Editing Gower Peninsula (section)

== History ==
In the caves of Bacon Hole and Minchin Hole on the southern coast of the Gower, remains of [[Pleistocene]] aged animals have been found, primarily animals present in the area during the [[Last Interglacial]] and the beginning of the [[Last Glacial Period]] (around 130-87,000 years ago) when the area had a similar climate to today, including animals such as [[Straight-tusked elephant|straight-tusked elephants]], the [[narrow-nosed rhinoceros]], [[bison]], [[Panthera spelaea|cave lions]], [[wolves]], [[Cave hyena|cave hyenas]] (who at times used the caves as dens), [[Red fox|red foxes]], [[red deer]], [[roe deer]], and [[European fallow deer|fallow deer]], as well as [[Woolly mammoth|woolly mammoths]] in younger layers, with later layers in the caves dating to cooler phases of the Last Glacial having cold adapted species like [[reindeer]] and [[Wolverine|wolverines]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Currant |first1=Andrew |last2=Jacobi |first2=Roger |date=October 2001 |title=A formal mammalian biostratigraphy for the Late Pleistocene of Britain |url=https://doc.rero.ch/record/209912/files/PAL_E4236.pdf |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |language=en |volume=20 |issue=16–17 |pages=1707–1716 |doi=10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00035-X|bibcode=2001QSRv...20.1707C }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gilmour |first1=Mabs |last2=Currant |first2=Andy |last3=Jacobi |first3=Roger |last4=Stringer |first4=Chris |date=December 2007 |title=Recent TIMS dating results from British Late Pleistocene vertebrate faunal localities: context and interpretation |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.1112 |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |language=en |volume=22 |issue=8 |pages=793–800 |doi=10.1002/jqs.1112 |bibcode=2007JQS....22..793G |issn=0267-8179}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Currant |first1=Andrew P. |title=The Mammal Faunas of the British Late Pleistocene |date=2011 |work=Developments in Quaternary Sciences |volume=14 |pages=165–180 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780444535979000108 |access-date=2025-04-21 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-444-53597-9.00010-8 |isbn=978-0-444-53597-9 |last2=Jacobi |first2=Roger|bibcode=2011DevQS..14..165C }}</ref>

=== Stone Age ===
Wales is known to have been inhabited since at least the [[Upper Paleolithic]] period, and the Gower Peninsula has been the scene of several important archaeological discoveries. In 1823, archaeologists discovered a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic human male skeleton in Paviland Cave. They named their find the [[Red Lady of Paviland]] because the skeleton is dyed in [[red ochre]], though later investigators determined it was actually a male. This was the first human [[fossil]] to have been found anywhere in the world, and is still the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in [[Western Europe]]. The most recent re-calibrated [[radiocarbon dating]] in 2009 indicates that the skeleton can be dated to around 33,000 [[Before Present]] (BP). In 1937 the [[Parc Cwm long cairn]] was identified as a [[Severn-Cotswold tomb|Severn-Cotswold]] type of [[chambered long barrow]]. Also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, it is a partly restored [[Neolithic]] [[Chamber tomb|chambered tomb]]. The [[megalith]]ic burial chamber, or "[[Dolmen|cromlech]]", was built around 6,000 BP. In the 1950s, members of [[Cambridge University]] excavating in a cave on the peninsula found 300–400 pieces of [[flint]] related to toolmaking, and dated it to between 14,000 and 12,000 BC. In 2010, an instructor from [[Bristol University]] exploring [[Cathole Cave]] discovered a rock drawing of a red deer from the same period. This may be the oldest [[cave art]] found in [[Great Britain]].<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-14272126|title=Carving found in Gower cave could be oldest rock art |work=BBC News|date=25 July 2011 |access-date= 28 July 2011}}</ref>

=== Bronze Age ===
[[File:Crawley Rocks, Gower (4011829486).jpg|thumb|Crawley Rocks, Gower ({{circa}} 1850)]]
Gower is also home to [[menhir]]s or standing stones from the [[Bronze Age]]. Of the nine stones{{When|date=October 2015}}, eight remain today. One of the most notable of the stones is Arthur's stone near [[Cefn Bryn]]. Its 25-ton capstone was most likely a glacial erratic (a piece of rock/conglomerate carried by glacial ice some distance from the rock outcrop from which it came): the builders dug under it and supported it with upright stones to create a burial chamber. The remains of Sweyne Howes on Rhossili Down, Penmaen Burrows Tomb (Pen-y-Crug) and Nicholaston Long Cairn are three other well-known Neolithic chambered tombs. During the Bronze Age, people continued to use local caves for shelter and for burying their dead. Bronze Age evidence, such as funeral urns, pottery and human remains, has been found in [[Parc Cwm long cairn#Llethryd Tooth Cave|Tooth Cave]] at Llethryd, [[Culver Hole]] (Port Eynon) and [[Cathole Cave]]. With the transition into the Iron Age, hill forts (timber fortifications on hill tops and coastal promontories) and earthworks began to appear. The largest example of this type of Iron Age settlement in the Gower Peninsula is [[Cilifor Top]] near Llanrhidian.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

=== Roman era ===
[[File:ThreeCliffsBay.jos.500pix.jpg|thumb|Tor Bay and [[Three Cliffs Bay]]]]
Roman occupation brought new settlement. The Romans built [[Leucarum]], a rectangular or trapezoidal fort at the mouth of the [[River Loughor]], in the late 1st century AD to house a regiment of Roman auxiliary troops. Its remains are located beneath the town of [[Loughor]]. Stone defences were added to the earthen ditch and rampart by AD 110 and the fort was occupied until the middle or end of that century. However, it was later abandoned for a time and in the early 3rd century the ditch naturally silted up. It appears to have been brought back into use during the reign of [[Carausius]] who was worried about Irish raids, but was abandoned again before the 4th century. A Norman castle was later built on the site.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

=== Anglicisation ===
Following the [[Norman invasion of Wales]] the [[commote]] of Gŵyr passed into the hands of English-speaking barons, and its southern part soon became [[Anglicised]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} In 1203 [[John of England|King John]] (1199–1216) granted the [[Gower (Lordship)|Lordship of Gower]] to [[William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber|William III de Braose]] (died 1211) for the [[Feudal land tenure|service]] of one [[knight's fee]].<ref>Sanders, I.J., Feudal Military Service in England, Oxford, 1956, p.12, note 1; Charter transcribed in [[G. T. Clark|Clarke, G.T.]], ''Cartae'', vol.3, pp.234–5</ref> It remained with the [[House of Braose|Braose family]] until the death of [[William de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose]] in 1326, when it passed from the family to the husband of one of his two daughters and co-heiresses, Aline and Joan.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} In 1215 a local lord, [[Rhys Gryg]] of [[Deheubarth]], claimed control of the peninsula, but in 1220 he ceded control to the Anglo-Norman lords, perhaps on the orders of his overlord, [[Llywelyn ap Iorwerth]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

As an Anglo-Norman peninsula isolated from its Welsh hinterland but with coastal links to other parts of south Wales and southwest England, it developed its own [[Gower dialect]] of English.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

=== Glamorgan ===
[[File:Gower Peninsula 1850 map.jpg|thumb|Map of the Gower Peninsula (1850)]]
In 1535, the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542|Act of Union]] resulted in the [[Gower (Lordship)|Lordship of Gower]] becoming part of the [[Historic counties of Wales|historic county]] of [[Glamorgan]] with the southwest part becoming the [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Swansea]].

=== Present day ===
Agriculture remains important to the area with tourism playing an ever-increasing role in the local economy. The peninsula has a Championship status [[golf course]] at Fairwood Park just off Fairwood Common, which twice hosted the Welsh PGA Championships in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the Gower Golf Club at Three Crosses hosts the West Wales Open, a two-day tournament on Wales' [[Professional golf tours|professional golf tour]], the Dragon Tour. Gower is part of the Swansea [[travel to work area]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/downloads/gbttwa.pdf|title=National Statistics Online|access-date=11 February 2008|archive-date=10 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010152154/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/downloads/gbttwa.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>