from
Rhossili The
Loughor Estuary (; also known as the
Burry inlet or
Burry estuary, from the small
Burry River which enters on the Gower side near its mouth) is the region of the waterway below the road and rail bridges at Loughor, where it turns abruptly from a southerly to a westerly direction towards
Carmarthen Bay. The empties into the estuary just below the Loughor bridges. This region almost completely empties at low tide, exposing extensive sandy areas supporting a thriving
cockle industry. On the south side of the inlet, the gathering and processing of cockles (
Cerastoderma edule) contributes significantly to the economy of the villages of
Crofty,
Llanmorlais and
Penclawdd. Anyone can take a bucket of cockles for their personal use, but the commercial fishery is restricted to a relatively small number of licence holders. Cockle density fluctuates from year to year. The estuary is also an internationally important location for
waders and other wildfowl, which has led to demands from cocklers for the control of
oystercatchers (
Haematopus ostralegus), which feed on cockles. The estuary cuts through the southern part of a once-important coalfield.
Llanelli, on its north shore, was noted for its
tinplate industry, whilst Penclawdd, on the south side, smelted
copper from ore shipped in from
Anglesey. Both required ready access to the
Bristol Channel via Carmarthen Bay. The main channel has fluctuated from side to side of the estuary in the past; in the late 19th century, the Llanelli Port Authority obtained legislation permitting the construction of a training wall intended to confine it to the north side of the estuary; unfortunately, this merely dissipated the currents, accelerating the silting-up not only of the entrance to
Llanelli North Dock but also of the Penclawdd anchorage. The wall has since been breached in several places. A later influence on the physical environment was the planting of cordgrass (
Spartina anglica) to claim grazing land at the western end of the Gower side during the 1930s. This vigorous grass has since spread in a wide band all along the south side, forming the basis of a
salt-marsh supporting the grazing of sheep, ponies and cattle. The estuary is partly closed off by Whiteford Point, which extends from in Gower towards
Burry Port and in Carmarthenshire. This is now a National Nature Reserve maintained by the
National Trust and
Natural Resources Wales and is an area of sand dunes supporting several rare species. Just off the tip of the point is one of the few remaining cast-iron
lighthouses, long since disused and in need of preservation. During
World War II several gun batteries were established to both the east and west of Penclawdd, where gun-barrels were calibrated and
shells (of various types including
high-explosive and
mustard gas) were fired across the salt marsh towards
Whiteford Point; quantities of unwanted munitions were also buried on the seaward side of this point. The area is regularly swept by the
Royal Navy's
bomb disposal team, although few
shells are now recovered. Persistent rumours that
anthrax biological warfare shells were tested against sheep in the estuary were finally substantiated in a reply to a parliamentary question from the late Tony Banks in January 1987. In the 1960s, the
Ministry of Defence proposed to move its main artillery and explosives testing facility at
Foulness, at the mouth of the
River Thames, to a site between Burry Port and
Kidwelly, which was already used in a very sporadic way as an air-to-ground rocket range. The intention was to make way for a planned third London airport. The proposal was vigorously resisted locally and was dropped when another airport site was agreed. The estuary forms part of the "Burry Inlet and Loughor Estuary"
Site of Special Scientific Interest (), designated on 1 January 1972 in an attempt to conserve the area. ==References==