Candleston Castle - Encroachment of Sands

Encroachment of Sands

Candleston's elevated position was just sufficient to save it from burial under the coastal sands which started to encroach over the site and its lands shortly after its original establishment. The nearby castle and settlement of Kenfig suffered this fate, having been abandoned around 1470, and is now completely submerged by sand. John Leland wrote in about 1539 : "There is a little village on the est side of Kenfik, and a castel, booth in ruine and almost shokid (choked) and devourid with the sandes that the Severn Se ther castiith up". Historical evidence indicates that the process of be-sandment was very active in the later mediaeval period, from deterioration of climate, storms, higher rainfall and abnormal tides. The promontory on which Candleston stands forms a relatively stable margin against the sands, occupying the eastern edge of what is now Europe's largest sand dune system. The site thus commands spectacular vistas over an extensive tract of lofty dunes, some up to 200 ft (61 m). high, to the N.S.& W. To the S. the sands cover the eroded former wooded manorial terrain of Merthyr Mawr Warren, covering some 900 acres (3.6 km2), and to the W. cover what is believed to be a former related ancient settlement, known in Welsh as Tregantlow. In 1823 the shifting sands exposed 300 yards to the W. substantial remains of the manorial windmill, the foundations of further buildings reportedly having been seen nearby. Clearly, the chronically encroaching sands caused the decline of the manor and ultimate abandonment of the Castle.