1. A rifle range is portrayed on the Second Edition county series OS map (1898) and is located on Mynydd Carn-goch, a common on the east side of Gorseinon and was used by the Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers. As portrayed, the range comprised a single firing line 700 yards long on a roughly east-west alignment which crosses a railway formation. The target, placed on the east, is shown in front of a bank, and the firing positions are shown at 100 yard intervals as points.
Field investigation failed to identify any structures related to the firing positions on ground that is poorly drained and infested with molinia (purple moor grass). The target area lies on ground rising above the common to the east. An arcuate bank, which presumably acted as the stop-butt, is located at SS61239797, overgrown with bracken, bramble and gorse. It is 20m long and 1m high and appears to be an accentuation of the natural slope by downscarping, an effect further enhanced by the passage of off-road vehicles that have carved a track along the foot of the bank. This appears to have destroyed the `arms? of the bank shown as if`enclosing? the target. The target itself, shown below the bank as a box feature, was not identified on ground that is now boggy scrub woodland.
By the Third Edition map (1916) the range is no longer portrayed. It may therefore have gone out of use before the First World War.
Competitions were reported in the local press in 1903 with mentions of 200, 400 & 600 yard distances.

The range may have been closed due to safety concerns in about 1905 after it was reported to have been condemned for not meeting the requirements of the War Office (The Cambrian 24.03.1905).

David Leighton, RCAHMW, 12 June 2014

2. The range was closed in the early 1900s after it was condemned as unsafe on account of the proximity of farms situated behind the target area.
It was re-opened briefly in 1905 for military training with the posting of men 'at certain points to warn passers-by of the danger'. A new range situated between Gowerton and Penclawdd was intended to open the following year. In any case, by the third edition map (1916) the Garn-goch range was no longer portrayed and was out of use by the time of the First World War.
Additional source: The Cambrian, 2.6.1905.

David Leighton, RCAHMW, 9 April 2014