Grotto Building and Oyster Fairs  by Carol Powell M.A.

The Oyster Fair.

The Oyster fair was a relic of medieval days when oyster boat fishermen paid homage to St. James, the Patron Saint of fishermen at the start of the oyster-fishing season. In former times, 25 July was Saint James’s Day or Grotto Day, as it became known but was later celebrated on 6 August (perhaps after the British calendar was altered in February 1752 ‘losing’ us twelve days?).  St James's Day fell during what also became known as the ‘close’ season for oysters, meaning that by Act of Parliament, they could not be harvested until that day. But by the 19C, it had become the norm to begin the season later on 1st September, when the fair would be held. At the skiff-owners expense, the oysterdredgers were provided with plenty of bread, cheese and beer and celebrated with ‘sports’ which included donkey-racing, climbing a greasy ploe and sack racing. It was a very festive occasion and afterwards the taverns would do a roaring trade.

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But how did St. James, the patron saint of Fishermen, come to be associated with oysters and why did the children build grottos?

He was, of course, one of Jesus’s disciples and originally a fisherman, but his connection with oysters is more tenuous being based on legend, two versions of which are retold below:-.

Seventh and eighth century documents (prior to the discovery of his tomb) refer to the belief that James spent a number of years preaching in Spain before returning to Jerusalem and martyrdom. His followers are believed to have carried his body down to the coast and put it into a stone boat, which was carried by angels and the wind beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) to land near Finnisterre. He is believed to have been buried at Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain.

Here, his remains lay forgotten until the year AD 813, when a hermit named Pelayo was led to their hidden site by a shining star (compostela). The local bishop had a cathedral erected on the spot where the bones of the saint now lie in a chapel located in the basement. Or, so it is said. The pilgrimage to Compostela became almost as popular and important in medieval Europe as that to Jerusalem.

The Mumbles Press gave another version of the legend:- ‘It is recorded that many years after his death, when his relics were being conveyed to Spain from Jerusalem, a certain knight, horsed on a spirited steed, was hurled into the sea by the madness of his horse, which took fright at the strange appearance of a weird craft, which, it is affirmed, was built of solid marble. The knight saved himself by clinging to the weird vessel and those aboard then discovered that his armour was covered with oyster shells’.

In Britain, it became the custom for children to collect old shells, bits of coloured stone and pottery, leaves, flowers, and so on and build a little ‘grotto’. This re-enacted the ritual of constructing shell grottoes on St James's Day for the use of those who could not afford the pilgrimage on that day to the shrine at Compostela. They would chant, ‘Pray remember the grotto’, which became in time, ‘Patronise the grotto.’

Grotto-building in Mumbles

In the summer, the local children would put the mountain of shells left over once the oysters had been harvested to good use, often earning a few pennies into the bargain. George Webborn recorded his memories of those days.

 ‘My wife and I were two of the 1920s children, who used to build grottoes. In those days it was a means of earning some coppers. We would go down to the promenade, which was on our doorstep of Village Lane as early as 7.0 a.m. The locals never called it the Prom but ‘The Concrete’ and it was the section, which stretched from Village Lane slip to the old iron bridge opposite ‘The George’ at Southend.

The first children to get there had the prime pitch, the first one that the visitors would see as they arrived on the prom. There was always more than one child to each grotto and there was also a line of about a dozen grottos.

To build the grottoes, you would need a large number of oyster shells of the right shape but this was no problem with the oyster industry in Mumbles. The height of the grotto depended on the radius of your first ring of shells—the bigger the radius, the higher the grotto. This was achieved by laying your circle of shells, circle upon circle, with your shells bonding each other just like laying bricks. Each circle would get smaller and smaller until you had a magnificent hollow cane tower of oyster shells, sometimes as high as 4ft. but one shell placed carelessly would bring all the shells crashing down. Then we would have to start all over again.

When the grotto was completed, we would then create a garden right around the grotto with a path leading up to the door opening. The garden would be marked off into sections and these would be filled with crushed red brick, crushed spa stones, different coloured seaweed, sand and the mother of pearl lining of some of the oyster shells —anything to create colour. The door opening had a double purpose. We used to put a candle inside the grotto, which we used to light, as the evening got darker. The effect of the candlelight shining around the chinks of the shells of the grotto was magic. It was like fairyland!

As the visitors approached, we would say to them ‘Patronize the grotto please?’ and they always did, either with a ha’penny or a penny. As the old Puffing Hilly steam train trundled past, we would call out the same words ‘Patronize the grotto please?’ The passengers always responded by throwing us coins from the top of the open carriages which we soon gathered up. On Regatta Day, there would always be a competition for the best grotto, which was usually judged by the Mayor.

At the end of the day when it was time to go home, we would kick the grotto down and scatter everything but the next morning it was the same story all over again — a race for the best pitch and building our grottoes again.’