Circular Walk
from Nash Point to Monknash
Watercolour of the Old Forge at Monknash passed on
this walk. Local artist, Peter Cronin, has painted many rural and coastal scenes both in
South Wales and beyond and will do commissions. You can contact Peter on 01656
647182.
An easy, mostly level, circular walk of 5 miles, 8 kilometres, from Nash Point to Monknash
and back along the coast. Includes two nature reserves and the ruined monastic
grange of Monknash complete with columbarium. Refreshments in season at Nash
Point and the Plough and Harrow pub is just over half way round. No toilets en
route. Car Park charge in season.
OS Explorer Map 151, Start at grid ref 916683, Nash Point car park
For a map to get you to the start of the walk click here.
View from the Iron Age fort with car park to
right of picture and looking towards Cwm Marcross
Aim for the small white building at the beginning on the Nash Point car
park. Alongside this is a wooden barrier with a sign ‘Service Vehicles only’
and just beyond this an Information board giving some details on local features.
Take the stony path here which descends into the valley heading away from the
sea. At the bottom you come to a barely visible sign saying Nature Trail
straight on and Coastal Path to the left. Go straight ahead towards the trees
crossing a stream which we shall recross several times. There are stepping
stones to assist crossing the stream or a wooden bridge some 30 yards to the
left.
Cross the stream a second time then follow the yellow waymark sign to the left.
Cross stream for third time and then fourth. Down wooden steps and cross stream
for fifth time. Path now ascends to continue through the nature reserve.
Eventually you get to a fenced-off area with sign saying ‘Danger, Keep Out’.
Drop down the steps to the right and over a wooden bridge. (12 mins).
Cross a concrete path keeping the stream on your left into a fairly rough
field. Keep to the left of some recent mounds until you get nearly level with
the first house with a wooden fence ahead. Look to your left where there is a
stile on the edge of the trees. Cross the stream and then the stile. Turn right
and head along the right-hand edge of the field. You pass Marcross Church to
your right. Go through a metal gate alongside a broken-down stile. Keep
alongside the field edge passing a cream-coloured house. Cross a wooden stile
and then another in the top right-hand corner of the field, now going along the
left-hand edge of the field. Cross a stone stile by a road. (26 mins). (See
variation below).
Turn right along the road into Marcross village past a junction to the
right by the Horseshoe Inn and then take the road to the left of a letter box.
Head along this country lane, noting in the field on the left some humps and
bumps which mark the remains of a deserted village. Just beyond this, Lan Farm,
the cream-coloured building, dates from around 1780. Eventually pass a white house, The Larks, and two
hundred yards beyond this look for an unmarked and far from obvious gap in the
fence to your left. Head across the field with the hedge on your right (50 mins).
Cross a stone stile, the field boundary now on your left. Cross another stone
stile – the village of Wick is now visible in the distance with the
distinctive tower-shaped base of its windmill. Head towards a metal gate to the
left of a stone wall with farm buildings on your left. Cross the stone stile by
the gate and then head left down the road. You come to a junction just past a
Broughton signpost (1 hr 7 mins).
The guardians of Monknash Grange
Head down the road to the left signposted Monknash, eventually reaching a
T junction. Ahead is an ivy-covered building – The Forge, Monknash. Our route
is ahead but if you go left down this road for a short way and then right you
come to the Plough and Harrow pub. Take the stone stile by the Forge following
the footpath sign Blaen y Cwm. A short way beyond the Forge is a stone stile
which brings you into the ruins of Monknash
Grange. Keep ahead, passing to the
right of the ruins although you might wish to detour to the left to look at the
ivy-covered and circular dove-cot or columbarium. Cross a stone stile and then
across the next field to another stone stile which brings you to a track. Turn
right to ford the stream and then left across the field to a wooden stile. The
path rises and then drops to a stone stile. Cross another stone stile and then
head across the field aiming for a line of trees ahead. You cross a wooden
stile. (1hr 30 mins).
Left, the dove-cot or columbarium in Monknash
Grange. Right, Blaen y Cwm Nature Reserve.
Just to the left of a double wooden gate is a stone stile which you cross
on to a drive. Turn left and then cross two stone stiles alongside a brown
wooden gate. The road here crosses a stream and 20 yards beyond take the path to
the right. The stone stile takes you into Blaen y Cwm nature reserve and down to
the sea emerging on Monknash beach. When about 50 yards from the beach note a
low stone wall to your right and on the far side of the stream - the wet area
beyond the wall marks the Ffynnon Fair, a holy spring dedicated to St Mary. Just before the beach take the path to the
left steeply up the hillside to head back along the coast with the sea on your
right. When you reach the top take in the spectacular views in both directions
down the coast. Keep along the cliff top over several stiles until you see the
Nash Point lighthouses. The promontory to the right is an iron-age fort but your
path descends into the valley down which we started. Cross the stream by a
wooden bridge and then ascend the far side to return to the car park. (2 hrs 10
mins).
Left, looking East from the cliff-top.
Right, looking West. Centre, looking down.
Map of walk.
Variation
Instead of turning right along the road (start of paragraph 3), cross the
road and head along a track past the Farm buildings of Pen- y- Cae farm. After
30 yards you will see a stone stile on the right. Take this to enter a field,
then head diagonally left across the field passing the old ruins and uneven
ground of a deserted village on your right. Aim for a gate but take a stone
stile just to the right of it which brings you onto a road. Turn left along this
lane which brings you past Lan Farm (paragraph 3). NOTE: the stiles were only
cleared in April 2004 and there was still some barbed wire beyond the first
stile which you can crawl under. This variation cuts out a short section of road
but is not shown on the map.
