Broadstrand Beach is about half a kilometre north of Hele on the north-west side of Hillsborough. It was created by a massive landslip in 1851, when the side of Hillsborough facing the harbour fell into the sea. The 1889 Ordnance Survey map names Broadstrand Beach and Swallows Hole and shows a path down to the beach from Beacon Point (the lower part has since eroded and the path is closed).

Strand is an Old English word meaning 'the shore between high and low water'. Since this is also the meaning of the later usage of the word beach, then Broadstrand Beach should perhaps more properly be called Broadstrand.

Swallow also has an Old English origin and the term Swallow Hole is often used to describe a geological 'sink' feature, as in this case, where the incoming tide appears to disappear into a hole in the rocks.

"This hill affords an instructive example of the formation of a shingle beach. About two years ago, one winters night, the inhabitants of the town were affrighted by a tremendous and unaccountable noise, and in the morning perceived that a large portion of old Hillsborough had fallen.... A wide beach was formed by the debris settling itself into the sea; the projecting rocks are quite covered by it; and the fragments of the fallen mountain are already worn into round and smooth pebbles by the rolling surf" (Gosse 1853 p 266-7)

Broadstrand Beach and Swallows Hole are so-called on the first detailed OS map of 1889. There is a path shown down to Broadstrand from Beacon Point, now closed due to erosion near the beach.

One of the meanings of Old English strand is "that part of a shore which lies between the tide marks" (SOED 1987 Vol 2 p 2144)

One of the meanings of beach is "The shore of the sea, the strand; specifically the part lying between high- and low-water mark" (SOED 1987 Vol 1 p 168)

One of the meanings of swallow, from late Old English swelg is "An opening or cavity, such as are common in limestone formations, through which a stream disappears underground; also called a swallow-pit or swallow-hole" (SOED 1987 Vol 2 p 2206)