Lavernock Point () is a headland on the
South Wales coast, overlooking the
Bristol Channel with views across to the Somerset Coast. Because of the extreme
tidal range there are very strong currents or rips close inshore to the point with speeds that exceed for several hours at each tide. Some sources treat Lavernock Point as the boundary between the
Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, although definitions of these areas are varied and often ambiguous. It is used as the boundary between
Marine Character Areas 28 and 29, named Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary, and the Living Levels Partnership use a definition of Severn Estuary that draws the line between Lavernock Point and
Sand Point, marked by
Steep Holm and
Flat Holm islands. Various proposals have been put forward to construct a
Severn Barrage for tidal electricity production from Lavernock Point to
Brean Down in
Somerset and the provision remains under discussion by the various agencies.
Geology The coastal cliffs which stretch to the north and east of Lavernock Point expose a sequence of
sedimentary rocks of late
Triassic and early
Jurassic age. The strata are assigned to the
Penarth and
Lias groups and record the inundation of a former desert area by the sea around 200 million years ago. Within the
Blue Lias, geologists recognise a St Mary's Well Bay Formation comprising interbedded
mudstone and
limestone and an overlying Lavernock Shales Formation which is a mudstone with some limestone nodules, both named from this locality, though also found elsewhere. Fossils of oysters and other species are abundant in these cliffs. In 2015 Nick and Rob Hanigan discovered a fossilised skeleton belonged to a dog-sized creature, a
theropod dinosaur, and a "cousin of the giant tyrannosaurus rex". Now named
Dracoraptor hanigan meaning "dragon robber", the latter name in honour of the brothers, it was described as "the best dinosaur fossil Wales has ever had" by Steven Vidovic, a palaeontologist at Portsmouth University. The skeleton is now on display at the National Museum Wales in Cardiff.
Lavernock Fort On the point in the late 1860s
Lavernock Fort gun battery was built by the
Royal Commission. It was completed in 1870, with three 7"
muzzle loading cannons to protect the channel approaches to Cardiff and Bristol shipyards. Sometime before 1895 the gun battery was reinforced with a fourth cannon, only for all four guns then to be replaced eight years later by two rapid fire six inch (152 mm) former naval guns in 1903. A two unit searchlight battery was added during the
Second World War. The World War II gun emplacements formed part of the
Fixed Defences, Severn Scheme and protected the Atlantic shipping convoy de-grouping zone between Cardiff, Barry and Flat Holm. Today the remaining main section of the gun battery has been listed as an
Ancient Monument, which includes the gun emplacements, director-rangefinder observation position, crew and officers quarters. The structure is still commemorated through Lavernock Point's main access road being named 'Fort Road'.
Royal Observer Corps A few yards away from the historic Marconi hut Penarth's only
World War II Royal Observer Corps (ROC) Searchlight post stood on the cliff edge with its clear views over the Bristol Channel and the islands of
Steep Holm and
Flat Holm. The Observer Corps site was established by the Air Ministry on part of the original War Department land connected to the Lavernock Gun Battery. The volunteer ROC observers spotted many
Nazi German Luftwaffe raids approaching across the channel and activated the air raid warnings in the town. In early 1962 a protected nuclear
fallout shelter (or bunker) was completed at Penarth Clifftop for the ROC
(OS Grid Ref: ST 1858 6903), who by the 1960s had switched from above ground aircraft spotting to underground operations with instruments to detect nuclear explosions and warn the public of approaching radioactive fallout in the event of
nuclear war. The post members were mobilised later that year and volunteers spent nearly ten days underground during the
Cuban Missile Crisis as the government prepared the country for potential outbreak of war. The Penarth cliff top
nuclear bunker was closed down and abandoned by the ROC in 1975 after repeated destructive break-ins by local vandals, but the concrete entrance hatch and ventilator tower can still be observed next to the cliff walk near Lower Cosmeston farmhouse. The Royal Observer Corps itself was disbanded in December 1995 after the end of the
Cold War and as a result of recommendations in the governments
Options for Change review of UK defence.
Nature reserve Lavernock Point is established as a
nature reserve where wildlife interest is combined with historical interests in a dramatic and picturesque coastal reserve. The unimproved
limestone grassland supports varied and colourful plants such as
dyer's greenweed,
devil's-bit scabious,
common spotted orchid and
fleabane. Butterflies have been observed and recorded by the reserve's warden for over twenty years and more than twenty five species have been identified. Lavernock and the nearby Cosmeston Lakes continue to be an important landing point for migrating birds. Many bird migration routes across the Bristol Channel cross the reserve, and Steep Holm and Flat Holm islands act as staging posts. Bird sightings vary through the year, with visiting summer migrants,
seabirds off the coast and resident breeding birds. The reserve is managed by the
Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales who state that their aims are
"To create and maintain the ideal balance between grassland, scrubland and woodland at Lavernock Point Reserve." ==Monkstone Lighthouse==