Ozymandias and Mrs Allen

Remember Ozymandias? In Shelley’s poem, a traveller in a vast desert comes upon the ruins of a huge statue. Only its legs now exist but carved on the plinth are the words “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair”. Unfortunately, nothing of his works remains and the desert stretches bleakly to the horizon. Serves him right for showing off.

A somewhat similar thing happened to Jessie Allen, though she had much better intentions. She owned a patch of land above North Cliff in Tenby, South Wales, with wonderful views, and in 1971 she philanthropically left it to the people of Tenby and the visitors.

Allen’s View, it was called, and quite a climb up too, but worth it when you got there. You could see most of Tenby and for miles round the bay. They installed a little monument with a plaque on the top pointing things out: Caldey Island! St Catherine’s Island! South Beach! and, further away, the Gower Peninsula, Worm’s Head and all the way to Ilfracombe. On a clear day you could see to Devon.

The foreground was pretty, too – grassland and some little saplings.

Ah, yes. Saplings. Oops. Here’s the monument, the plaque and the view thirty-five years later:

That’s right, you can’t see a thing. It’s still called Allen’s View, but there’s no view. It’s a lovely bit of wild land, though, and at least her bequest has saved that part of the headland from becoming a Prestigious Development of Luxury Homes.