Gateholm or Gateholm Island is a small

tidal island A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...

off the south west coast of

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

, in the community of Marloes and St Brides, in the south west side of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, in the west of the UK, and about 8 miles (13 km) west of the port of Milford Haven. It is known for its

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

remains. Gateholm is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

as part of their Marloes Sands and Mere estate.

Name

The name, recorded as ''Goteholme'' in 1480, derives from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

for "goat island" or "street peninsula".

Geography

Gateholm is at the western end of

Marloes Sands Marloes Sands () is an approx. long remote sandy beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, near the village of Marloes. It's broadly curved and surrounded by cliffs. Walking on the beach gives great views of Skokholm Island and Gateholm Island. Locatio ...

, and is accessible only at low tide. Gateholm rises to a small plateau 40 metres (131 feet) high, and with an area of about .John Buxton, Ronald Mathias Lockley, (1950), ''Island of Skomer:a preliminary survey of the natural history of Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire'', page 16. Staples Press The island consists of steeply-dipping

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

. The rock strata date from the Prídolí Epoch of the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...

; the exceptional exposure here and on the adjoining Albion Sands have resulted in the location's inclusion in the

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

as a candidate for protection as a geological

site of special scientific interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI).

National Trust and statutory protection

Gateholm was bought by the National Trust in 1981 under Enterprise Neptune, a longterm project to acquire and maintain stretches of coastline to retain its character and preserve its wildlife. The National Trust had already been given over 450 acres on Marloes Peninsula, including Marloes Court Farm, donated in 1941, which included the Marloes Sands and Albion Sands coastline. This, along with adjacent donations of West Hook (1940), Runwayskiln Farm (1941) and Trehill Farm (1942), meant the Trust already owned much of the peninsula and its coast. The acquisition in 1981 of Gateholm plus the Martin's Haven deer park at the western headland, meant the entire coastline and peninsula could be managed under National Trust leases and access arrangements. It is now known as 'Marloes Sands and Mere', and incorporates the Marloes Mere inland SSSI as well as parts of two coastal SSSIs, 'Dale and South Marloes Coast', and 'St Brides Bay South', which between them give legal protection to the whole coastline of the Peninsula. The Gateholm coastline also lies within two European designated areas. The 'Pembrokeshire Marine'

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

is notable for its bays, reefs and grey seals, whilst the

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

for 'Skomer, Skokholm and the seas off Pembrokeshire', gives protection for the large breeding seabird populations.

Archaeology

The island contained around 130 roundhouses as well as huts of a rectangular shape. The rectangular houses were mostly arranged in rows end-on and surrounded by small courtyards.Lloyd Robert Laing (1975), ''The Archaeology of Late Celtic Britain and Ireland, c. 400-1200 AD'', page 111. Methuen Excavations of some of these hut sites conducted in 1910 and 1930 found evidence for occupation in the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, with finds including pottery, coins, and a small bronze stag. There was also a bronze pin of Irish origin and dating from the 6th century. One of the houses had a stone

phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precise ...

buried upright in one of the main post holes.Thomas Charles Lethbridge, (1948), ''Merlin's Island: essays on Britain in the Dark Ages'', page 81. Methuen The houses were built of turf with stone facings, the roof being carried on a ridge-pole between the posts. The site has been interpreted variously as a native

settlement with later occupation, and as an early

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

complex.

Filming

Gateholm was the subject of an episode of the British archaeology television series, ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' (Series 19, episode 01). The island featured prominently in the 2011 film ''

Snow White and the Huntsman ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' is a 2012 American fantasy film based on the German fairy tale "Snow White" compiled by the Brothers Grimm. The directorial debut of Rupert Sanders, it was written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock and Hossein ...

''; a computer-generated castle was superimposed on the island post-production.

References

External links

Gateholm Island - Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of wales
{{Pembrokeshire Islands of Pembrokeshire Tidal islands of Wales Former populated places in Wales