Penarth Head seen from near the alt=Penarth Head seen from near Cardiff Bay Barrage Penarth Head is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...

on the south coast of

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

near the Welsh

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. St Augustine's Church sits on the highest point of the Head and has been used as a landmark to aid navigation for seafarers for centuries. When the medieval church was replaced in the 1860s,

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...

pilots demanded the new church had a tall tower.

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

's new church was built with a 90-foot tower. The

Cardiff Bay Barrage Cardiff Bay Barrage ( cy, Morglawdd Bae Caerdydd) lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s. Hist ...

lies across the mouth of

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay ( cy, Bae Caerdydd; historically Tiger Bay; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of w ...

, between Queen Alexandra Dock in Cardiff docks and Penarth Head. In 2015 a viewing platform was built in Penarth Head Park, which lies on the edge of the Head at the end of Penarth Head Lane. The park, with views to

Penarth Pier Penarth Pier is a Victorian era pier in the town of Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. The pier was opened in 1898 and was a popular attraction to seaside-goers at the time, who also enjoyed trips on pleasure steamers that operated from the ...

and across to

Flat Holm Flat Holm ( cy, Ynys Echni) is a Welsh island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan. It includes the most southerly point of Wales. The island has a long history of occupation, dating at le ...

, was to have interpretation boards, as well as a mosaic in the shape 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 ...

logo. At 200 feet above sea level, the park is the highest point on the entire route of the Wales Coast Path.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Penarth Head and surrounding area
Headlands of the Vale of Glamorgan {{ValeofGlamorgan-geo-stub