Pencaer a Pharc Cenedlaethol Sir Benfro | Pencaer and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pencaer a Pharc Cenedlaethol Sir Benfro | Pencaer and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Mae Pencaer wedi bod yn rhan o Barc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Sir Benfro ers 1952.Bu Deddf y Parciau Cenedlaethol a Mynediad i Gefn Gwlad 1949 yn gyfrwng i ddynodi tri Pharc Cenedlaethol yng Nghymru : Eryri, Bannau Brycheiniog ac Arfordir Sir Benfro. Rwyf bellach yn rhan annatod o’r olaf ar ol byw a gweithio fel rhan o wasanaeth y Parc am dros 30 mlynedd gan roi llwyfan imi i ‘sgrifennu’r sylwadau canlynol. Gofynnwyd i’r Parciau Cenedlaethol wneud tri pheth ac er yr holl newidiadau mewn llywodraeth a pholisi dros y 70 mlynedd olaf, ychydig o newid a fu. Dibenion y Parc yw: Mae hynny’n ddigon eglur. I weithredu hyn mae gan Awdurdod y Parc gyllideb a gweithlu tua’r un faint ag ysgol uwchradd fach. Mae gennym weithwyr maes i ddiogelu’r llwybrau troed. Mae gennym arbenigwyr i gynghori ac weithiau i roi cymorthdal i ysgolion, ffermwyr, perchnogion tir a chymunedau. Rydym hefyd yn dibynnu ar nifer o wirfoddolwyr. Hwyrach taw’r arf mwyaf pwerus sydd gennym. fodd bynnag. yw’r ffaith mai ni yw’r Awdurdod Cynllunio Lleol, gyda phwyllgor o Gynghorwyr Sir ac enwebiadau gan Lywodraeth Cymru, sydd yn gyfrifol am benderfyniadau rheoli a llunio datblygiad o fewn y Parch Cenedlaethol a’r Parc, yn wahanol i Barciau Cenedlaethol America, bron yn gyfangwbl ym mherchnogaeth unigolion. A fi yn eu mysg! Bu’n rhaid wrth weledigaeth arbennig gan nifer er mwyn neilltuo ein Parciau Cenedlaethol a’u rheoli gyda chanllawiau gwahanol i weddill y wlad. Credaf fod hyn yn cael ei adlewyrchu yn y Pencaer a welwn heddiw: er yn wahanol fe fydd y sawl a fu’n byw ac yn gweithio ac yn caru’r ardal yn y pumdegau yn dal i’w hadnabod. Hwyrach mai’r newidiadau mwyaf trawiadol yw’r rhai cymdeithasol ac economaidd. Newidiadau yn nulliau ffermio gyda llai o bobl yn gweithio ar y tir, ffermydd yn uno a thai ac adeiladau segur yn cael eu gwerthu i ‘bobl o bant’ neu fel tai haf bu’n bennaf gyfrifol am hyn. Caewyd ysgolion lleol, siopau Tremarchog a Henner, swyddfeydd post a mannau addoli. Mae’n bosib nad yw’r newidiadau at ddant pawb ond ar y llaw arall mae rhai ohonynt er gwell. Cryfhawyd y gefnogaeth i’r Gymraeg yn yr ysgolion a’r ieuenctid sy’n cael eu codi ym Mhencaer yn dysgu a siarad Cymraeg yn yr ysgolion lleol. Mae twristiaeth wedi tyfu a busnesau fel Melin Tregwynt yn ffynnu. Mae teuluoedd newydd wedi symud i’r ardal – deuthum i yma 25 mlynedd yn ol ac wedi cael blas ar godi dau blentyn yn yr ardal. Felly mae yna ymwybyddiaeth cynyddol o arbenigrwydd y gornel fach hon o’r byd. Adlewyrchir hyn hefyd gan y rhif cynyddol o ymwelwyr rhyngwladol sy’n dewis ymweld a’r criwiau teledu sy’n cael eu tynnu yma fel gwenyn at bot jam. Mae rhai pethau heb newid gan gynnwys y tirwedd garw dan lach didrugaredd y gwynt sy’n gorchuddio’r ysgerbwd caled igneaidd a grewyd 450 miliwn o flynyddoedd yn ol. Ni ddaeth y graig hylifol hyn i gyd i’r wyneb: mae basalt colofnog Garn Fawr yn enghraifft o hylif a oerodd yn araf o dan yr wyneb. Ar Ben Strwmbwl ymwthiodd y graig hylifol i’r moroedd cyntefig gan oeri ar ffurf lafa clustog. Mewn cilfach a bae, gan gynnwys Aber Mawr a Phorth Sychan, mae cerrig sial, llechi a chlai clogfaen meddalach wedi profi erydiad tra bo’r lafau clustog a’r basalt mor gadarn a bygythiol ag erioed ar Ben Brwsh a Phen Strwmbwl. Rydym yn rhannu’r tirwedd gyda bywyd gwyllt nodedig a phrin ar adegau. Mae’r hebog tramor, a fu unwaith ar ddiflannu, bellach i’w weld yn nythu ar glogwyni diarffordd; mae heidiau o frain coesgoch i’w gweld yn chwilio am bryfetach ar leiniau porfa’r arfordir; mae’r llamhidydd a’r dolffin cyffredin yn bwydo yn y dyfroedd garw oddi ar Pen Anglas a Phen Strwmbwl a phrydferthwch yr ardd gerrig naturiol hyd yr arfordir yn parhau i roi pleser, a dryswch, i arddwyr o fri. Yn olaf rhaid peidio anghofio’r morlo llwyd sy’n byw ac yn magu hyd ein glannau creigiog. Felly beth am y dyfodol? Daeth newid hinsawdd yn ffaith, mae’r dechnoleg werdd ar gyfer cynhyrchu egni adnewyddol ar waith, a gweithio o gartref yma i aros yn sgil y chwyldro digidol. Bydd yn rhaid i ffermwyr barhau i addasu a thorri tir newydd a bydd yn rhaid rheoli’r pwysau a ddaw gyda thwristiaeth. Caiff rhain i gyd eu heffaith yn yr un modd ag arweiniad cadarn o du’r Parc Cenedlaethol. Ond yn bennal oll caiff Pencaer ei fowldio gennych chi: y trigolion, yr ymwelwyr a’r rhai sy’n gweithio yno ac yn caru’r lle. I gael mwy o wybodaeth am y Parc Cenedlaethol ewch i www.arfordirpenfro.cymru.
