Reflecting on our changing coastline

REPORT: Friends of Rhiwbina Library author talk - Matthew Yeomans on 'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline'

Around 60% of the population of Wales lives in coastal areas - so it's no surprise that the sea, and particularly its impact on the land, has always been important to us.

Last night (Tuesday 7 October), author and writer, Matthew Yeomans, explored this further with an informative and thought-provoking talk based on his latest book, Seascape.

Cardiff-born Matthew has written about the environment, sustainability, travel, business, and technology for publications in the UK and US, including The New York Times, National Geographic, and The Guardian, and he has taught at New York University and Cardiff University. And, full disclosure - I have known him for 20-plus years and have worked with him in the past.

To write Seascape, he walked hundreds of miles on the Wales Coast Path, exploring how the coast has affected our lives. informed our literature, folklore, and culture, and presented unique challenges.

He told the audience at Rhiwbina Hub that three main themes kept emerging:

• how the sea has played a dominant role in the human development of Wales and the people who came to live here;

• how humans have continually sought to tame the sea and shape the coast;

• and how the sea and nature always have the last word.

There are examples going back through the centuries. Did you know, in Neolithic times, modern-day Pembrokeshire and Cornwall were connected by land? In South East Wales, the Romans built a seawall and reclaimed the land with drainage and irrigation systems? And the thriving settlement of Kenfig was abandoned in the 15th century because of the encroaching sea and sand?

More recently, and closer to home, much of South Cardiff was built on salt marsh in the 19th century, as people moved to the town and its booming port.

And, despite the Cardiff Bay Barrage, Tremorfa is among the areas which will need new defences to prevent communities being surrendered to the sea.

You can buy Seascape and Matthew's previous book Return to My Trees here.

This was the first in a new series of author talks, hosted by Friends of Rhiwbina Library. Keep an eye on our events calendar for future dates.

Report by Andy Weltch

Photos by Liz Scott