Kenfig / Cynffig - The Complete History :: History

The History of Kenfig Pool

Covering some 70 acres, Kenfig Pool is today a haven for wildlife and an important feature of the Kenfig Dunes National Nature Reserve.

Although only just over 12 feet in depth at its deepest point, it was long reputed locally to be "bottomless". It was also reputed to overlie the ancient town of Kenfig - a tradition which perhaps dates from the middle of the 16th century.

Although there is no visible outlet from the pool today, a map made in the 16th century shows that it then entered the sea along a channel leading from the south-west corner of the lake.

It was probably here that a sluice or watergate stood, as recorded in the accounts of the Margam Estate in 1769 when the channel was presumably open. References to the fact that the Blaklaak stream ran from the southern to the northern water of Kenfig have led people to believe that it was the outlet at about the time Kenfig town was built.

The fishing rights in the pool were vested in the burgesses, though they are noted sadly in the 1660 survey that it contained "only eels and roaches". Things began to change after the middle of the 18th century, however, as the young Thomas Mansel Talbot of the Margam estate, a keen huntsman and angler, discovered the pleasures and wildlife of the area.

He made arrangements for a boat to be kept at the lake and, in 1769 went so far as to have pike from Llangorse Lake near Brecon brought in specially constructed tin tanks, on horseback, to stock the Kenfig waters. Other fish were brought by the same method from the lakes at Hensol Castle and other improvements followed.

Willow beds were planted, provision made for swans to be fed in winter, a proper boathouse built, and an artificial island created to encourage wildfoul to breed - the latter has now sunk beneath the waters.