1. A single stone rampart, possibly the remains of a collapsed wall, enclose the inner summit of Worms Head. The enclosure, backing onto the sea-cliffs to the N, is c.200m by 43m at its widest: single entrance is visible.

(source Os495card; SS38NE7)

2. 'The contorted coastal headland of Worms Head on western Gower, with its natural arch and blow hole, is home to a small coastal promontory enclosure on the Inner Head as well as a cave at its far end. It would have been an ideal location for a later prehistoric port of trade, separated from the mainland at high tide and marked by a prominent natural rock ‘tower’, the Outer Head, at the far end; an Iron Age jewellery mould was found near the Outer Head some decades ago. Worm’s Head may have functioned in tandem with Burry Holms island, 5km to the north across Rhossili Bay, which also has a promontory fort. This is a locale made more extraordinary by the Scandinavian reference to a ‘worm’ or sea serpent in its name, a place where coastal settlement, sea trade and deep mythology may have combined to heighten its significance'. (Driver, T. 2023, p. 59, Fig. 2.14).

'A particularly interesting and rare find was collected from Worms Head in an area of eroding cliff in the years before 1920, by Captain E. Cunnington and reported by his mother in the pages of the journal Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1920. Two halves of a small Old Red Sandstone mould for casting Early Iron Age jewellery were collected from an eroding midden, which also produced sea shells, animal bones, potsherds and fragments of bronze and iron. The findspot was at the western end of the middle islet, between the Inner and Outer Heads. Although the mould was published in 1920, it was not thoroughly examined until Hubert Savory published a longer note on it in 1974. The main central brooch design from which an original could be cast was circular and decorated with a continuous scroll surrounding the ring. Savory noted similarities with Iron Age La Tène designs from other parts of Britain and Europe and also that such metalwork is normally imported. While the mould is certainly made of local sandstone, Savory speculated that the metalworker may have come to Worms Head from another country. He also noted that the Carmarthen Bay area had produced quite a range of later prehistoric imported objects including ceramics and bronze bracelets more at home in central Europe, suggesting a pattern of trading to the settlements and harbours of the Bristol Channel'. (Driver, T. 2023, p. 225-26).

3. National Trust Heritage Record for Worms Head: https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA132352

References:

Cunnington, M. E. 1920. Notes on objects from an inhabited site on the Worms Head, Glamorgan. Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. XX, Sixth Series. 251-256.

Driver, T. 2023. The Hillforts of Iron Age Wales. Logaston Press.

Savory, H. N. 1974. An early Iron Age metalworker’s mould from Worms Head. Archaeologia Cambrensis, Vol. CXXIII. 170-174. Archaeologia Cambrensis (1900-1999) | Vol. 123 | 1974 | Welsh Journals - The National Library of Wales