Shingle-backed shore
Newgale
Nearly two miles of sand behind a shingle bank, with beginner surf, coast-path walking and coalfield remains.
- Best for
- Beach days, beginner surf and coast-path walking
- Give it
- A half day for the beach and village stops
- Don't miss
- The shingle ridge and Trefrane colliery chimney
Photo: Pam Goodey · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
A beach base on St Bride's Bay
Newgale brings together a broad sandy beach, beginner-friendly surf and coast-path walking in a village marked by storms and the old Landsker boundary.
The beach and its high pebble bank define the visit, while Newsurf and paths toward Solva or Nolton Haven give the shoreline several distinct ways to explore. South of the village, Rickets Head and the surviving Trefrane colliery chimney add an industrial layer to the coastal landscape.
Where to go
Places in Newgale
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 places
Start here
Newgale Beach
A broad, flat sandy beach backed by a high shingle bank, stretching almost two miles along St Bride's Bay.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- at the head of St Bride's Bay
- Access
- Car parking and public toilets are available.
Newsurf
A beachfront surf shop and hire centre for surfboards, bodyboards, paddleboards and wetsuits, also offering surf lessons, guided kayaking and coasteering.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- on Newgale's beachfront
- Access
- Hot showers and changing rooms are available.
Newgale to Solva Coast Path
The northward stretch of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path links Newgale with Solva over 5.4 miles of rugged, undulating clifftop scenery.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 150 minutes
- Locality
- from Newgale north to Solva
- Access
- The route is rugged, undulating and on clifftops.
Walks & outdoors
1 placeRickets Head
A landmark headland passed on the walk south toward Nolton Haven, where the route mixes sandy beach, rolling farmland and dramatic cliffs.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- between Newgale and Nolton Haven
History & heritage
2 placesTrefrane Cliff Colliery
A Grade II listed stone-and-brick chimney and adjoining engine-house footings survive at Trefrane, near Nolton Haven, from a colliery whose galleries ran under the sea.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- at Trefrane, near Nolton Haven
Brandy Brook
The small river recognised as the Landsker marker at Newgale, dividing the historically English-speaking south from the Welsh-speaking north and noted by Richard Fenton in 1810.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- running through the village into the bay
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Three ways to explore Newgale
Signature outings
The Landsker Boundary
Brandy Brook runs through Newgale and marks the historic language boundary between north and south Pembrokeshire.
Walk North to Solva
Take the waymarked coast path north for 5.4 miles of rugged, undulating clifftop scenery.
Trefrane's Sea-Edge Ruins
On the coast path south of Newgale, Trefrane's listed chimney and engine-house remains mark the former cliff colliery.
The village story
Newgale Village Guide
A high shingle bank, a long sandy beach and layers of coastal history on St Bride's Bay.
Shingle Bank and Sands
Between the road and the sand at Newgale sits a long shingle ridge created by rising sea levels at the end of the Ice Age. It has served as a sea defence, though waves still breach it and wash rocks across the main road. On 1 February 2014, a large wave hit a Richards Bros bus on the seafront, leaving it surrounded by water; rescuers brought ten passengers to safety.
Behind that ridge is nearly two miles of flat sand, with car parking, public toilets, a large campsite at the northern end and a static caravan park at the southern end. Surfing is popular here, and beginners can take lessons. Newsurf hires surfboards, bodyboards, paddleboards and wetsuits, offers surf lessons, guided kayaking and coasteering, and has hot showers and changing rooms.
The Landsker Boundary
The historic frontier between English-speaking south Pembrokeshire — "Little England beyond Wales" — and the Welsh-speaking north is marked at Newgale by Brandy Brook, the small river running through the village into the bay. Richard Fenton noted it as the dividing line in his Historical Tour of 1810; cross the brook and, historically, the language changed.
Coast Path and Colliery
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path makes Newgale a base for walks in both directions.
North, the path runs 5.4 miles over undulating clifftops to Solva, a harbour village with pubs and galleries. South, the shorter route to Nolton Haven passes the headland of Rickets Head and the ruins of Trefrane Cliff Colliery — a chimney and engine-house foundations on the cliff, the westernmost edge of the Pembrokeshire Coalfield. The colliery opened in the 1850s, employed thirty-six people by 1896, and worked galleries that ran out under the sea. Coal was loaded onto ships beached on the sand.
Ancient Shore and Connections
At low sand-levels the beach gives up something older. Peat and tree stumps surface on the strand, branches dated to around 4300 BC. Gerald of Wales saw them in 1191, after a storm laid the shore bare, and wrote of "the trunks of trees cut off, standing in the very sea itself."
Haverfordwest, the county town and nearest station, is about nine miles east; St Davids, Britain's smallest city, seven miles the other way. Richards Bros buses run the coast road between them.
Boxing Day on the Beach
For Boxing Day, a stroll along Newgale Beach offers a shorter walk than the coast path from Solva.
Stay around Pembrokeshire
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Photography credits & licences
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- File:Cave on Newgale beach - geograph.org.uk - 3147304.jpg — photograph by Pam Goodey; Cave on Newgale beach by Pam Goodey. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Newgale Beach — visitpembrokeshire.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Newsurf — newsurf.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Newgale to Solva Coast Path — pembrokeshirecoast.wales operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Rickets Head — pembrokeshirecoast.wales other published source
- Trefrane Cliff Colliery — cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net other published source
- Brandy Brook — pembrokeshirecoast.wales other published source