Horsepool & Marepool: A Mumbles mystery solved?
by Carol Powell
Horsepool, the old harbour in the centre of the village and Marepool, a pond at Thistleboon, were two, now vanished landmarks in the old parish of Oystermouth.
The intriguing name of Horsepool was unlikely to have been named after horses, as the pool would have been full of salt water, so not suitable for drinking. The explanation might lie in the long gone history of the place.
1844 Tithe map of Mumbles
Oystermouth was one of twelve manors of the Marcher Lordship of Gower, created by the Normans in the twelfth century, when they colonised South Gower, (plus South Pembrokeshire and South Glamorganshire) with English-cum-Flemish-cum-Norman settlers. Names of localities became superseded by more Anglised ones e.g. Reynoldston, Blackpill, Broadslade, Limeslade and Rotherslade to name but a few. Colonel William Llewellyn Morgan, 19C President of the Royal Institution of South Wales and local historian, believed that ‘it was only an influx of a large number of English that could have obliterated the Welsh place names so completely’.
Oyster Skiffs at The Horsepool, Mumbles, c1880
But what of the name Horsepool? W.S.K. Thomas recorded in his book, The History of Swansea from Rover Settlement to the Restoration, that hoeçepol was a term used in medieval Gloucester as 'the place for the levy of tolls' on the River Severn. This was marked by a passing pole and beyond this point tolls would have to be paid by ships seeking to enter.
Could this be the derivation of our Horsepool and wherein lie its origins – Norman, Flemish or Anglo-Saxon or a mixture? Delving into the Anglo-Saxon dictionary gives a possible explanation as hæc means 'gate' and pol means 'pool'.
Marepool c1910
Similarly with Marepool, which on the 1844 Tithe maps is called Mearpool and abuts an ancient boundary. Anglo-Saxon Mearc means a 'boundary'. All our 'Slades' derive from the Anglo-Saxon word, Slæd meaning 'valley.'
It seems that our Horsepool and Mearpool have no connection to horses but have come down to us from the Anglo-Saxons, deriving their names from the times before the Norman Conquest.
If you have any other suggestions, please let us know.