<< Our Photo Pages >> Culver Hole (Port Eynon) - Cave or Rock Shelter in Wales in West Glamorgan
Submitted by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 15 September 2010 Page Views: 24438
Natural PlacesSite Name: Culver Hole (Port Eynon) Alternative Name: Smuggler's Cave, Prince Eynon's CaveCountry: Wales County: West Glamorgan Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Swansea Nearest Village: Port Eynon
Map Ref: SS467844
Latitude: 51.537627N Longitude: 4.211801W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
wardrop04 visited on 13th Nov 2021 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 The site is a bit further west than the coordinates. I’d love to get inside but looks cool from the outside with a very interesting yet unknown history.
The Culver Hole cave is reached from the cliffs above by a stone staircase which gives access to the top section of this rather odd structure. Some 60 feet of stonework with a door and windows was built in the 1800s and nicely fits into the rocky crevice, but by whom is uncertain. It seems, according to local legend, that it was built by the pirate John Lucas in order to hide his booty; he also constructed a passageway to link-up with his salthouse to the W of here on the opposite side of the cliffs. Another possibility is that it was built to house pigeons - a sort of columbarium or pigeoncote.
In 1850 a local vicar decided to excavate the cave. He found a huge skull, but unfortunately was unable to get it out through the rock-cut openings for analysis. However, the good vicar also found other animal bones, in particular mammoth bones. Some fragments of Roman pottery were also found here.
One other legend associates the cave with a certain Prince Eynon or Einion, who was defeated in a battle nearby and then decided to live as a hermit in the cave back in the so-called Dark Ages; but again this is very uncertain. There was a St Einion who lived in the 6th century. But this prince has given his name to Port Eynon (Einon) a village just to the N. It is certainly an interesting place to visit [just take care when clambering up and down the stone staircase and on the cliffs above].
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