Nolton Haven is a hamlet halfway along the coast of

St Bride's Bay St Brides Bay ( cy, Bae Sain Ffraid) is a bay in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its nort ...

in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is included within the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro) is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of three national parks in Wales, the others b ...

. Together with the larger inland village of Nolton which is about 1 km to the southeast and the village of

Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327, also called Rock in English, is a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he is especially invoked a ...

, Nolton Haven falls within

Nolton and Roch Nolton and Roch ( cy, Nolton a'r Garn) is a community in the Hundred of Roose, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The community consists essentially of the villages of Nolton and Roch and a number of hamlets including Cuffern and Druidston. The western part ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Amenities

The community is little more than a cluster of houses and a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

next to a

shingle cove Shingle Cove is a small, sheltered cove in the north-west corner of Iceberg Bay, several kilometres east of Cape Hansen, on the south coast of Coronation Island, in the South Orkney Islands of Antarctica. The nearest research station is the ...

. The

Pembrokeshire Coast Path The Pembrokeshire Coast Path ( cy, Llwybr Arfordir Sir Benfro), often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. Established in 1970, it is a long-distance walking route, mostly a ...

runs through the village. Since May 2012 this route has also formed a part of the

Wales Coast Path The Wales Coast Path ( cy, Llwybr Arfordir Cymru) is a designated long-distance trail which follows, or runs close to, the coastline of Wales. Launched in 2012, the footpath is long and was heralded as the first dedicated coast path in the wor ...

. An on-road section of route 4 of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

also runs through Nolton Haven.

Geology

Nolton Haven lies at the westernmost edge of the

Pembrokeshire Coalfield The Pembrokeshire Coalfield in West Wales is one of the smallest British coalfields, but continuously worked from the 14th to 20th centuries. The main coalfield extends across south Pembrokeshire from Saundersfoot on Carmarthen Bay westwards to B ...

. The local rocks which form a partly fault-bound outlier of the main coalfield which lies to the south, are assigned to the

Pennant Sandstone Formation Pennant may refer to: Flag or banner * Pennon (or pennant), a narrow, tapering flag ** Commissioning pennant, the traditional sign of a warship, flown from its masthead while the ship is in commission ** Broad pennant, flown from the masthead o ...

. They largely comprise a faulted series of mudstones, siltstones and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s with thin and contorted

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

seams known locally as 'veins'. Coal was mined during the nineteenth and early twentieth century at two sites east of the village known as Nolton Colliery and at the Black Cliff (Rickets Head) Colliery north of the village. The Cliff and Folly veins were the most significant coal-producing seams. The strata were folded during the

Variscan Orogeny The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

and frequently dip at 20 to 30 degrees whilst several faults outcrop in the cliffs on the north side of the bay.British Geological Survey 1978. 1:50,000 scale geological map sheet 226/227 (England & Wales) ''Milford''

References

External links

Photographs of Nolton Haven and surrounding area on Geograph
{{authority control Beaches of Pembrokeshire Coast of Pembrokeshire Villages in Pembrokeshire