Kenfig Pool

Kenfig Pool is a national nature reserve situated near Porthcawl, Bridgend. Wild storms and huge tides between the 13th and 15th centuries are mainly responsible for creating the Kenfig dunes near Porthcawl, as they threw vast quantities of sand up over the Glamorgan coast. This buried the nearby borough of Kenfig, and its castle, of which only the tower is still visible. At 70 acres the second largest freshwater lake in south Wales. Kenfig Pool lies at the heart of the national nature reserve and is a valuable stopping point for migrating birds. The lake's maximum depth is about 12 feet. An island, built by the aristocrats living in nearby Margam to encourage wildfowl to nest there, has long since sunk beneath the waters. HistoryThere are several theories about how the pool was formed. An old, yet popular theory claims that the lake was created during a "sinking of the land" in a massive earthquake, but has since been rejected as downright bizarre. Recently, a paper written at Cardiff University claims that before the spreading of the sand dunes, the River Kenfig flowed southward, its natural mouth being near Sker Rocks at the south end of Kenfig beach, and that the pool was a remainder of this. A more likely theory, put forward by researchers in collaboration with the Kenfig Society, also says how the lake was formed. The western boundary of the borough of Kenfig was marked by a stream called the Blaklaak. Although it had by then been covered by the sands, a document dating from 1360 states that it had flowed from the "southern water of Kenfig" (Kenfig Pool) to the "northern water" (most likely the River Kenfig). The Blaklaak was undoubtedly an outlet stream of the lake, which local lore claims is fed by seven springs, although by now these would most likely have dried up.

Kenfig Pool is a national nature reserve situated near Porthcawl, Bridgend. Wild storms and huge tides between the 13th and 15th centuries are mainly responsible for creating the Kenfig dunes near Porthcawl, as they threw vast quantities of sand up over the Glamorgan coast. This buried the nearby borough of Kenfig, and its castle, of which only the tower is still visible. At 70 acres the second largest freshwater lake in south Wales. Kenfig Pool lies at the heart of the national nature reserve and is a valuable stopping point for migrating birds. The lake's maximum depth is about 12 feet. An island, built by the aristocrats living in nearby Margam to encourage wildfowl to nest there, has long since sunk beneath the waters. HistoryThere are several theories about how the pool was formed. An old, yet popular theory claims that the lake was created during a "sinking of the land" in a massive earthquake, but has since been rejected as downright bizarre. Recently, a paper written at Cardiff University claims that before the spreading of the sand dunes, the River Kenfig flowed southward, its natural mouth being near Sker Rocks at the south end of Kenfig beach, and that the pool was a remainder of this. A more likely theory, put forward by researchers in collaboration with the Kenfig Society, also says how the lake was formed. The western boundary of the borough of Kenfig was marked by a stream called the Blaklaak. Although it had by then been covered by the sands, a document dating from 1360 states that it had flowed from the "southern water of Kenfig" (Kenfig Pool) to the "northern water" (most likely the River Kenfig). The Blaklaak was undoubtedly an outlet stream of the lake, which local lore claims is fed by seven springs, although by now these would most likely have dried up.