NEWGALE BEACH, Pembrokeshire: Discover a secluded sandy bay, where a knight was once cursed by a witch

Dramatic skies over Newgale Beach in Wales, not far from Roch Castle whose knight was cursed by a witch.

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Welsh legend tells of a knight and his castle cursed by a witch to die of a snake’s deadly bite

Nestled in the sheltered corner of St. Brides Bay lies the stunning Newgale Beach - a glorious, two-mile strip of flat golden sands. Even when the tide comes in, the huge bank of chunky, flat pebbles backing the beach is a lovely place to perch and watch the gulls fly by under racing clouds.

But back in the 12th century, this area was more than a pretty postcard of the Pembrokeshire coast.

Adam de la Roche (also known as ‘de Rupe’), a wealthy and powerful Flemish knight, settled here and took charge of governing the surrounding land. He set about building Roch castle for himself high on a rocky crag, with a spectacular view across the bay - a key lookout point to ward off invasions he feared from the Atlantic Ocean and from any unruly Welsh attacking from surrounding areas.

It wasn’t invaders he needed to protect himself from, however.

There lived an old woman nearby, known to be a witch. She warned him against continuing his castle construction, threatening to curse him if he carried on, but he ignored her. Vexed, she put a curse on him that before a year passes, he will die from the bite of adder.

Adam took no notice… at first.

The words lodged themselves in his mind like a thorn and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t safe. Adders were so common in the dry grasses surrounding the castle that every time he saw or even heard of one, it only made his fears grow. Perhaps the malevolent prophecy really would come to pass.

Adder by Bernard DuPont, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Source)

Taking no chances, he shut himself away in the uppermost rooms of his castle, refusing to leave. Even when the weather was so bad that the chances of encountering an adder were slim to none, he wouldn’t come down from his tower, insisting to wait it out for the remainder of the 365 days.

His servants had to bring up his food, clothing and firewood, and it is even said that he had pulley system installed to bring supplies up to him.

Spring, summer and autumn all passed by and even in the winter, when the castle was being buffeted by icy winds and tempestuous rains, he stayed put, every day feeling more hopeful that his isolation would soon be over.

The final evening was bitterly cold, but he rejoiced because tomorrow the curse would be lifted and he would be free. He ordered his servants to send up a bundle of logs and kindling to his room from the wood store, so that he could settle down in comfort for the night.

As he pulled out the last few logs to place on his hearth, the adder that had been hibernating in the basket leapt forth and bit him.

When the servants came up to raise their master in the morning, they found him cold and dead, poisoned by the adder’s bite.

No matter how hard he’d tried to escape it, the witch’s curse had come true. Some even claim that his dying shrieks echoed through the surrounding countryside and that they can still be heard on cold, windy nights in the west.

Roch Castle

Roch Castle by Peter Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Source)

Nowadays, Roch Castle has been lovingly restored into a luxury 5-star hotel, but if that’s outside of your budget (like mine!), Newgale Beach close by is well worth a visit.

It’s one of Pembrokeshire’s top three surfing locations, so if you’re into surfing, body boarding and kayaking, you can hire these at the northern end of the beach. It’s perfect for windsurfing and kite surfing.

But for me, it’s all about leaving footprints in the soft, clean sand, paddling and dreaming.

Beautiful seaside view over Newgale Beach in Wales