The Windmill At Caswell and The Water Supply by Wendy Cope
Caswell Bay today
Caswell Bay including Pwlldu Head and Brand Cove. The site of the clifftop Windmill is towards the centre and at the far right are Redcliffe Apartments, (built on the site of Redcliffe House), January 2024.
On the left is the site of the clifftop Windmill. At the centre are Redcliffe Apartments, (built on the site of Redcliffe House), The house next door was built at the same time. Caswell Bay Court apartments are on the right, April 2018.
The windmill
Caswell Bay Windmill and Redcliffe House, 1900
The site of the windmill is marked with a cross and the water tank can be seen at beach level, 2010
Caswell Bay Windmill and western Pumphouse, above the water-tank (mentioned earlier) and Redcliffe House. Photo is undated
A Modern View
A modern view of Redcliffe Hill, Caswell, January 2024.
A later discovery
Caswell Bay prior to the construction of the Windmill on the top of Redcliffe Hill. Photo: by William Harvey Barton, c1880.
This photo was taken from an album by Bristol photographer William Henry Barton (1833-1912) a well-known photographer based in Bristol, who travelled all over Britain taking photographs.
In the summer of 1885, Mr Barton stayed in Tenby and it is possible that he also came to Mumbles as an album of his landscape photographs of Mumbles & Gower was published around that time. [A copy of the album was generously donated to Oystermouth Historical Association].
A closer view of the headland, with the eastern 'Pumphouse,' with a water tank underneath.. But NO Windmill by William Harvey Barton, c1880.
What is revealed in this William Henry Barton photo?
The photo shows Redcliffe Hill prior to construction of the Windmill and reveals that the windmill was not built when the 'windowed building' or Pumphouse, had been constructed on top the Water Tank, to the west of the bay.
This building could have contained the steam pumping engine mentioned in the records. The Windmill may have been built as an auxiliary to the steam powered pump, so as to save money on coal.
Why pay for coal power, when the wind is free?
The building on the tank might have succumbed to the power of the sea, during a great storm, which could have swept this building away.
Or the building may have been removed, when it was replaced by another Engine House on the eastern entrance of Caswell Bay, which used 'oil & gas.'
This is the editors opinion, but there could be others, if you have details to add, please contact the co-editor >
What we know about the Windmill, by Wendy Cope
In 1883 a windmill was erected on the hill above Caswell Bay. In conjunction with a series of ropes it was used to pump water from a well at the foot of the cliff to a small reservoir at Summerland Lane. It was part of a scheme to provide a public water supply for Mumbles instigated by a small, local, private company whose number included Sir John Jones Jenkins, later Lord Glantawe, who lived at The Grange, West Cross, Roger Beck, who lived in Newton, and a Miss Morgan. Coming from a limestone source the water was hard but was otherwise praised.
The windmill overlooks Caswell Bay
A lady at the site in the 1930s
In 1890 the windmill’s ownership passed to the Oystermouth Waterworks Company which built a tank at the beach and linked this by pipes to a pump house run by steam which pumped the water up to the reservoir to keep it full. The windmill had proved to be inefficient as its ability to do the job had depended on the wind which was sometimes not enough and at other times too fierce. It was badly damaged by a gale in the winter of 1887/8, but it was kept as an auxiliary to the steam engine. Later, the pumping engine was powered by oil and then by gas. By 1900 the windmill had ceased to be used but it remained a landmark for captains of coastal vessels travelling up the Bristol Channel.
As the local population increased it became more difficult to keep the reservoir full and supply everybody’s need for water. Due to failures of supply many Mumbles houses had their own tanks to store water against such shortages.
An undated newspaper extract.
The Base Plates which held one of the legs of the windmill to the ground.
Caswell Bay Windmill and one Pump House, c1890
By 1910, there were two Pump Houses, one of which was wrecked after storm damage.
The two Pump Houses are seen here in 1923. Only the right hand building survives.
The Caswell Bay Windmill and the two 'eastern' Pump Houses, pre 1930.
Photographer unknown.
A general view of the Windmill and the Pump Houses, pre 1930.
About 1908 the Oystermouth Urban Council took over the water undertaking and by 1915 it had come to an agreement with Swansea Corporation for them to feed the reservoir. However, after the First World War when Oystermouth ceased to be independent and became part of Swansea, the water supply was guaranteed.
The windmill continued to stand on the hill until the middle of July 1930 when smoke was seen rising from the structure. With the help of a troupe of scouts the fire was extinguished but only one of its four supports remained intact.
As it was now a danger to the public it was destroyed by placing charges of dynamite at the base of the windmill. It was blown up and the remains fell onto the beach below. The Daily Post suggested that the fire had been started maliciously by mischief makers.
During the 1920s the disused pump house on Caswell beach was converted into a café and shortly after the windmill was destroyed, the present reservoir at Picket Mead was constructed. The pump house was later used as a deck chair store and by life guards. Today it is used by a surfing school, to store their boards.
Redcliffe House, c1900
This house has been demolished, but the house on the right, built at the same time, is still there.
Redcliffe Flats, 2007
Constructed as a Hotel, it was converted into flats in 1972.
Part of the water supply scheme, a large concret tank, which can be seen in the William Barton photo further below, was still to be found at the left of the photos above.
For copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce here a watercolour by an unknown artist, dated 1885, which reveals a similar scene as the William Harvey Barton photo above.
Caswell Bay Windmill and Redcliffe House, undated