Mumbles Pier and Lifeboat Station - geograph.org.uk - 868363.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mumbles ( cy, Mwmbwls) is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales.


Toponym

Mumbles has been noted for its
unusual place name Unusual place names are names for cities, towns, and other regions which are considered non-ordinary in some manner. This can include place names which are also offensive words, inadvertently humorous or highly charged words, as well as place ...
. The headland is thought by some to have been named by French sailors, after the shape of the two anthropomorphic islands which the headland comprises: the word "Mumbles" may be a corruption of the French ''les mamelles,'' meaning "the breasts". Another possible source of the name is the word Mamucium, which is generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brythonic name, either from mamm- ("breast", in reference to a "breast-like hill") or from mamma ("mother", in reference to a local river goddess). Mumbles Lighthouse was built during the 1790s, and was converted to solar powered operation in 1995.


Notable features

Mumbles Pier was opened in 1898 at the terminus of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, which was the world's first horse-drawn public passenger train service. It opened 2 Mar 1807 and used horse power to 1877, then steam power to 1929, when it switched to double deck overhead electric tram power, lasting till the line closed in Jan 1960.
Mumbles Lifeboat Station The Mumbles Lifeboat Station (based in Mumbles, Swansea, Wales) opened in 1835 with a lifeboat that was funded and managed by Swansea Harbour Trustees and was known as Swansea Lifeboat Station. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1863 and ...
has operated since 1866. In 1947, the entire lifeboat crew was lost at sea, attempting to rescue the crew of the ''
SS Samtampa SS is an abbreviation for ''Schutzstaffel'', a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany. SS, Ss, or similar may also refer to: Places *Guangdong Experimental High School (''Sheng Shi'' or ''Saang Sat''), China *Province of Sassari, Italy (vehi ...
'', in what has become known as the
Mumbles lifeboat disaster The Mumbles lifeboat disaster occurred in 1947 off south Wales when the Mumbles lifeboat was undertaking a rescue off Sker Point but was overwhelmed by the sea with the loss of all eight lives in the lifeboat. History Mumbles Lifeboat station is ...
. The nearest church,
All Saints' Church, Oystermouth All Saints' Church, Oystermouth (officially "All Saints, Oystermouth") is an Anglican church in the diocese of Swansea and Brecon, south Wales. It is located in Mumbles and is a Grade II listed building (listed 23 April 1952 as "a large church wi ...
, contains memorials to the crew.


Climate


See also

* Gower Peninsula *
Mumbles RFC Mumbles Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Mumbles, Swansea, south Wales. Mumbles RFC is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union, and is a feeder club for the Ospreys. They compete in the WRU Division Two West, the fifth tier of ru ...
* Breast-shaped hill * Swansea and Mumbles Railway


References


External links


Mumbles

Mumbles Pier

www.geograph.co.uk Photos of The Mumbles and surrounding area

Virtual tour of Mumbles Head
{{coord, 51.568, -3.985, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:3000, display=title Seaside resorts in Wales Populated places on the Gower Peninsula Swansea Bay