This monument to Owain Glyndŵr stands in the park at Machynlleth (Day 8)
Henry Tudor
The next historic event of note along the coast was the progress through Wales of Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII). It was the usurpation of the English throne by Richard III, after the death of Edward IV (1483), which brought Henry into prominence. Landing at Dale in Pembrokeshire on 7 July 1485, and with considerable support from the Welsh, he made rapid progress up the coast, arriving at Cardigan on 9 August, Llanbadarn on 10 August and Machynlleth the following day, on his way to Bosworth.
The uniting of England and Wales
Under Henry VIII’s Act of Union of 1536, initiating the uniting of Wales and England into a single state, the boundaries of the modern shires were largely determined by those of the old Welsh divisions. Merionethshire included the coastal plain of the old lands of Ardudwy, while Cardiganshire (as the area was now called) conformed surprisingly closely to the ancient lands of Ceredig, son of Cunedda, a remarkable continuity down the centuries.
Second World War tank traps still line the beach at Fairbourne (Day 5)
Wildlife
The varied habitats found along the coast path – the cliffs, dunes, saltmarshes and woodlands, as well as the sea itself – support a wonderful array of plants and creatures. There are several nationally important nature reserves, and large tracts of the coast have been afforded special protection. Stretching 30km (19 miles) out to sea, the whole section from the Llŷn to Clarach has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation, as has the section from Aberarth to Cemaes Head in Pembrokeshire. The Dyfi Estuary has been designated as Wales’ only International Biosphere, with protection for the dunes, the extensive raised bog of Cors Fochno and other habitats.
Four sections of the Ceredigion coast (from Borth to Clarach, Twll Twrw to Llanrhystud, New Quay to Tresaith and Pen-Peles to Gwbert) have also been designated as Heritage Coast and are managed to conserve their natural beauty.
Offshore, Cardigan Bay supports an amazing variety of marine plants and animals, from bottlenose dolphins to the humble reef-building worm. Along the coastal margins, the sandbanks, reefs and caves are also hugely important for wildlife, with their attendant populations of grey seals and lampreys.
Sea pinks and birdsfoot trefoil are found along the coast path during the spring and summer months
From spring into summer a wealth of wildflowers thrives along the cliff sections of the path, including orchids, sea pinks, birdsfoot trefoil, thrift and bladder campion, with drifts of bluebells here and there. The common gorse is prolific, adding splashes of bright yellow to the landscape in the season. Butterflies also do well in these areas, and the cliffs are important breeding grounds for birds such as the razorbill, fulmar, guillemot and kittiwake, as well as gulls, and there are also populations of chough. Certain rocks are favourite places for cormorants to perch and hang their wings out to dry. You would be unlucky not to see red kite along the coast either side of Llanrhystud.
By contrast the shingle beaches may seem devoid of life, but a closer look will reveal plants such as the sea campion and sea holly thriving. The shingly flats near Broad Water, where the Dysynni reaches the sea, are a good place to see sandwich terns, eider ducks and turnstones, especially at high tide.
Large tracts of the extensive dunes, especially along the Snowdonia coast, are National Nature Reserves, owing to their rich wildlife (including orchids) and their butterflies, other insects and birds such as the shelduck and curlew.
The fragrant, bell-shaped flowers of bladder campion
The path crosses several areas of saltmarsh and runs beside estuarine flats such as those of Traeth Bach, the Mawddach and Dyfi – good food sources for waders and winter migrants such as redshank, wigeon and oystercatcher. In the Traeth Bach area look out all year round for the red-breasted merganser, and in winter for peregrine falcons, whooper swans and water pipits. Osprey have been breeding in the area for several years and you may be lucky enough to spot one diving for fish. The grasshopper warbler and common whitethroat can sometimes be heard around the Mawddach Estuary, and offshore from the Dyfi Estuary in winter you may spot red-throated divers, long-tailed ducks and the common scoter.
The various areas of woodland (found, for instance, in the coastal cwms and dingles) are locally important for wildlife, while much of the more extensive Maentwrog oakwood above the Afon Dwyryd has been designated as a Special Area of Conservation, supporting hundreds of species of mosses, liverworts and lichens, rare bats, and birds such as the pied flycatcher, redstart and wood warbler.
Commerce along the coast
The boatbuilding era
All along the coast (and especially south of the Dyfi) from the later decades of the 18th century and through the 19th century, boatbuilding was a thriving industry even in the smallest of settlements and least promising locations, as the roads were in a poor state and goods were often transported by sea.
Hundreds of vessels of many types, such as smacks, schooners and brigs, were built at this time and the economies of Cardigan, Aberystwyth and Aberaeron were largely based on this industry. The vessels plied their trade not just up and down the coast, but also across the Atlantic. Limestone and timber were major imports, and slate (especially from ports north of Machynlleth) was the main exported commodity. Wherever there was boatbuilding, so secondary trades went hand in hand, including rope and sailmaking, insurance and customs.
The advent of steam power, and of iron as a ship-building material, meant a decline in demand for the timber-built sail-powered boats; and the arrival of the railway, which enabled goods to be moved more easily by land, led to a wholesale demise of the industry. By the beginning of the 20th century it had largely disappeared.
The limestone industry
Limestone was a significant import in the 19th century. It was burnt in kilns to produce quicklime for use in building mortar, and for ‘sweetening’ the agricultural land; all along the coast – again, especially south of the Dyfi – there are limekilns, sometimes in quite out-of-the-way places.
A well-preserved limekiln at Cwmtydu (Day 13)
At the kilns the limestone was crushed, usually by hand, to a uniform size and built up into a dome, with alternate layers of coal inside the furnace on a grate above the ‘eye’ of the kiln (the air intake). The kilns were all roughly the same size, as this accommodated the optimum size of fire: any bigger and the coal and limestone would collapse under their own weight. Lime-burning was not only thirsty work but also unhealthy because of the smoke and fumes.
The coming of the railways meant that lime could be transported around the country more easily by larger manufacturers, so the small-scale individual limekilns became unprofitable and fell out of use.
The slate industry
Thousands of tonnes of slate per year were won from vast galleries in the hills of North Wales, particularly during the 19th and into the 20th century, with tramways and narrow gauge railways built to bring it to the coast for export. Serving the Rheidol Valley mines, a railway went down from Devil’s Bridge to Aberystwyth carrying slate and zinc. This is now the famous Vale of Rheidol Railway. From near Abergynolwen, slate from the Bryn Eglwys Quarry went to Tywyn on the Talyllyn Railway. And from the vast slate area around Blaenau