Peachey's Stables, The Dunns 

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More: The Dunns collection >

This was a family concern run by Edwin and Mary Ann Peachey and later, by their four sons, Samuel, Herbert, Absalom and Jehu. They had numerous horses. as well as a variety of vehicles including brakes,  a black and silver hearse and a fine Lando.

The firm catered for visitors arriving at Oystermouth station on the Mumbles Train, who needed transport to Langland and Caswell or further or as transport for wedding parties.  The  distinctive hearse was an impressive sight on its way through the village to Oystermouth Cemetery, drawn by a team of six black horses replete with plumes and one of the brothers riding high above them in his top hat swathed in crepe.

But the Great War came to Mumbles and along with many of its young men, away went the village  horses having been requisitioned  by the Army.  Even their family pet, a gentle beautiful mare named Mari Llwyd, along with their other horses, were sent to France. A little later, the army came for their wagons and then Herbert was called up.

            His family had thought he would be exempt from conscription, as he was blind in one eye. His distressed daughters spent the day of his departure watching their father and other local 'boys' leaving for training camps on the Mumbles Train. The story goes that they were still there in the evening when their Dad waved from an incoming train. He had been all the way to Cardiff, been re-examined and rejected as unfit!

            Sometime later, two Mumbles families received letters from their boys in France, describing how cheered they were seeing a wagon emblazoned with Peachey's Posting and Livery Stables - Mumbles passing their position.