The Monkey House at Mumbles Pier
The Monkey House at Mumbles Pier
This listed Victorian toilet block, has been closed for many years.
Have you heard accounts about 'The Monkey House' at Mumbles Pier?
Up until the 1930s, it is said that one or more monkeys were kept in a cage on the viewing terrace at the top of the toilet block, which accounts for the building still to be known as, 'The Monkey House.' It is said that they were owned by Captain Twomey, The Piermaster, but this has not yet been confirmed.
One lady remembered that in the 1950s, while walking down the steps to the pier, on approaching the building, her parents said, 'This was the Monkey House.'
Another lady said that her mother was born in the 1920s and lived in Village Lane, and remembers her mother telling her, 'there were monkeys there.'
Many people remember that the bulding was a toilet block, as it was only closed a few years ago. Built soon after after the pier opened in May 1898, it was used by the thousands who visited the Pier. On August Bank Monday Bank Holday 1913, it is known that 48,000 passengers travelled on the Mumbles Railway!
The Monkey cage was on the terrace of the toilet block.
The toilet block and terace
Sometimes this little monkey gets lost, April 2014.
The Piermaster Captain Twomey on the beach near the pier, with Elaine Bladen and friend, c.1928.
Captain Twomey at the Pier Winter Gardens
Mumbles Pier, The steam train, c. 1910.
Mumbles Pier, cutting and Lighthouse, 1931-6
The electric Train, c. 1955
Mumbles Pier and Headland, c1960
Mumbles Pier, July 2006
With more photos
The Copperfish Restaurant, which had opened five years ago was completely reduced to rubble, as well as the adjoining room which had once been Cinderella’s Disco, which opened as The Pier Dance Hall in 1950.
Before the Fire
Firefighters in operation
On Wednesday 31st August 2022, a devastating fire at The Mumbles Pier and the Copperfish Restaurant as well as the old Cinderellas Disco were totally destroyed.
The Beach Hut cafe, amusement arcade and the pier itself, with The RNLI Station at its end, were all unaffected by the blaze and have re-opened to the public.Thankfully, there were no injuries concerning staff or the public.
The Future:
There were already plans in place to replace the Restaurant with a new Hotel and Spa, a Conference and Exhibition Centre and a new boardwalk linking the Knab rock with the pier.
More work is also planned to improve and repair the structure of the pier, during which it may be closed to visitors.
Progress of the essential maintenance and pier opening times can be found on their website.
Acknowledgments and more reading
Norman Thomas, The Mumbles: Past and Present (Swansea, 1978);
Carol Powell, Inklemakers, 1993
Herald of Wales Mumbles Pier: Its History
Explore Gower: Mumbles Pier - http://www.explore-gower.co.uk/mumbles-pier
http://www.explore-gower.co.uk/mumbles-pier
Wikipedia - Mumbles District and Mumbles Pier
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