9th May: Gower Peninsula

60 years ago, in 1956, Britain’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was designated: the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.

1. It is eight miles wide, 15 miles long and about 70 square miles (180 km2) in area.
2. Within that area there are: 21 bays and sheltered coves, many caves, including Paviland Cave and Minchin Hole Cave, 268 miles of public rights of way, 25 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, three National Nature Reserves, one Special Protection Area, a Ramsar site, three Local Nature Reserves, 23 Wildlife Trust Reserves, 67 ancient woodlands, 101 listed buildings.
3. The highest point of Gower is The Beacon at Rhossili Down at 193 metres (633 ft) overlooking Rhossili Bay.
4. Rhossili Bay was voted the UK's number one beach in 2014 by Trip Advisor. It has a 4 mile long beach, popular with surfers; a shipwreck (the Helvetia, which ran aground in Rhossili Bay in November 1887); a pre-medieval village complete with church which was abandoned after "besanding" in the 14th century; the 7th most photographed sunset in the world - overlooking the tidal island Worm's Head, named after a dragon by Viking invaders. Rhossili Bay was a filming location for episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood, and featured in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, when a youth choir sang Bread of Heaven live on the beach.
5. The first human fossil was found in the Gower Peninsula, the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in Western Europe, dating back around 35,000 years. The almost complete skeleton was found in 1823. The bones were dyed with red ochre, and it was dubbed the Red Lady of Paviland - but it turned out to be the skeleton of a man.
6. Another popular destination within the Peninsula is Mumbles. It has a pier and two islands, shaped a little like breasts - it's thought these islands are what gave the area its name.
7. The Gower Peninsula had a North-South divide. After the Norman invasion the medieval lordship of Gower was split into Gower Anglicana (English Gower) and Gower Wallicana (Welsh Gower). There was a dividing line above which Welsh was spoken and below which English was spoken. The English spoken there back then sounded like a West Country dialect and was very difficult for outsiders to understand - but hardly anyone speaks it now. The divide is clear today, indicated by the place names, for example English sounding names like Nicholaston and Bishopston in the south and Welsh names like Llanrhidian further north.
8. Around 360 million years ago, at the beginning of the carboniferous period, the Peninsula, like the rest of Wales, was underwater and on the equator. Limestone began to form, and the sand on Gower's coves and beaches was formed due to the grinding action of ice flow and glaciers when the majority of North-West Europe lay under thick ice sheets.
9. Most of the beaches are on the south coast. The north of the peninsula has fewer beaches. In the north is Penclawdd, famous for its local cockle industry which dates back to Roman times.
10. Gower has a population of 10,000 people, and 18 million people live within a four-hour drive of it.