Fishing Weirs in the Parish of Oystermouth
by Carol Powell M.A.
The 'Fishing Nets' in Swansea Bay
More: The Oyster collection
Many of us remember the sight of fishing nets way out in Swansea Bay, comprising a series of nets / weares / weirs stretching across the bay from Blackpill to Mumbles (in our area of study, although there were more further east), the remains of some still lying there today, buried in the sand and mud. One, comprising a crescent of small, square, softwood pegs about ¾ inch square and 9 inches apart, with less frequent, taller posts measured about 460 feet across, and about 100 feet deep, lies off Lilliput and another situated nearby and way off shore at West Cross, comprised broadly parallel lines of closely spaced wooden uprights. Then, at Oystermouth itself and only two hundred and twenty yards or so from the shore, lie the remains of the strangely-named 'Silverwood Castle,' a stone building, which was possibly an oyster or fish storage tank.
Visiting 'The Nets' at Oystermouth
by Ivor J. HockingAn original painting from the collection of Ron AustinThe use of weirs in history goes back long before our time. In fact, back to the Roman period in Britain. At that time the weirs, which were often made from wooden posts with wattle in between, were obstructions placed across the bay to catch fish when the tide was rising and prevent their escape when the water was ebbing. They were often also used on rivers until in the thirteenth century, a clause in the Magna Carta prohibited their use 'except on the sea coast.'
Many of the leases of houses in the Parish of Oystermouth had an extra codicil attached to them, consisting of the rental of a weir, situated between high and low water marks, on which they would have the right to erect stake nets to obtain their own supply of fish. These rights passed down with the property.
In 1650, the Cromwellian Survey of the properties in the Mannor [sic] of Oystermouth, noted that at Norton, Richard Hamon paid 4d per year for a weare to the Earl of Worcester (ancestor of the Duke of Beaufort) and David Mathew, 6d; George Robin paid 16s..8d for 'a messuage, seventeen acres of land and halfe [sic] a weare' and John William paid 4s..00½d 'for two messuages, 27 acres of land and halfe a weare'.
At Dunns, William Robin paid 1d for one acre of land and halfe a wear and William Maddock paid 2s..6d for a messuage, two acres of land and halfe a wear (Dunns Mansion?)
Others living away from the coast who had the right to 'erect stake nets to obtain their own supply of fish along the shore,' included John Thomas who had a 'weare and a halfe' at Boarspitt, Morgan Lloyd who had a weare at Whitestone. At Ffistleboon [sic], John William had 'a halfe plus a quarter of a weare,' Griffith Rosser had one and John Woolcocke, a halfe. Up at Nottage, Collonell Phillip Jones paid 6..9½d for a messuage, 23 acres of land and one fishing weare, at Newton, Rees Russell and John Robin owned the rights to halfe wears, and at Mayalls, Edward Mansell paid 2d a year for halfe a wear as did Evan Seys.
In the 1690s, Edward Lluyd, while researching his 'Geographical Dictionary of Wales', obtained information on Oystermouth from a Bishopston resident, Isaac Hamon, who noted that a wide variety of fish such as 'salmon, herring, suen [sic], cod, mackrell [sic], plais [sic], millet, sole, flooke, flawnders [sic], thornback', and many others could be caught in the locality, possibly in weirs.
The Survey of Gower carried out in 1764 on behalf of the Duke of Beaufort by his Steward, Gabriel Powell, revealed details of some of the inhabitants of that day. Francis David, Owen David, John Morgan, Elizabeth Powell, Elizabeth Williams and William Williams fixed nets on the beach for catching fish 'for which liberty they pay the Lord six pence yearly'.
Oyster Perches visible at Southend, 2010
0thers paid the same for the 'liberty of taking lobsters and crabs from the rocks and shore' and this fee also applied to John Griffith, Mary Davies, Thomas Dunn and others who had 'perches'. (sections bordered by stones measuring 16 ½ feet) along the shore, the remains of some of which are still visible today. These were where they stored their oysters until such time that they could ship them for market. Oysters not of marketable size. i.e. too small, would be held in 'plantations,' which were further out in the sea and only exposed at extreme low water of spring tides.
By 1872-3, the annual rentals due to the Duke of Beaufort for the 'liberty of taking fish at a weir' were 10/-. At this time, William Eagles was revealed to be £4 in arrears on his rental and Thomas Benson, £1..10s.
Map of Weirs
date unknownBy the 1880s, Graham Vivian owned the rights to some weirs-- one which had been part of his purchase of Woodland Castle in 1860 and another previously belonging to Colonel Hughes of Boarspitt.
Oystermouth Station, c1893
The construction of the 'tunnel' which re-established the fishermen's right of way.
This ran from the bottom of Newton Road underneath part of the reclaimed land and out onto the beach. (across the foreground of the picture above).
During the 1890s, when the Mumbles Railway was being extended across the Horsepool Harbour out towards the Mumbles Head, as well as its blocking of the old refuge for the oyster skiffs, another controversy arose because fishermen could not then reach the beach with their horses and carts to collect fish from their nets, as their access had also been blocked. After some argument, a tunnel was made under the new extension from the bottom of Newton Road out on to the beach. Other rights of way were re-established on to the shore at Lilliput, West Cross, at Norton, opposite the Antelope Public House and at Southend.
Collecting fish from a fishing weir
Photo from a Gower Journey by A. G. Thompson, published 1960Sylvia Bagley, daughter of Christopher Tucker, who was Editor of the local newspaper, the Mumbles Press, in The Dunns, described how 'Smells evoke memories of that time, for me – especially of fish, and of Christmas puddings. In the sea behind the Station there were long fishing nets staked out with pockets at the end of them, to catch the fish. The fishermen would come, with horses and carts, to collect the fish, keeping the prime fish and throwing away the smallest. Those were the ones we collected, and Mother cooked them – a wonderful smell and taste’.
Grafton Maggs, a youngster in the 1930s, whose parents ran the Victoria Public house in Gloucester Place, recalled how ‘Far out in the bay and now long gone were the Nets, which consisted of very tall poles with nets strung between, which trapped the fish as the tide receded. Later, at low tide the fish would be collected for market. For our generation of boys, it was a delight to swim the several miles to the net poles and back. We swam in a group, amongst whom were my friends Jackie Timothy, Bryn Balsdon, Rowley Thomas, Norman Colley, Fred Grace and others and we looked after one another.
Bryn Balsdon, also of Gloucester Place recounted years later, (on the anniversary of the sinking of H.M.S. Repulse by the Japanese during the Second World War) his swim from the sinking ship to a British destroyer. During this long swim, he thought of his boyhood struggle to reach 'the Nets' — swims, which gave him the stamina to survive that dreadful day!
These nets were still in operation until the early 1960s, when I remember that one of the fishermen was known as ‘Fishy' Davies.
Any memories or any other recollections of ‘The Nets’?
Acknowledgments
F.V. Emery, 'Edward Lluyd, A View of Gower in the 1690s, in Transactions of the Honourable Soc. of Cymmrodorion, 1965
Gabriel Powell, Survey of Gower 1764 Gower Society, 2000
Roy Lockyer, History of the Tawe Fisheries www.pasas.org.uk/history
Badminton Papers Cat. No. BGA4/122
Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust
Many thanks to Sylvia Bagley, Grafton Maggs and Bryn Balsdon for their reminiscences.
'Collecting fish from a fishing weir' a photo from a Gower Journey by
A. G. Thompson, published 1960