Join me as I take another walk around Porthcawl
and today I'm taking the Nottage to Sker circular walk
so today's route it's about six miles we start in Nottage
we go up Moor Lane across the Sker House and back around
to Nottage village, there is a shorter version
which is about three miles which misses out
the Sker Point section you can always do that as a separate walk
but i have to warn you at the moment normally you can do that nice walk come
back to Nottage get a drink from one of the pubs, sit on
the green but unfortunately everywhere is closed
hopefully when you come and do it all the pubs will be back open
well one of the main reasons to do this walk and to do the section to Sker
Point is that if you're interested in
Sker House this route takes you the closest to the
house itself without trespassing and also you approach from the front of
the house which is an angle you don't actually see
from the coastal path. I'm starting today's walk on Nottage
village green the villager Nottage actually dates
back to the Saxon period and it's the oldest in Porthcawl
saying that there's strong evidence of inhabitation
in this area going way back to the bronze age
maybe because it's on a hill and it's quite a defensive position
anyway this walk isn't really going to be a history walk
it's just to show you the quieter side of Porthcawl and where to go to get away
from the tourists but on the way I will be pointing out
some of the interesting places we come across
I'm now going to leave Nottage green and head up Moor Lane
the old Porthcawl railway used to run parallel to
Moor Lane and the section by Nottage used to
go through a tunnel, it used to go through just near South Road
and come out just over there just before Nottage Halt station
which we'll be walking past in a few minutes
well as you leave Nottage and come down the hill you go past the farm
Ty Talbot that actually dates from the 16th century
and now we're going to turn left down Moor Lane
only about 50 yards along Moor Lane you come across the old tramway cottages
and the last house the red brick house which is later than the others
if you look at the wall outside you can see the old GWR boundary marker
go take a look, so you go past the cottages
and you come across this red brick bungalow
and just by the gate about a foot and a half off the ground is the
old GWR boundary marker
as you walk down more lane about 200 yards
on your left keep an eye out for this it doesn't actually look much
it's the bricked up gateway for the old Nottage halt station
and if you take a look over the edge up there
for your left again you can see the platform
it was a single platform station also known
as the Golf Station because of its proximity to the Royal Porthcawl golf
club it's a bit of a shame they've bricked it
up so you can't take a look but i'll stick my camera
over on the tripod so you can have a look and you can still
see where the railway track used to run, the actual line closed
in 1963. You can actually get a better look at the old railway line
and the station if you just walk down a bit to this gate
with barbed wire on the top so be careful have a look over the edge and
look that way and you can see the shape
of the platform
yeah it's quite clear here
like i said it's a shame we can't actually go in and take a look around
but we're continuing down the hill towards our next stop St David's well
so I've now reached Saint David's well on Moor Lane
I'll tell you more about this when I get around the corner because there's a
farmer repairing this fence over there so it's going to get a bit noisy in a
minute so here's some info about Saint David's
well. St David's well is a D-shaped structure and
it's been rebuilt and remodeled over the years originally
a stream ran into an inlet from the sea in this area and if you look you can
still see the channel running down it's since been silted up
and now the stream runs underground and it comes out
in the Wilderness like I said go down to Newton Nottage road by the big
roundabout and if you look up you can still clearly
see the channel it's also said that Saint David the
patron saint of wales came here and used the well but I'd take
that claim with a pinch of salt considering he came
he lived in the sixth century back then it was probably still an open stream
although there are signs of an early christian settlement
around this area, as I mentioned earlier back on Nottage
Green that as well as the Saxons the area dates back to the bronze age
and as you come around the bend more lane in the field
on your right there's actually the first of many barrows we're going to pass
as we head to Sker unfortunately over the years they've all been ploughed flat
now so there's not much to see but there is a a bronze age barrow that
way.
