Life on the Broadway of Mumbles by Carol Powell
Life on the Broadway of Mumbles: A small section of Newton Road
Mumbles was and is even today, a series of small areas such as Outalong – Southend; Inalong - The Dunns; Backalong – Thistleboon; Upalong – Upper Newton Road and Newton, and Down Backside – the Langland area, each one with its own distinct 'flavour'. Another was a short section of Newton Road bounded by the Doctor's house Glynecerrig and Underhill Park at one end and George Brothers / Shute, Grocers on the corner of Castle Square (now Roco Hairdresser) and E. Smale's butcher's shop at the junction with Stanley Street (now Gower Getaways) at the other end. This little section which became known as Broadway, also comprised a row of three-storey houses built around the turn of the century.
Glyncerrig (or Glyn Cerrig)
Broadway, Newton Road
Other buildings included Baldwin's, 'High Class Grocers' (seen in the picture of the street above, first on the left) which later became the Star Grocer, then Cope's DIY and is now Home From Home. The Baptist Church was on the corner of Broadway and Langland Road. There was the Oystermouth Board/ Council School and, next door at the junction of Castle Square/Newton Road was Mrs. Davies, who sold 'everything from a pin to a dresser' ( Now Francis, the Estate Agent).
Number One Broadway
Glyncerrig, Broadway
Glyncerrig (or spelt Glyn Cerrig) dated from about 1853, but by 1891, Dr. Arthur Lloyd Jones was in residence and from there three generations of his family – himself, followed by Dr. Fred and Dr. Peter, continued to serve the people of Mumbles for many years. Sadly, it was demolished in 2014.
Boy Scouts at Glyncerrig, 1914
The Church Boy Scouts, formed in 1910, initially met in the National (Church) School, but by 1912, they were assembling in the cellars of Glyncerrig, where young Fred Lloyd Jones was one of the members.
Oystermouth Board School
On 1 August 1878, the Oystermouth Board School, under the Headship of Mr Luke Bessent, opened its doors to more than 90 boys in its brand-new premises next door to Glyncerrig. The Cambrian reported that the opening ceremony took the form of a procession led by the five Board Members followed by 500 children parading through the streets, culminating with a tea in the school and games in the grounds of Oystermouth Castle. In 1890, the Girls' department with headmistress Kate Lobbett and Infants' department with Headmistress, Catherine Jones, which had hitherto had their own sections and Heads, were combined with the Boys' school under one Headteacher, Mr. Bessent.
A separate premises adjacent to Castle Road, was then built for the infants, which opened on 26 September 1903, under the care of Headmistress, Miss Sophia Beynon. In 1903, the whole school became known for many years as the Oystermouth Council School.
In 1950, I started at the Infants' school there under Headmistress, Miss Catherine Clement and teachers Miss Harris and Mrs Jones. In the infants' yard was where I met one John Powell, although he does not remember the momentous occasion! Our daughters attended the school in its role as Oystermouth Junior Comprehensive in the late 1970s.
These are the same premises which continue, after another change of status, to serve the children of Mumbles today.
Mumbles Baptist Church
The Mumbles Baptist Church > on the corner of Newton and Langland Roads, built on the land known as Pool Close, was officially opened by Lord Glantawe on 16 June 1910. Bronwyn Morgan, Vera Morgan, Laurence Tucker, Richard Slocombe and Egbert Williams were the first children to be baptised there.
Its first marriage took place on 21 June 1911 between William Seymour Superintendent of the Norton Mission and Miss Mary Louisa Hughes, daughter of Mr and Mrs. David Hughes, the organist of the Church.
George The Grocer. This photo was found in the shop when Selwyn Shute took over the business.
In the 1920s, Joan Edwards Jones (née Marshall) enjoyed visiting the grocer's shop run by two brothers, Charlie and Jimmy George. She described that 'At one end was a bacon counter and at the other end, through a doorway, was the sweet shop — well patronised as a tuck shop by the children from the Council school. Jimmy George was a smoker and could often be seen with a cigarette between his lips, while slicing the bacon. I was fascinated by the length of the ash on his cigarette, and wondered where it was going to land!'
Christmas at Selwyn Shute's, Castleton Stores. On the right is the popular School Tuck Shop.
Selwyn Shute and his wife, Dilys (née Kift), took over from A George & Son and the shop became affectionately known as 'Seldom Shut.' In their advert in the Oystermouth School Centenary booklet in 1978, they recalled serving carrots instead of sweets to the schoolchildren during both world wars. This business remained open well into the 1980s.
The local newspapers reported the minutiae of daily life in this little corner of Mumbles, such as the happy, the sad, the carefree, the mundane, the stressful, the comic and the tragic.
On 31 July 1903, the five year old son of Mr and Mrs Davies of Chapel Street who had been listening to a barrel-organ outside Baldwin's was run over and killed by a four-wheel van belonging to Mr Lovell, a confectioner from Swansea.
On 10 May 1916, one of Pressdee's taxi cabs, driven by Mr Willis, while turning round a corner into Stanley Street, crashed into the pine end of Mr Edwin Smale's butcher's shop. The front wheels were buckled but Mr Willis escaped unhurt.
Broadway saw the usual rites of passage including in 1916, when the funeral took place of Miss Heynes of The Manse, Broadway and at Chelston (no. 11), Mrs Alfred Morgan gave birth to a daughter on 28th August 1917.
In October 1913, a sale of the household furniture and effects of Number 5 Broadway was advertised for sale. Number 7, Broadway, a semi-detached house, with five bedrooms and three reception rooms, was advertised for sale or let on 28 August 1915 and Mrs. Morris of that address put a notice in the Cambrian daily Leader on 3 May 1918, appealing for the return of her property as she had 'lost a chain bag containing eleven £1 treasury notes, somewhere between Ben Evans and Co. and Mumbles Train via Salubrious Passage. Finder will be suitably rewarded.'
In May 1917, 'a nicely furnished house was advertised as a holiday let for the months of July and August' Apply to Wood of number 4 Broadway.
These were the days when some families still had servants. The Cambrian Daily Leader carried an advert on 5 July 1917 for ' A good experienced girl for small family. Good wages given to suitable maid. Apply Mr Arthur Thomas, 5, Broadway, Mumbles.'
By 1926, the Kelly's street directory recorded that Alfred Morgan was now living at 2, Broadway, William Rosser at number 4, William Morgan at number 5 and Archibald Morris at number 7.
This small section of Newton Road is still known to many of us today as The Broadway.
Below Broadway, at 39, Castleton (now Newton Road) Broadway Radio Service supplies this new technology, as revealed in this advert, dated 1931.
Broadway Radio Service - Mrs. Kostromin from Adeline George
Acknowledgments
Kelly's trade Directory, 1914, 1926
Cambrian Daily Leader, 11 October 1913, 28 August 1915, 16 August 1916, 28 May 1917, 5, July 1917, 30 August 1917, 3 May 1918,
Mumbles Press, 31 July 1903
Oystermouth School centenary booklet
Photos: Jeff Shute, Viv Grant-Shute and Oystermouth Historical Association Archive.