Cemaes Head

Although the headland, when viewed from across the Teifi estuary, is relatively unspectacular, its cliffs, which are most dramatic on its north-western side, and reach over 575 ft (175m) in height, are the highest in Pembrokeshire.

The bedrock is composed of Silurian and (mostly) Ordovician sedimentary rocks,[1] more specifically of Llanvirn-Caradoc black mudstone, i.e. some 470 million years old.

The soft composition of these sedimentary rocks also means that erosion by the sea through hydraulic action, abrasion and attrition is commonplace, and they are thus largely unsuitable for climbing.

In 1840, George Nicholson in The Cambrian Traveller's Guide, and Pocket Companion, wrote : The coasts on each side of the mouth of the river are uncommonly grand, particularly on the Pembroke side, where rises Cemmaes Head, a promontory of immense elevation.The highest part of the headland, at Pengarn (189m / 620 ft), grid reference SN 13214 48500, is marked by a pillar trig point (ref.

[3] On the western side of the headland, at the foot of the cliffs, is a stony beach area called Traeth Godir Coch which is exposed at low water.

Birds such as choughs, ravens, kestrels and buzzards are commonly seen, and the sea cliffs provide nesting sites for herring gulls, shags, fulmars, cormorants, razorbills and guillemots.

The remote section of path over Cemaes Head from Poppit Sands to Ceibwr Bay is some 5½ miles long, with a considerable amount of ascent and descent.

This lane accesses a couple of private properties near the top, and stops at Allt y Coed campsite, some ¼ mile short of the furthest point of the coastal path; there is car parking available here, from where a two-mile round of the headland can be made on Rights of Way.

The site was accessed via a track and footpath from Pengarn, ½ mile to the south-east and from Alltycoed Farm upon whose land it lies.

This was one of hundreds of wartime coastal lookouts which kept watch for enemy aircraft and submarines; the oil storage tanks at Milford Haven were only a short flight from here, and during the war they were heavily bombed.

– c. 1159), a Norman knight from the west of England who supported Henry I in his campaigns in Wales, became first Lord of Cemais and founded nearby St Dogmaels Abbey.

In the Pembrokeshire case the name refers, I fancy, to the angle made by the coast line with the mouth of the Teifi.

It seems probable that the name Cemaes Head derives from the ancient Cantref, rather than vice versa, since the headland had no recorded significance in Medieval times.