Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MUMBLES

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.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Oystermouth CP/AP       Glamorgan AncC
Place: Mumbles

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