Pencaer has been part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park since just after the Second World War, 1952 to be precise. Riding alongside the National Health Service, and other pioneering legislation, the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, enabled the designation of Wales’ three National Parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast. I have become an institution in the latter, having lived and worked in it as part of the Ranger service for over 30 years, giving me the platform to write the following reflections. The National Parks were asked to do three things and, despite all the changes in Government and policy in the intervening 70-odd years, these have barely changed. The Park purposes are: In addition there is also a duty to foster the economic and social well-being of communities living within the Park. So that’s pretty clear. To do this the National Park Authority has a budget and about the same number of staff as a small secondary school. We have field staff who look after all the footpaths. We have specialists who can give advice and sometimes grants to schools, farmers, landowners and communities. We also depend on a huge number of local volunteers. However, arguably, our most powerful, certainly contentious tool is that we are the Local Planning Authority with a committee of County Councillors and Welsh Government appointees at the sharp end making the decisions, helping to control and shape development in the National Park which, unlike say the American National Parks such as Yellowstone, is almost entirely in private ownership. Even I own a bit! It took some very visionary people, some local, to set aside our National Parks to be managed with a different set of guiding principles to the rest of the country and I think this is reflected in the Pencaer that we know today; different but surely recognisable to those that lived, worked and loved the area in the inaugural post-war years. Probably the most profound changes have been social and economic. These have been driven primarily by innovations in farming, mechanisation and modernisation, resulting in far fewer people working the land, with farms amalgamated and houses and outbuildings sold off to people like me from “away”, some as holiday homes. Other pressures led to the closure of local schools, Tremarchog and Henner village shops and post offices, and places of worship. While these changes may be viewed by some as negative, some have undoubtedly been positive. Support for the Welsh language in schools has been revived, so youngsters growing up on Pencaer are learning and speaking Welsh in local schools. Tourism has steadily grown, businesses like Melin Tregwynt have thrived. New families have moved into the area – I blew in 25 years ago and have happily brought up two children here. So, there is clearly a growing awareness of what a special little corner of the world this is, also reflected in the growing numbers of international visitors who choose to visit and the TV crews who seem drawn like wasps to a jam jar. Some things have stayed the same, including the rugged, raw, wind-blasted landscape which cloaks the hard igneous skeleton forged 450 million years ago. Some of this liquid rock never made it to the surface but cooled slowly beneath, for example the columnar basalt of Garn Fawr. Elsewhere at Strumble Head liquid rock oozed into the primordial sea, cooling explosively as pillow lavas. In the coves and bays, softer shales, slates and boulder clay, including at Abermawr and Porth Sychan, have eroded back, while the pillow lavas and basalts remain as pugnacious and unyielding as ever, forming the headlands of Penbrush and Strumble. We share this rugged landscape with some spectacular and sometimes rare wildlife. Living here it’s easy to forget how lucky we are, once vanishingly rare peregrines now breed on our remote cliffs; flights of chough prospect for invertebrates in the coastal grassland; porpoise and common dolphin feed in the tidal races off Pen Anglas and Strumble; and the wonderful natural rock garden of the Coast Path continues to delight and confound keen gardeners. Finally, let’s not forget the grey seals living out their lives and raising their pups around our rocky coast. So what of the future? Climate change is now locked in, green technologies for renewable power generation are emerging, and home working is here to stay enabled by the digital revolution. Farmers will need to continue to adapt and innovate and we will need to manage the pressures that tourism brings. These will all have an effect, as will the steadying hand of the National Park. But above all, Pencaer will be shaped by you: the people who live in, visit, work on and love this place. For more information about the National Park please visit www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales.