Coastal Guns of Mumbles Head
By John Powell
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WW2: Guns of Mumbles Lighthouse Island and Tutt Head >
More: The Defence of Mumbles before 1918 >
More: The GUNS OF MUMBLES HEAD collection >
Anti-Aircraft battery, The ATS & WRNS EstablishmentsContents
Ready For Action
An identical 6 inch Gun was sited near Penclawdd, a main training battery in this area, 1940.
One of two 6 inch Coastal Défense Guns at Mumbles Hill Battery, overlooking Mumbles Lighthouse, suitably camouflaged.
A view from Mumbles Head
This artists view of the 6 inch Gun in action, includes Mumbles Lighthouse Island.
By John Powell and Kate Elliott Jones
Their task was to defend against seaborne attacks and to engage and destroy enemy vessels on the Bristol Channel
The Coastal Batteries primary task was to engage and destroy enemy vessels; their secondary role was to support the Examination Battery on the lighthouse island.
The Coastal Defence Battery was on Mumbles Hill, the Examination Battery on the Fort on The Lighthouse Island and Port War Signal Station at the coastguard station on Tutt Head.
The geography of Mumbles Hill and its two islands proved an ideal location for siting defences for the town of Swansea five miles away. During the Second World War the Mumbles headland once more confirmed its natural strategic position when, as part of a nationwide system of coastal defences it was fortified with two batteries to protect the ports of Swansea, Briton Ferry and Port Talbot.
The various units under the command of 559 Coast Regiment RA, Mumbles Fire Command are shown later below.
The guns were supported by searchlights situated in emplacements on Lighthouse Island & Tutt Head, which when required, were able to illuminate the sea at night.
We shall explore the wartime gun positions, which had wonderful views over the Bristol Channel, as well as having a glimpse into the life and times of those who served there and on the Lighthouse Island.
The searchlights emplacements on the Lighthouse Island
Today, Mumbles Local Nature Reserve is a largely-deserted peaceful haven, overgrown in places, but beautiful nonetheless. This section of the reserve in the photo overlooks Tutt Head and the present Coastguard Station, which closed in the spring of 2015. The old Coastguard station on the same site played an important part in our story.
Signposts and Interpretation boards have been installed on the site of one of the 6 inch coastal defence gun emplacements and magazines. Mumbles Hill Battery was decommissioned in 1957 and the bunkers and gun emplacements were either removed or covered over. There is now very little visual evidence of the Battery - all that remains is that which is left underground.
The Defence sites shown on a Google map, 2016
There are Information Boards on the site of the 6 inch Coastal Gun Battery on Mumbles Hill.
Defence against attack from the air, was the task of the Anti-Aircraft Guns of Mumbles Head >
Their Heavy Battery was situated at the Thistleboon end of Mumbles Hill.
The port of Swansea served the heavy industrial area of South Wales and was the nearest of the large Bristol Channel docks to the Atlantic. Because of its importance Swansea had been included in the pre-war list of ports where fixed defences would be essential in the event of war, although there were none in place when war did break out. By the summer of 1940 the need for defence against both sea and air attacks had become critical.
The defeat and occupation of France in June put Swansea in easy reach from air bases in Normandy and Brittany and there was also a very real fear of a German invasion during that summer or autumn. We now know that, around this time, high altitude reconnaissance photographs were taken by the Luftwaffe of Swansea and its surrounding area.
Mumbles Head Gun-sites and Port War Signal Station
THE DEFENCES AND THE DEFENDERS
THE DEFENCES AND THE DEFENDERS
Recently discovered Royal Artillery Records > reveal that the Battery was formed in Oct 40, under the command of 21 Coast Artillery Group and in June 41, part of 559 Coast Regiment RA, known after Dec 42 as Mumbles Fire Command. The unit was to be 'Disbanded' in Apr 44 and Decommissioning is shown here later.
559 Coast Regiment RA
Mumbles Fire Command
559 Coast Regiment RA
Mumbles Fire Command
The various units under its command are shown -From Apr 41 - 298th Battery
From May 42 - 299th Battery
© THE ROYAL ARTILLERY 1939 -45
The History of the Regiment in WW2
The History of the Regiment in WW2
During the second world war the fixed artillery defence of the port of Swansea included (after April 1941) the Coastal Battery of two six-inch guns installed at the eastern end of Mumbles Hill and two 4.7-inch guns on Mumbles lighthouse island. The island and the coastguard station on Tutt Head on the opposite side of Bracelet Bay from the lighthouse also had a pair of searchlights each.
War Establishment totals
War Establishment totals
Not including local supply and repair units
Some seven hundred personnel were eventually assigned to make the two batteries operational. These included members of the Royal Artillery, Home Guard, the Women's Royal Naval Service, known to us as the WRENS, as well as several specialist support units. In addition, women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) served in the 623rd (mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Guns > which were situated at the Thistleboon end of Mumbles Hill.
The 6 inch Guns were installed
The 6 inch Guns were installed
The railway trucks shown in the collage below, were owned by the War Department and would have been used to carry the dismantled guns, drawn by a steam locomotive, to the Pier Station on Mumbles Railway, which was connected to Swansea Docks and the National Railway system.
The two 6 inch guns were transported to Mumbles Railway, Pier Station
In June 1940 Newton air raid warden Laurie Latchford (above right) noted in his diary: ‘Two six-inch guns carried on special railway trucks have appeared, and were run to their unloading point at Mumbles Fort, but had to be taken away until special tackle arrived.’
