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WALK 1

The Mumbles, Langland and Caswell

Start/Finish	Bracelet Bay (SS 6250 8715)
Distance	11.5km (7¼ miles)
Total ascent	290m
Time	3hrs
Refreshments	Forte’s Ice Cream Parlour, Plunch Lane; cafés in Rotherslade and Langland; shops and pubs in The Mumbles.

The walk follows the cliff path west from Bracelet Bay to Langland and Caswell before heading inland through Bishop’s Wood, returning to the start via Oystermouth Castle and Mumbles Head. The footpath to Caswell is along a tarmac surface with the route becoming a little boggy crossing a short section of Clyne Common. There are plenty of opportunities for refreshments along the way and two beautiful beaches for a swim.

Bracelet Bay and Mumbles Lighthouse

With the ice cream parlour on your right, take the road to the west that soon becomes the cliff path. In the rocky cove of Limeslade there is a sandy beach at low tide with interesting rock pools. The rocks here are made of Carboniferous limestone.

Just up Plunch Lane is a house built by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. On the headland to the east is the aerial and building of the Mumbles Coastguard station. Beyond is Bracelet Bay and Mumbles Head. The lighthouse was built on the Outer Head, the last island of three, in 1794 and is accessible by foot at low tide. The light was originally lit by two open coal fires arranged vertically to distinguish it from other beacons. These were replaced by an oil lantern and lens creating two beams.

Mumbles Head Fort was constructed next to the lighthouse in 1860 in anticipation of an invasion by Napoleon III of France which never came to fruition. It was used again during the Second World War by a small battery of soldiers. Bob's Cave can be found at the tip of Mumbles Head. Normally only noticeable from the sea, it is possible to reach the cave during low tide. Exercise extreme caution with the incoming tide. Remains of bison and buffalo from the Neolithic period and signs of human habitation were discovered during excavations in the cave, which was named after a member of the Mumbles Lifeboat crew, Bob Jenkins, who was found sheltering there two days after a tragic rescue attempt in January 1883.

Looking back east along this path you can see that the rocks, arranged in parallel layers or beds, have been tilted by around 45 degrees to the south. Inland there is a Local Nature Reserve covered mainly in gorse.

The path climbs steeply up to Rams Tor, giving great views of the coastline to the west of Caswell Bay, Pwlldu Bay and, finally, Oxwich Point. From Rotherslade, where there is a café, you can either continue along the path to Langland or walk across the beach if the tide is low enough.

Langland Bay is a designated conservation area with 75 Edwardian beach chalets overlooking the sandy beach. Notice an impressive building with a green turret behind the beach. This is a Scottish Baronial-style mansion built in the mid-19th century by the Crawshay family, the Merthyr Tydfil Ironmasters, as their summer residence.

Continue along the coastal path towards Caswell Bay. To the right are Newton Cliffs and Summerland Cliffs Local Nature Reserve. Rare plants such as hoary rockrose exist within this calcareous grassland, itself a rare habitat within the UK. The path climbs up to Whiteshell Point from where there is a fine view west of Caswell Bay, Brandy Cove and Pwlldu Bay. Notice the furrows running down the cliffs between the bay and Pwlldu Head. These were once quarried for limestone (see Walk 2). Brandy Cove was famous for smuggling.

Cross over the road into the car park and follow the path that runs along the valley on its left-hand side into Bishop’s Wood to a wooden building with a turf roof. The path on the right tends to be muddy in winter.

From the roundhouse, take the path on the left that soon joins another. Ignore the path that comes down from the right. Cross over this bridleway and take the lower path. Ignore the first turning on the right and take the second, by a sign for Lanwell, which then crosses a boardwalk. Just before you turn off, you may want to explore the area marked St Peter’s Well on the 1:25,000 map where there are remains of a chapel. There is a turf-covered roundhouse on the left and the land here is used for running courses in traditional woodland management.

Once over the boardwalk, ignore the path on the left and continue up the slope. This area has a number of interesting wooden houses.

Cross diagonally over the green and follow the footpath that then swings left and runs between two hedges. Ignore the path that crosses the open field.

When you reach a track turn right into Manselfield. When the road bends round to the right carry straight on along Reigit Lane. Ignore the turning on the right to Mansel Drive and carry on past the end of the houses and onto a footpath that comes to a gate to Clyne Common. Continue straight ahead along the path, cross a boggy area and turn right in the direction of the red houses ahead and then in the direction of two mobile phone masts. The path becomes indistinct in places and finally crosses a boggy area to a swing gate. Follow the path to the road and carry straight on.

Looking east along the coast path 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.