COMMON GROUND FOR REBELLION
SWANSEA’S Garn Goch common is an important area for wildlife from skylarks and barn owls to lichen and marsh orchids – and it’s also the site of a bloody battle which saw the Welsh defeat the invading Normans.
It is said that more than 500 men were killed in the fighting, with the bodies of the dead left in the fields and “eaten up by wolves”.
Despite – or possibly because – it was a victory for the native Welsh, the Battle of Gower is little known, and perhaps few of the thousands of people who speed through the site on one of the main roads between Swansea and Llanelli every day are aware of the history around them.
But the battle, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Llwchr, which took place on the common on New Year’s Day in 1136, was to prove the spark for a Welsh rebellion against the Normans.
Following the Norman invasion of the British Isles in 1066 the incomers pushed west towards the lands of the Welsh, establishing the Marcher Lords in the borderlands before pushing on into South Wales.
Around 1106 Henry de Beaumont, the 1st Earl of Warwick, was granted the Lordship of Gower and set about solidifying Norman control of the area by building castles in Swansea, Oystermouth, Pennard and Loughor.
The native Welsh resisted the invasion, however, and there were repeated uprisings and skirmishes with both Swansea and Oystermouth castles being sacked and put to the torch in the years after they were built, but by the 1130s the Normans had reasserted their authority over much of Gower.
However, the death of Henry I in 1135 – and the instability caused by the succession to the throne – gave the Welsh the perfect chance to go on the offensive, and the Battle of Gower is often seen as the first spark of the Welsh rebellion.
The battle took place on January 1, 1136, on land between Swansea and Loughor – Garn Goch common is generally accepted as the location.
The fight was an unusual one for the time – a pitched battle between two armies. On one side was a Welsh army raised by Hywel ap Maredudd, Lord of Brycheiniog, and on the other a Norman army from their garrisons on the south coast. Fighting in the 12th Century was an up-close and bloody business with swords, clubs and axes. By the end of the day’s fighting, more than 500 men were dead.
The numbers of soldiers on each side are not known but it seems the Normans seriously underestimated the strength of the Welsh force, many of whom were from the northern inland parts of Gower which had long-resisted Norman rule.
The success of the Welsh at Garn Goch was a catalyst for action from Gwent to the Cardigan coast, with Normans being ambushed, supply ships attacked and castles raided. In the months that followed the battle, Gwenllian, Princess of Deheubarth, led an army against the Normans of Kidwelly Castle – she was captured and beheaded on the battlefield – a large AngloNorman army was routed near Cardigan, and Aberystwyth Castle was one of a number of strongholds stormed in Ceredigion.
But the rebellion was not to last, and gradually the Normans reasserted their control.
The only reminders of the battle today are a small, faded sign in Hospital Road pointing the way across the marshy common to a memorial stone.
At the foot of the stone are plaques in English and Welsh which read: “This stone commemorates the Battle of Gower January 1, 1136.
“A force of Welshmen led by Hywel ap Maredudd of Breconshire battled to defeat an AngloNorman army. Many perished with much bloodshed. This suggests the origin of the common’s name Garn Goch. Land without heritage is land without soul.”