Abercastle was once a busy cargo port with stone, slate, corn, and coal shipped from the surrounding area, but is now a sleepy village and the beach here is still a moderately well-kept secret. It’s mainly shingle with an expanse of sand covered in colourful seaweed that is only visible at low tide. The low water also exposes plenty of rockpools in which starfish, limpets, mussels, and periwinkles can be found.
Surrounded by cliffs on both sides, the beach is a lovely sheltered spot for swimming and bathing, and a great place for families to enjoy building sandcastles and paddling in the clean water.
Popular with both novice and experienced divers, there is a deep cave at the back of Castle Island, a fortified rocky island in the northern entrance of the harbour, and after which the village was named. There are two more sea coves in the cliffs at the left of the bay to explore, but the main attraction is the wreck of SS Leysian. A 400 ft steamship, SS Leysian was used in WWI to transport pack animals from New Orleans to Alexandria to support the troops stationed on the front line of North Africa. She ran aground on the rocks of Abercastle in February 1917 while en route from Belfast with no loss of life. Today, the wreck lies mostly on the seafloor at a depth of about 15 m with a wide variety of fish to discover.
Although no longer a working harbour, Abercastle, once known as Cwm Badau, or ‘Bay of Boats’, is still popular with the boating community. And anglers regularly visit for the great fishing opportunities with catches including pollock, mullet, mackerel, sea bass, and sting ray.
It’s also a good area for wildlife watching. Bring a pair of binoculars and look out for a wide variety of seabirds as well as choughs and ravens, or you may spot dolphins, seals, and sharks offshore that come into the bay in search of food.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path follows the coastline directly through Abercastle beach. About half a mile west is Carreg Samson, a 5000-year old Neolithic dolmen, or burial chamber and well worth a visit. Legend says that the Cornish saint Saint Samson of Doi placed the capstone in place with his little finger.
There is a small car park by the beach for about 20 cars as well as public toilets, and a picnic area. Further parking is available on the roads around the beach.
