Gower in History

Gower in south-west Wales has been attracting people for centuries, in the past for economic reasons (its farmland and its fish), nowadays because the peninsula is somehow ‘different,’ a place apart. Dozens of books, mainly personal memoirs or specialist works, have been written about it. The classic account is the Rev. J.D. Davies’s four-volume History of West Gower (1880s), which is rare and is mostly consulted in libraries that are fortunate enough to have it.

My own book, Gower in History, was published in May. I haven’t tried to write a comprehensive history. It’s more like flash photography of moments from a crowded past – written to be read, not studied, but as accurate and authoritative as I can make it. I was born in nearby Swansea, though I haven’t lived there for a long time. The book includes a chapter on ‘Upland’ Gower, an area of high moorland to the north of Swansea which is part of the historic Gower; the Normans used it as a hunting ground. It was here that a clever charlatan, ‘Death Ray Matthews,’ carried out experiments in the 1930s that made him famous in his day. He’s in the book too.

The book costs £9.95; it is distributed to booksellers by the Welsh Books Council; Amazon sell it; or it is available post free direct from Armanaleg Books, Blaenau, Boughrood, Powys LD3 0LQ, UK