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Magical Oyster Shell Grottoes by George Webborn

Also could be spelt Grotto or Grottos

More: The Oyster collection

Editors Note: This custom was a relic of medieval days when oyster boat fishermen paid homage to St. James, the Patron saint of fishermen. In former times, the Saint James fast day was 5 August, when the oyster season began. By the 19C and early 20 C, it had become the norm to begin the season on 1 September when an oyster fair would be held.

An Oyster Grotto

Illustration by Edna Davies

My wife and I were two of the 1920s children, who used to build grottoes. In those days it was a means of earning some coppers. We would go down to the promenade [photo] which was on our doorstep of Village Lane as early as 7.0 a.m. The locals never called it the Prom but ‘The Concrete’ and it was the section, which stretched from Village Lane slip to the old iron bridge opposite ‘The George’ at Southend.

The first children to get there had the prime pitch, the first one that the visitors would see as they arrived on the prom. There was always more than one child to each grotto and there was also a line of about a dozen grottos.

To build the grottoes, you would need a large number of oyster shells of the right shape but this was no problem with the oyster industry in Mumbles. The height of the grotto depended on the radius of your first ring of shells—the bigger the radius, the higher the grotto. This was achieved by laying your circle of shells, circle upon circle, with your shells bonding each other just like laying bricks. Each circle would get smaller and smaller until you had a magnificent hollow cane tower of oyster shells, sometimes as high as 4ft. but one shell placed carelessly would bring all the shells crashing down. Then we would have to start all over again.

When the grotto was completed, we would then create a garden right around the grotto with a path leading up to the door opening. The garden would be marked off into sections and these would be filled with crushed red brick, crushed spa stones, different coloured seaweed, sand and the mother of pearl lining of some of the oyster shells —anything to create colour. The door opening had a double purpose. We used to put a candle inside the grotto, which we used to light as the evening got darker. The effect of the candlelight shining around the chinks of the shells of the grotto was magic. It was like fairyland!

The steam Train at Southend

In the summer, the local children would put the mountain of shells left over once the oysters had been harvested to good use, often earning a few pennies into the bargain.

The photo shows ‘The Concrete’ and it was the section, which stretched from Village Lane slip to the old iron bridge opposite ‘The George’ at Southend.

The remains of the old breakwater can be seen on the beach.

As the visitors approached, we would say to them ‘Patronize the grotto please?’ and they always did, either with a ha’penny or a penny. As the old Puffing Billy steam train trundled past, we would call out the same words ‘Patronize the grotto please?’ The passengers always responded by throwing us coins from the top of the open carriages which we soon gathered up. On Regatta Day, there would always be a competition for the best grotto, which was usually judged by the Mayor.

At the end of the day when it was time to go home, we would kick the grotto down and scatter everything but the next morning it was the same story all over again — a race for the best pitch and building our grottoes again.

In the 1890s, with the growth of Mumbles as a tourist mecca, the Swansea Improvements and Tramways Company decided to extend the Mumbles Railway line from Oystermouth out across the Horsepool to the gardens at the Parade and thence to the other part of their development—the new Pier.

As compensation to the fishermen, the Mumbles Railway Company constructed a wooden groyne (which can be seen in the middle of the photo at the top) as shelter for them on the shore near the Antelope. Unfortunately, the Oystermouth U.D.C. refused to maintain it and when the weather did its worst, it soon fell into disrepair.

Today, some wooden stakes still remain visible, as do the remains of several oyster skiffs, which lie near the sea wall and are a small, but constant reminder of a once proud and hard working band of men.