Rotherslade Bay also known as Little Langland
Rotherslade Bay: Through Time
A look back at the place to be seen in the 60s
Across South Wales there are many couples who remember with nostalgia the hip place to meet in the early 1960s.
If you were young and with it the only place to go was Ron's Rendezvous in Rotherslade.
By Kate Jones
This 1950s postcard shows the huge shelter which Swansea Council erected in 1926-7 to shore up the cliffs above the bay. It included new steps down to the beach, proper refreshment rooms and a promenade where visitors could sit and look across the bay to the Bristol Channel. It was demolished in the 1990s.
This photograph taken c. 1910 shows the original access to the beach, by steps and a steep slope. Over the next few years the cliffs crumbled and fell, the steps became dangerous and after several attempts to prop up the cliff Swansea Council decided major repairs were needed and that the beach refreshment rooms and shops should also be replaced.
THEN: Aerial of the Osborne Hotel, in 2001.
Photo: Peter Morgan
NOW: Aerial of the Osborne Apartments, in September 2021.
Photo: Peter Morgan
Rotherslade: The Shelter under construction, 1926/7
'Why the Shelter was demolished?' is a question we have been asked.
The geology of the bay led to its demolition, as it was falling away from the cliff and a danger to visitors.
Rotherslade Bay, Osbourne Hotel, bathing machines and cafe
My Mumbles in the 1920s by Joan Jones
... immediately entranced by the village and the beautiful coastline, particularly ‘Little Langland’ (known as Rotherslade today) and Caswell.
Walks along the Cliff Path from the autobiography of Freda Marrison
... Langland and we walked past the Osborne Hotel to our Langland and our tent. Rotherslade Bay In the summers, in the early twenties, we did that walk in reverse . . .
Osborne Cottage and Rotherslade Bay Rotherslade Bay was the scene of a distressing accident in 1869. The Cambrian reported ...
Rotherslade Bay: My favourite places for a day out, were Caswell for a family picnic
Stories which feature Rotherslade Bay (Little Langland)
... we would adjourn with doorstep sandwiches of Shippam’s paste or squashed tomatoes, to Rotherslade or Langland – or get out our bikes and cycle to Crawley Woods.
... when with a few jam sandwiches, we would spend day after glorious day down Rotherslade under the watchful eye of ‘Barney’ Davies. His peremptory whistle still sounds over the years ...
Childhood memories of a Nonarian by Olive Gluyas nee Whale
I have some very happy memories of walking to Little Langland Bay (Rotherslade ...
The Day Oranges Arrived at Rotherslade by Ralph Wood
... remember word getting around that large quantities of oranges were being washed ashore at Rotherslade Bay (pictured). When I got there, I could see that the beach was strewn with Oranges
How lucky was I to grow up in Mumbles by Julia Young
Fortes- It had the first jukebox. Their ice cream kiosk at the top of Rotherslade Hill was a welcome break after a day on the beach'. How lucky was I ...
Holidays at Ram’s Tor, near Langland Bay by Joan Gleig
A character I remember—Mr. Pobjoy who lived in a house at the bottom of Rotherslade Road, where there are now flats.
Schooldays and Holidays Between the Wars by John Jeffers
... taking a short cut to 'Little Langland' as we called Rotherslade. When leaving (Big) Langland to go home, one could go up steps to the hilltop ...
MUMBLES is a place and a very pretty one too by Stephen Yolland
. In fact, the sea front of Langland and the adjacent Rotherslade, or ‘Little Langland’ as it is sometimes known, were once the location for three hotels: the Langland Bay, the Ael-y-Don, and the Osborne
Rotherslade bathing machines with fashonable ladies
An Osborne Hotel advert for 1934
Ael-Y-Don Private Hotel Langland, 1934
An Osborne Hotel advert for 1935
Fairhaven Private Hotel advert for 1929
Riviera Hotel, Rotherslade, Langland, advert summer 1934
The Osborne Hotel
Rother's Tor Cave:
In 1892, numerous prehistoric finds, including a mammoth's tooth, were found during the construction of the Osborne Hotel and are on public display in Swansea Museum. Rother's Tor Cave was filled in to secure the foundations of the hotel.
Rotherslade Bay and 'Little Langland'