or no planning and design control. Most used to be small and of wooden construction and were distinctive in their character. Now however, many have been demolished and replaced with bigger, more sustainable concrete buildings, which somewhat lack the same character.

9) Dredging in the Hayle estuary which marks the southern end of the sand dune system - this has recently been highlighted by some as a possible source of sand loss from the beach and dunes. This could further de-stabalise the system.

History

Before the Sandsifter there was a Beach House. It was built in 1912 by the Cornish Tin Sands Company, (the first of many companies to quarry the once vast sand dunes at Gwithian) to house their site manager, Mr Gray and his family.
A series of companies continued to quarry sand until 2005, when Hanson Ltd. were forced to halt activities to save important habitats, although they were allowed the concession of being able to dig below sea level in the area that now forms St. Gothian Sands local Nature Reserve.
The dunes at Gwithian provided tens of thousands of tonnes of sand for the building of Plymouth after the Second World War, and the area is scarred with the evidence of mass excavation. Sand was carried to and from the Sandsifter area in cable cars, the foundations of which can still be seen dotted around the area.

Gwithiansandpitjackmoon

Wildlife at Gwithian Sands

Photo Essay 2: Surfing At Gwithian

Archaeology Beneath the Towans

The Sand Dunes

Human Land Uses (past & present)

History

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