For generations, Welsh women in traditional red and black flannel once gathered cockles from the mudflats of Penclawdd. This week, discover how they became icons of Welsh culture whom Dylan Thomas aptly described as having webbed feet.

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew

Who Were The Cockle Women?

Cockles (small shellfish) live under the surface of the estuary beaches of north Gower, and are collected by using a rake and riddle (a large circular sieve) at low tide.

The harvesting of cockles from the Burry inlet dates back to Roman times, and by the 19th century, hundreds of women could be seen scattered across the sandy flats at low tide, each working their own patch.

In the early hours before sunrise, when the tide retreated, they followed the receding water across the sands of northern Gower to start work.

What made Penclawdd remarkable was how the cockle industry shaped its social structure. The income from cockling gave women unusual economic independence for the time - many supported injured or unemployed husbands, while others were widows raising children on their own.

Hard Work and Hidden Dangers

The work itself was gruelling. Women walked up to ten miles to reach their cockle beds, then spent hours bent double, raking the shellfish from the heavy sand and sieving them through riddles. They packed their harvest into sacks and loaded them onto donkeys.

"It was rough, very back-breaking, very wet, a hard job," Carol Watts, whose family has sold cockles at Swansea Market for generations, told the BBC. "The women did it to put bread on the tables, things were tough."

Cockle picking was also dangerous work, with the tides posing a constant threat. When the water began to return, the women had to race back to shore before deep channels cut off their path.

Delaying for an extra bag of cockles could be life-threatening, such as in December 1937, when Mary Pamp and a friend were overtaken by the tide and carried out to sea. Their bodies washed up in Penclawdd a few days later.

"These women were pretty incredible and so strong and resilient," said Lily Tiger Tonkin-Wells, who directed a film about the cockle women. "They really understood the tides and the way the water worked and when to go out and when to come back into shore."

From Shore to Market

Once safely ashore, the women washed and boiled cockles on rudimentary stone fireplaces, on the shore, or outside their homes. The meat was removed, leaving behind mounds of empty cockle shells that became a feature of the area. Then came the journey to market, which was no small undertaking before the railway reached Penclawdd in 1867.

Each Saturday, the women would walk nine miles to Swansea Market with heavy baskets of cockles balanced on their heads. To save their precious shoes, they walked barefoot until reaching "Olchfa" (washing place) where they bathed their feet and put their boots back on.

When the railway did finally arrive, it was nicknamed the "Cockle Line" despite carrying mainly coal - and allowed cockles to be sold over a much wider area. The 2.30 PM train returning to the village became known as the "relish train" because of the market goods the women brought home.

Modern Evolution

The industry has transformed over the decades - horses and carts replaced donkeys along the shore in the 1920s, and today license holders with strict quotas harvest around 1,000 tons of cockles annually, using 4x4 vehicles instead of animals.

"Before 1965 it was a bit of a free-for-all," explained Ashley Jones of Selwyn's Seafoods, whose grandfather was one of the first men to enter the traditionally female industry. "You would have many tons taken each year from the Burry inlet... It is important not to take too many cockles from the beds, and also you can't let the beds become overcrowded or they die."

By the 1970s, Penclawdd cockles were being exported internationally - enjoyed in Spain as ingredients for paella, and shipped as far as Canada, America, and Africa.

And today, what was once a female-dominated industry has shifted largely to men.

A Lasting Legacy

Cockles harvested from the shores of north Gower are still a popular staple, sold fresh in the middle of Swansea Market. Perhaps you regularly enjoy a tub 🙂 

And if you’re interested in learning more, Swansea Museum has a small exhibition featuring unseen photographs and artefacts from the lives of the cockle women of Penclawdd.

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