in between Langland and Caswell
Look out on your right for Paraclete Congregational Church. Dylan Thomas’ uncle was the preacher here, and as a child Dylan was forced to attend Morning Service, Sunday School and sometimes Evening Service. He drew on these experiences in his poetry and his uncle’s fire and brimstone style of preaching influenced Thomas’s declamatory style of delivery on the radio and in public performances. Needless to say, Thomas also frequented the Newton Inn.
Turn left with the Newton Inn on the corner with the Rock and Fountain on your right and drop down the hill to Mumbles. Turn left just after passing Mumbles Baptist Church on your right to visit Oystermouth Castle.
OYSTERMOUTH CASTLE
The Castle was founded by William de Londres of Ogmore Castle early in the 12th century and this was probably a ringwork and bailey on the highest part of the hill. The earliest stone building of the castle, the keep, dates from the 12th century. The Welsh burnt this early castle twice, in 1116 and 1215.
In the 13th century the de Braoses were lords of Gower and held the castle, and towards the end of the century Oystermouth rather than Swansea became their principal residence. Rhys ap Maredudd attacked and burnt Swansea and captured Oystermouth in 1287. Extensive repairs and extensions to the castle were made for the visit of Edward I on 10 and 11 December 1284. The de Braoses rebuilt the castle in stone, and most of what remains today is from that period.
The bench in front of the castle is a great vantage point from which to take in all the features of the village. The Mumbles is thought to have been named by the Romans after the two islands that complete the sweep of the bay, their resemblance to breasts giving rise to mamma in Latin and mammelles in French. Archaeological finds show that the area was being cultivated over 3000 years ago. Two well-finished axe-heads have been found at Newton and Mumbles Hill and the remains of a mosaic floor of a Roman villa were uncovered in 1860 during excavations for an extension to All Saints Church.
As far back as the late 17th century Swansea Bay was reputed to have the best bed of oysters in Great Britain with the first records of oysters dating back to Roman times. The heyday of the trade was from 1850 to 1873, with the oysters being sold in Bristol, Gloucester, Liverpool and London. At its peak in 1871, nearly 16 million oysters were landed; the industry supported around 600 people with 500 of these manning the 180 skiffs. Unfortunately, it attracted many outsiders and larger boats from London and France plundered the beds leading to a drastic decline in the industry from the mid-1870s.
The other main industry was limestone quarrying in the 16th and 17th centuries. The stone was burnt using coal to produce lime, an agricultural fertiliser for acid soils. Lime was transported by boat to Neath, Baglan and across the Bristol Channel to Somerset and Devon.
Drop down the grassy slope to the road and cross over the Mumbles Road in front of the White Rose. Turn right and walk along the seafront, probably in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas. This was the route of the old Mumbles Train which ran along the promenade to the terminus at Mumbles Pier.
THE MUMBLES TRAIN
The Oystermouth Railway was built in 1804 to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles, iron ore from a mine near Knab Rock and coal from the Clyne Valley to Swansea and to the markets beyond. It carried the world's first fare-paying railway passengers in 1807 and later became the Swansea and Mumbles Railway.
The first carriages were hauled on tracks by horses but a turnpike road was established alongside the railway in the mid 1820s that deprived it of much of its business, and the passenger service ceased in 1827. The track was relaid with conventional rails in 1855 and the horse-drawn passenger service was reinstated between Swansea and the Dunns, Oystermouth.
Steam-powered locomotives were introduced in 1877 and the line was extended to Southend in 1893 and to the pier in 1898. From 1900 to the 1920s the railway usually carried up to 1800 passengers each single journey, another world record at the time, but the enormous load meant a maximum speed of 5mph.
The pier was built in 1898 and, at 225m long, is a fine example of Victorian architecture. It was the western terminus for the Mumbles Train, linking it with the White Funnel paddle steamers that carried passengers on routes along the River Severn and the Bristol Channel.
The train line was electrified in 1929 and passengers were carried by a fleet of double-decked cars, each with a capacity of 106. An astonishing 5 million passengers were carried in 1945. Sadly, the last train ran in 1960, and despite many campaigns to resurrect it, it seems that it is lost for ever.
Dylan Thomas, Swansea’s famous poet, was a frequent visitor to Oystermouth and describes his evenings there in his early biographical letters. He was supposed to be rehearsing with the local amateur dramatic group, the Swansea Little Theatre, with short breaks for refreshment in one of the many pubs along the seafront. In reality, he spent much of his time drinking ‘oystered beer’ in the Antelope, The Marine (now the Village Inn) and the Mermaid which was destroyed in a fire.
Leave the promenade just before the George Inn where there is a footpath sign ‘Mumbles Hill Local Nature Reserve’ indicating the route up some stone steps alongside a row of old cottages. This steep climb brings you to a path at the top where you turn left. Follow the top of the cliff with a great view of the sweep of Swansea Bay and Port Talbot.
The beauty of Swansea Bay has often been compared with that of the Bay of Naples and was described by Dylan Thomas, as ‘a long and splendid curving shore’. Part of the Bristol Channel, it has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world at 10.5m and the tide literally appears to go out for miles due to the beach’s shallow gradient.
This area is a Local Nature Reserve and habitat types include maritime heath, limestone grassland, limestone scrub and woodland, each supporting different plants and animals. Over 200 species of plants and fungi, 40 species of birds and hundreds of species of insects have been recorded on the Hill.
A Neolithic stone axe head was discovered in an allotment in 1938 and a fissure on the hill has also revealed prehistoric human bones and teeth. A military camp was established during the Second World War and remnants of the 623rd Anti-Aircraft Battery gun emplacements and control bunker are still visible.
Drop down the seaward side of the hill along the obvious track to the road above Bracelet Bay.
This bay is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and is worth exploring. The rocky outcrops provide excellent exposures of geological structures formed during the Variscan mountain-building episode up to around 280 million years ago. The exposures provide a cross-section through the core of a major upward fold structure, the Langland Anticline, which extends across the whole Gower Peninsula, bringing the Carboniferous limestone to the surface. This fold, and its associated minor structures, have been studied in considerable detail, making a substantial contribution to the understanding of the geological structure of the Variscan Orogeny in South Wales.
Turn west to return to the start.
WALK 2
Caswell, Pwlldu and Bishopston Valley
| Start/Finish | Car park, Bishopston (SS 5791 8926) |
| Distance | 9km (5½ miles) |
| Total ascent | 255m |
| Time | 2½hrs |
| Refreshments | Joiners Arms and Valley Inns and Spar in Bishopston; The Plough and Harrow Inn and Village Stores in Murton; cafés in Caswell. |
