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St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay is a post-medieval chapel situated on the Gower Peninsula in Wales. The monument occupies a prominent position above Caswell Bay, where Dinantian limestone bedrock—formed during the Mississippian period and interspersed with sandstone and argillaceous rocks—creates the dramatic coastal geology. This limestone landscape has historically supported both freshwater springs and the deep wells characteristic of such terrain, making the site's associated well a natural feature of considerable practical and spiritual significance to local communities.
The chapel represents the continuity of Christian worship at this coastal location during the post-medieval period, reflecting the enduring importance of such sites to seafaring and agricultural populations. The combination of chapel and well suggests a dual function, serving both religious devotion and practical water supply needs common to rural Welsh settlements. The monument's relationship to the underlying geology and the bay itself demonstrates how medieval and post-medieval religious sites were frequently positioned to serve both spiritual and material requirements of their communities.
The site is now protected by Cadw, the Welsh historic monuments authority, under reference GM374, ensuring the preservation of this evidence of post-medieval religious and domestic life on the Gower Peninsula.
St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference GM374. View the official record →
St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay is a post-medieval chapel situated on the Gower Peninsula in Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference GM374.
St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a chapel. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is GM374.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Caswell Cliff Fort (0.8 km), Chantry Acre medieval chapel (1.4 km), Bishopston Valley Camp (2.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
St Peter's Chapel & Well, Caswell Bay stands on Dinantian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Mississippian. The rock here is limestone with subordinate sandstone and argillaceous rocks.