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

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. 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 has operated since 1866. In 1947, the entire lifeboat crew was lost at sea, attempting to rescue the crew of the ''SS Samtampa'', in what has become known as the Mumbles lifeboat disaster. The nearest church, All Saints' Church, Oystermouth, contains memorials to the crew.

Climate

See also

* Gower Peninsula
*Mumbles RFC
* 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

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Seaside resorts in Wales
Populated places on the Gower Peninsula
Swansea Bay