Nash Point

Nash Point is a headland and beach on the Monknash Coast in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It lies about a mile from the village of Marcross. The cliffs and meadows attract walkers following the coastal path to Llantwit Major. Rare plants such as the tuberous thistle grow in the lighthouse meadow, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Choughs and other wildlife can be spotted along the cliffs. Fossils including ammonites and gryphaea are often found in the Lias limestone. The Nash Point Lighthouse was built between 1831 and 1832 after the wreck of The Frolic killed over fifty people, including Lt-Col N McLeod. Designed by James Walker, it originally had two lights separated by about 300 metres. The leading light was removed in the 1920s as the sandbank shifted. The lighthouse was electrified in 1968 and became Wales’s last staffed lighthouse before automation in 1998. Nearby, the remains of an Iron Age hillfort called Nash Point Camp can still be seen. Visitors walk the cliff paths to enjoy views over the Bristol Channel and the Jurassic mudstones below. The offshore Nash Bank shows bands of sand and gravel over older rock. At low tide, parts of the wreck of the BP Driver, abandoned in 1962, appear near the beach access. The site also holds round barrows from earlier periods. The contrast of wild flowers, seabirds and rugged cliffs makes the headland a quiet but striking place.