Nash Point Lighthouse

Nash Point is a headland on the Monknash Coast in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, about a mile from Marcross. The cliffs and beach draw walkers along the coastal path to Llantwit Major. The lighthouse meadow is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its rare plants, including the tuberous thistle. Choughs and other wildlife can be spotted along the cliffs. The area’s rocks contain fossils such as ammonites and gryphaea, and an Iron Age hillfort called Nash Point Camp stands nearby. The lighthouse itself is a Grade II listed building built between 1831 and 1832 by James Walker, chief engineer for Trinity House. It was lit in 1832 after the wreck of The Frolic in March 1831, which killed more than fifty people including Lieutenant-Colonel N McLeod. Originally powered by oil, it was electrified in 1968 and became Wales’ last staffed lighthouse before automation in 1998. Two lights once guided ships, but the leading light was removed in the 1920s due to shifting sands. Visitors follow the coastal path to reach the lighthouse and its two towers set about 300 metres apart. The remains of the BP Driver wreck lie on the rocks to the north at low tide. The cliffs show layers of Lias limestone and softer rock, with fossil-rich exposures along the shore. The Iron Age fort’s eroded ramparts overlook the brook, and round barrows dot the nearby landscape. From the meadow, the view stretches across the Bristol Channel to the Welsh coast.