Welsh Journals

we took the steep road up through the woods where you could see the silhouette of Oxwich Castle, for all the world like a Rhenish burg." How unusual to find so strong a castle of so late a date And what a delightful combination of buildings. No wonder you Gowermen fought for its survival in the affair of 1949." The mighty Penrice, the third on Sir Charles Oman's list, is most satisfying with its impressive gatehouse and lines of towers. A pity it is so overgrown and not more approachable the artists of the Romantic Revival must have loved it. And so at last to the piece de resistance, to charming compact Weobley. We were there on a day of high wind, clear skies and air like wine off the Loughor Estuary and from the wall-walk between those attractive turrets looked down on the many coloured marshes of Llanrhidian and away to the far blue distance of the Carmarthen Van. The children and I crept round fascinating staircases, following twisting wall-walks and vying for position on the foundations of the old keep so as to photograph the attractive courtyard. Would that all castles were as photogenic as Weobley If I have said nothing about Birchill, it is because I have not been there nothing about Scurlage, because I could find nothing left; nothing about Loughor because so far I have only passed it in the train. That, then, is a pleasure in store for a future occasion but I have seen enough to convince me that many an English county would be proud to have as much to show in the way of castles as the Gower Peninsula can. T. W. E. Roche. Minchin Hole, 1956 As REPORTED in the press, the results of the 1956 excavations in the cave were impressive. The efforts of the last eleven years are now bringing increased rewards and it is a pleasure to report that this season has brought a better response to an appeal for local helpers. Generous grants of financial assistance from the Royal Institution of South Wales, and the Board of Celtic Studies made it possible to establish a camp site at Pennard for archaeological students, and members of caving societies from the British area. The work of excavation was divided into two periods the first was during August under the direction of E. J. Mason and the second in September directed by J. G. Rutter. The principal task was the extension of the 1955 cross-trench towards the mouth of the cave, which first entailed the removal of a very large spoil dump. Completion of the trench was prevented by the discovery of a bone- bearing mass of cemented boulders which could be removed only