Less than five minutes from passing Nottage Halt we come across this bridge
another remnant from the old Porthcawl railway this is known locally as Cuckoo
Bridge if you look it's actually two bridges
joined together the older one is the one facing us on
the eastern side and that was built for the horse drawn tram
going to Porthcawl docks back in 1828 and then it was extended in 1860
to make it wider and you can see that on the western side
where it's made of bricks I'll show you some shots
inside and on the stone side you can see where the
holes were for the frame for the arch when they were making the old stone
bridge you can see more about
the old tramway and the rail link between the valleys and Porthcawl in the
video I made a few months ago 'industrial south wales'
I'll put that link in the description below so you can
clearly see the holes which were used in the construction of
the bridge and also the join between the older one
and the later one so i'm going to continue to walk down Moor Lane
towards Sker Point
I'm halfway down Moor lane and i've come across
this little area it's now being developed as a holiday park
luxury lodge park as you can see public footpath straight across it but
now they've got trespassers will be prosecuted stay out
CCTV what's going on? are they clawing back this sign is it
legal? are they doing that just for safety and
this is a temporary thing but when I took this path a few months
ago across it then goes into the golf club, Grove
golf club all the signs in the grove had gone, the
path is overgrown is it a temporary thing while they're
building or having it legally and this path has gone if
you're local let me know, so that's my moan for
today anyway let's go, let's continue.
Halfway down Moor Lane you go over a small crest of a hill
and if you look ahead of you, you probably can't make it out on the camera
that's your first glimpse of Sker House the yellow building on the horizon and
you can see how remote it is
so i'm now at the point where Moor Lane meets the main road between
Nottage and Kenfig and this is where you can keep your walk short
if you just want to do three miles you take a left
up towards West Road and back into Nottage village
if you want to continue the Sker Point you simply cross the road
and continue down the path towards the house
and that's where we're going to go I forgot to mention
if you are going to continue towards Sker House
make sure you've got boots on because you're going to cross some
farmland and it does get muddy especially after this heavy rain
as you can see it's very muddy so this is why you need to wear boots or
wellies the cows aren't impressed
On this path, we approach Sker House from a slightly different angle
we get a better view of the front the building we see now that dates back to
around 1561 it's a grade one listed building
although there was a monastic grange there
dating back to the 12th century and this was the setting
for the story of the Maid of Sker and if you want to hear more about the Maid of
Sker have a look at one of my other videos
the Ghost of the Glamorgan I'll put that below
Around Sker House there's at least four burial cairns
although most of them have been ploughed flat over the years
but if we look carefully just to the left
of Sker House there's definitely sign of one over there
so as you walk along the track towards Sker House
obviously you can't go into a house as you approach the wall
and the farm buildings you take a right and it's clearly marked footpath
those farm buildings contain some medieval material probably dating from
when it was a grange of Neath Abbey they were adapted for farm use after the
reformation and they've been extended over the 16th
17th and into the 18th century
I'm now on Sker Point and from here it's
along the beach past the Royal Portcawl golf club
up to Lock's Common then we take Lock's Lane back down to Nottage Village
this stretch of coast, I don't know if you've seen the recent video I made
about the shipwrecks, there's been a lot of shipwrecks over
the years along this stretch of coast so if you haven't seen it take a look at
that also a little story about Royal Porthcawl
Bob Hope played there in 1951 he entered the British amateur
championship he was knocked out so that's where we're
headed next, so for the next little section just have
a look at this beautiful stretch of coast
So walked up from Rest Bay up the coastal path
until you get to Lock's Lane you take Lock's Lane which you follow all the way back
to Nottage Village
so Locks Lane comes out at Nottage, next to Nottage Forge which as you can
see is still open as a working forge and normal circumstances you would now
go across to the village and have a drink
but unfortunately all the pubs are shut so hopefully
when you do it in the spring and summer everything will be open, fingers crossed.
anyway don't forget to catch up on some of our other videos
I'll put those at the end and Mel's in some of those
so until next time, that's a bye see you next time