A Short Commentary

History of Nash Point

Beneath the waves lay hundreds of shipwrecks dating back to Roman times. More notoriously, is the story of ‘The Frolic’ an early wooden steam vessel that came to grief on Nash Sands in 1831, claiming the lives of all 78 passengers on board. This tragedy was the last before the lighthouses at Nash Point were built in 1832.

There are many local tales of smugglers and wreckers who would lure vessels onto rocks, attack the crew, and loot the cargo. On stormy nights, wreckers would attach lanterns to the grazing sheep on the cliff tops giving the illusion that they were sailing in safe waters when in fact they were on course to rocky shores. After 1832, the dependable light of the lighthouses meant that sailors had a reliable beacon to guide them safely away from the rocks.

Nash Point is great place for spotting an exciting variety of wildlife species, from the endangered Tuberous Thistles, wild carrot and cabbage, to graceful fulmers flying overhead and playful porpoises in the turbulent water by the sand bank. (Look out for the bouy which marks the eastern edge of this massive sand bank.)

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Nash Point Lighthouse

Nash Point Lighthouse was one of two lighthouses built by Trinity House in 1832 to successfully assist mariners clear of the Nash Sands. As with all lighthouses in the British Isles, Nash Point is no longer manned, the last keepers leaving on 5 August 1998. In fact, it was the last light in Wales to be automated and the penultimate in the UK to be de-manned.