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This video was recorded on 30th April 2022.
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The text below is captioned with this video, enable CC to read along during the walk.
Hello. This morning we are up at 5:30 am for a walk along the shoreline, in Burry Port, a small town in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The nearest city is Swansea, a 40 minute, 28 km drive away. We are a good 4 hour drive from central London, about 330 kms. By train it is at least a 4 hour ride to London Paddington. At the last census in 2011, Burry Port had a population of 6,156. From May 2021 to April 2022 the average house price was £209,582 - a detached house: £287,601. Semi: £155,624. Terraced: £154,791. Flats: £74,500. House prices here are about £65,000 below the UK national average. Burry Port sits at the mouth (where sea meets river) of the Loughor Estuary, facing the picturesque Gower peninsula. Nearby are the beautiful Pembrey Burrows sand dunes and wetlands. Before the industrial revolution people in this area made a living from farming and fishing. There was no town in Burry Port until the 19th century, though records for the Pembrey area date back to the middle ages. Centuries ago the hazardous sea waters around Pembrey were well known. Locals would salvage what they could find from shipwrecks along the shoreline. It has been said that the locals found ways to lure ships to their doom, these people were known as: The Men of Little Hatchets. They were named after the locally made speciality little hatchet tool - It had a claw to rip open cargo... and other things… occasionally being used to dispatch of unwanted witnesses. Burry Port is particularly well known for its roots in the mining trade. Coal mining from the nearby Gwendraeth Valley was established as far back as the 16th century, with cargo being regularly carried up and down the Gwendraeth River. Utilising the river a canal and quay were opened in 1768, part of which is still preserved today, Trade increased; the canals expanded, wharves and docks were built. In the 1830s a harbour was opened at Burry Port and the nearby Pembrey. It offered a way to ship coal out to sea and avoided the hard to navigate river. Burry Port Lighthouse, standing at the outer harbour, was completed in 1842. In 1848 a copper works opened and was fundamental in Burry Port becoming a town. Surprisingly up to this point there was still no registered town at Burry Port. The first records of a town started appearing in the 1850s. The emergence of it becoming a town was acknowledged with the opening of a railway station. Pembrey and Burry Port railway station was opened in 1852. The old canals were now unable to cope with capacity and were converted into railways. However, during the 20th century the mining trade went into decline… many pits, quarries and works across the UK closed. Though the mainline railway and station remain the old trade valley railway is gone. The lighthouse is one of the few reminders of Burry Ports mining history. The harbour is a now a marina popular for sailing and other leisure pursuits. One of Burry Port’s other notes in history is - In 1928 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to be flown across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Burry Port. I hope you have enjoyed our walk this morning. There is also the Millennium Coastal Path to explore if you ever visit the area, a 13-mile traffic free walk and cycleway that goes through Burry Port.
Thank you for watching. Take care and be kind.