Shifting sands reveal 12ft high anchor from Welsh coast 170 years ago

[Neil]

12ft high anchor was recovered from Cefn Sidan Sands in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire

It was revealed overnight, after a strong tide moved the shifting sands
The anchor weighs 1 tonne and is estimated to be 170 years old

Over 300 ships have floundered off the coast and rangers sweep the beach daily for fresh debris

By Katy Winter
 

Holidaymakers were shocked to see a monster rise from the deep - a giant anchor which has been buried under sands for hundreds of years.

Visitors to the Welsh beach saw the 12ft high anchor, which is estimated to be 170 years old, rise up out of the sands overnight, after a strong tide moved the shifting sands.

The one tonne anchor was recovered from Cefn Sidan Sands in Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, and tests will now be carried out it to discover where it came from.
 
The massive anchor was uncovered by the shifting sands in Carmarthen Bay, West Wales after remaining buried for 170 years
 
Visitors to the beach were stunned to find the 12ft anchor had been uncovered by the tide in a matter of hours
A tractor was required to lift the massive anchor, which weighed in at one tonne, from the sand and transport it for testing.

The anchor, while a significant piece of maritime history, is by no means the first large piece of debris to have been discovered at Cefn Sidan Sands.

The beach is known as Wales' equivalent of Africa's Skeleton Coast as over 300 ships have been wrecked at the picturesque beauty spot in the past.

Carmarthenshire Council spokesman Ron Cant said: 'Many wrecks floundered on Cefn Sidan before detailed records were made.

'Over time stormy weather and the shifting of vast tonnages of sand, the beach has given up scores of wrecks and jetsam and flotsam artifacts - including many anchors.
 
A tractor was required to lift the massive anchor, which weighed in at one tonne, from the sand and transport it for testing

'Wreck provenance only started to be recorded in some detail when newspapers started to record in the first decade of the 19th century the misfortune of hapless mariners.

'Little if anything is known about the names of more than 300 vessels thought to have floundered there.'

The beach, part of the Pembrey Country Park leisure and nature complex, is often the resting place of the washed up skeletons of steel and wood vessels.

The mysterious debris is washed in on spring tides which often send the sea two miles up the shore.
 
Cefn Sidan Sands in Pembrey, is known as Wales' equivalent of Africa's Skeleton Coast as over 300 ships have been wrecked there
As the sands levels rise and fall artifacts can be shifted or buried deeper, and many remain undiscovered for years.

Nature reserve rangers make daily sweeps of the beach to check for washed up items.

Senior Ranger Gavin Hall said: 'Finds have varied from lost cargoes of sun tan oil to coconut trees with coconuts that are washed up on the tide.

'But it is what is revealed from under the sand or storm ripped dunes that is of more interest.

'It is a veritable treasure trove of maritime ages past - Items can lie buried for several hundred years before being given up by the sands.'

[Chef Geoff]

Come on Val...get out there

"tests will now be carried out it to discover where it came from."

I don't know about you lot but my money's on a ship

[kencomet]

It looks huge, unless the guy standing on the anchor is a midget lol... 

[Neil]

Heres a photo for scale - its flaming enormous! Or its a small tractor!

[Val Beechey]

I wondered why I couldn't get to the bottom of that signal 

Doesn't surprise me. I've seen a gangway appear from nowhere a bit further along the coast. The iron pilings on that were higher than me. (I am bigger than a Grass Hopper) 5ft 1in.

Bet I know where the boys will be tomorrow.

Val

[Chef Geoff]

What do you mean it looks enormous..... It says one ton and 12 foot, what did you think it would look like Or is there a unit of measure called a Pembroke Foot which is a lot smaller lol

[alun]

Lol nice one Geoff
Must be windy there cause those two guys are either well oiled, or they both nutted the anchor on the way out.

[topcat]

The sand might have shifted on that beach but i bet its not shifted on my local beaches in West Wales so i will have to check it out this week .

[Treebeard]

Lol nice one Geoff
Must be windy there cause those two guys are either well oiled, or they both nutted the anchor on the way out.

I only noticed the negative camber on the tractor wheels.

[dances with badgers]

they also found a human skull there a week after the anchor was found.plenty of gold there too but deep in the black sand,its one of my favourite beaches

[StumbledUpon]

Excellent post Neil, enjoyed reading. 

[looking4gold]

they also found a human skull there a week after the anchor was found.plenty of gold there too but deep in the black sand,its one of my favourite beaches

Is detecting allowed there? I thought it was an SSSI?!

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

That's just the dunes and surrounding land not the beach.

[looking4gold]

Thanks for clearing that up Rob.

[dances with badgers]

we never get any hassle there