In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Mumbles like this:
MUMBLES, a village in Oystermouth parish, Glamorgan; on the coast, at the w side of the mouth of Swansea bay, under a high escarpment of mountain-limestone cliffs, and at the terminus of the Swansea and Mumbles railway, 5½ miles S by W of Swansea. It has a post-office‡ under Swansea, a railway station, two goodinns, and a coast-guard station; has long been engaged in the fishing trade; is now frequented as a watering-place; and has undergone considerable extension sincethe bathing-ground at Swansea was spoiled by the formation of the new docks. ...
It is noted for fine pickledoysters; and it has a good roadstead, with 2 ½ fathoms water. The cliffs adjacent to it run a little eastward toa termination in two rocky islets, called Mumbles Head; and a lighthouse is on the further one of the islets, was erected in 1798, is 143 feet high, and shows a fixed lightvisible at the distance of 15 miles. Much stone is quarried here, and sent by railway to Swansea. Swansea bay is grandly seen from the heights; and has been thought, as seen thence, to present a close resemblance to the bay of Naples. A shoal, called the Mixon, is near Mumbles Head.
Mumbles through time
Mumbles is now part of Swansea district. Click here for graphs and data of how Swansea has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Mumbles itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Mumbles, in Swansea and Glamorgan | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/21024
Date accessed: 20th April 2024
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