[1] The name is said to have originated from the siliceous limestone cliff, standing about 60 feet (18 m) high, at Hill Farm, rising over a great bed of yellow mica which breaks the level at the shore and has a glittering appearance in sunshine, especially to ships passing in the Bristol Channel.

The faster flowing Monksditch carries water from more distant higher ground, above the level of the reens, some of which pass underneath the ditch by means of culverts.

[citation needed] The south of the village is bounded by the foreshore of the Severn Estuary, which lies behind a tall concrete-faced sea wall, allowing for aboiteau-type cultivation.

[9] Bell was instrumental in the discovery of the mesolithic footprints and in 2004 his work at Goldcliff featured on Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team.

[12] Following gales and high tides in 1990, a total of eight substantial rectangular Iron Age buildings were discovered, over the course of several seasons' work, off the coast near the village.

[2] The higher coastal parts of the area were certainly reclaimed[clarification needed] by the late-11th and early-12th century when Goldcliff and Nash were granted to the Benedictine priory.

[16] On the site of Hill Farm, situated on a prominent knoll of high ground, south of the village and next to the sea, stood Goldcliff Priory.

[17] The Congregational (later United Reformed Church) chapel[18] near the junction of the Sea Wall Road, built in 1840 and restored in 1900–01, is now a private dwelling, but was still active as late as the 1980s.

[19] To the south of the village, on the tidal mudflats beyond the seawall at Goldcliff Pill, are the remains of anti-tank defences constructed in the early part of the war in anticipation of a German invasion from Ireland.

The defence formed part of Western Command Coastal Crust, and consisted of two areas of concrete blocks designed to impede the movement of tanks.

The technique used the so-called "putcher" basket traditionally made from hazel rods and withy (willow) plait, set out against the tides in huge wooden "ranks".

[22] The mixed school for the parishes of Goldcliff and Whitson was erected in 1872 for 60 children and in 1901 had an average attendance of 46, with a Miss Mary Edith Tomlinson as the mistress.

[24] Kelly's 1901 Directory lists the only private residence in the village as The Moorlands, but has no fewer than 27 commercial concerns, mostly farmers, but also including a haulier, two fishermen, a female publican, a farm bailiff, a hay dealer, a mason and a shoe maker.

[29] On the north wall of the church, near the altar, a small brass plaque commemorates the Great Flood of 1607 when a storm surge is thought to have swept along the Bristol Channel drowning 2,000 people.

[33] Goldcliff is home to part of the extensive Newport Wetlands,[34] opened in March 2000 as a mitigation for the loss of mudflats caused by the building of the Cardiff Bay Barrage.

The reserve is home to six species of wader birds including lapwing, little ringed plover, oystercatcher, redshank and avocet, the last being unique to the lagoons as the only site in South Wales where they breed.

[42] Goldcliff Community Council was a member of the Campaign Against the Levels Motorway (CALM) Alliance formed in 2006 by the Friends of the Earth Cymru.