Special equipment did arrive and getting the guns up the hill to the Fort, from the station at the pier cannot have been easy.
Moving the very heavy pedestal into position.
During that hot summer the two breech-loading, ex-naval guns were installed by August 1940 and mounted in their separate concrete emplacements on steel pedestals on Mumbles Hill above Bracelet Bay overlooking the entrance to Swansea Bay.
The 'pedestal' of an assembled 6 inch Gun
When the pedestal is lowered to the floor and bolted into place, the breech assembly, gun shield and barrel can then be fitted.
The team during installation of the barrel
Battery construction projects were often undertaken by a group consisting of a gun-mounting party, experts (wearing boiler suits, on the right) and Royal Artillery gunners (on the left) who would man the guns.
On a closer examination of the working party on gun number Two, the original photo reveals that the expert Sergeant, with a cap, is wearing a jacket and his First World War Medal ribbons.
Sappers from The Royal Engineers led in the construction of the bunkers, underground magazines for the shells and other battery installations, assisted by blasting experts from Norton Quarry who aided with the excavations and other Contract Labour.
The Sergeant in charge of the team is wearing his WW1 medal ribbons
They do seem pleased to have installed gun number 2
Pictured in the background overlooking the Bristol Channel are Limeslade Bay, along with Somerset House (now Mumbles Hill House and on private land) is on the right of the panorama, It was reported by local residents that Two Decoy ‘guns’ made from telegraph poles, painted to look like big guns were in position on the headland in the centre of the photo.
An overall view of the gunsight now
War Establishment for all Units which defended 'Fort Mumbles'
Retyped from original document in the same format.
GUNSITE PLAN
GUNSITE PLAN
Coastal Defence Battery, Mumbles Hill, plan
The Key to the above plan
1. 6 inch gun emplacement No.1 Gun:
The guns were mounted onto steel pedestals and could move through nearly 180 degrees to cover the sea from Swansea Docks to Bracelet Bay.
2. 6 inch gun emplacement No.2 Gun:
Two guns were needed to cover a wider area, provide a higher rate of rate, engage several targets and ensure that defence could continue if one gun was put out of action.
3. Workshop:
Underground workshops were used for carrying out repairs and for storing the tools and equipment needed to maintain the guns.
4&5. Ammunition stores:
Each gun had a separate ammunition store and so could fire independently of the other.
6. Control Room/air raid shelter:
The Command Post for the Battery came under 559 Coast Regiment RA , Mumbles Fire Command, which was in communication with other units to ensure a co-ordinated defence of the area.
7. Observation Post:
The Observation Post contained equipment for determining the range and bearing to aim the guns accurately.
8. Palisade fence:
This fence was unclimbable and had a single entry gate.
9. Slit trenches:
The Hill was the most important defensive location in Swansea. A number of slit trenches provided cover for Regular Army and Home Guard Personnel to Defend the Battery.
10. Engine house:
This generator provided power for lighting, radios and other equipment used in the Battery.
It is evident that there are several differences between the 'official' plans (above) and the wartime 'sketch' plan below, drawn after the battery was completed, one being the design of the surrounding fence. The cost of the installation was recorded as £42,879 plus works costing £19,307.
Coastal Gun Battery 'A', Mumbles Hill, from wartime 'sketch' plan.
Plans and sections of the Battery Observation Post (BOP), Magazines, Wash House, store and Kitchen & War Accommodation can be found further below.
Editors notes are marked in red. - The Guns of Mumbles Head
Mumbles Unit Road Sign
262 Maintenance Battery, Royal Artillery,
From 1940s Swansea Bay Museum collection (Museum now closed)
The detail concerning the surrounding defensive fence is confirmed on the postwar aerial photo below.
Defence Sites shown on an Aerial Photo, 7 July 1946
More & larger: Aerial Photos of Mumbles Head, Swansea >
The above photo includes:-
Coastal Defence Battery 'A', Lighthouse Island, Battery 'B', Tutt Head, Coastguard Station (from 1942 to 45, Port War Signal Station) Coastal Gun Searchlight Posts [seaward facing], War Accommodation Sites and Anti-Aircraft Guns of Mumbles Head >
Battery ‘A’ on Mumbles Hill and Battery ‘B’ on the lighthouse island were both controlled from the headquarters on Mumbles Hill by twenty five officers and men of 599th Regiment. Battery 'A' had one hundred and nine soldiers from the Royal Artillery, assisted by forty-nine Home Guard men from ‘C’ Company, 12th Glamorgan (Swansea) Battalion (Mumbles Detachment), some of whom had operated similar weapons twenty years before.
FIRING AND CONTROLLING THE 6 INCH GUNS
FIRING AND CONTROLLING THE 6 INCH GUNS
The 6 inch guns’ primary task was to engage and destroy enemy vessels; their secondary role was to support the examination battery on the lighthouse island. The ex naval guns were capable of firing eight 100-pound shells a minute up to a distance of 12 miles (19 km). But 6 miles (9.6 km) was considered to be the limit of their effective range. Firing further than this distance would have been at the discretion of the Battery Commander. They protected the sea from Swansea Docks to Bracelet Bay and the Bristol Channel, a vital shipping route. Contemporary records reveal that a target for one of the guns was near Swansea Guildhall along with a warning that the second gun could not fire at this target without damaging the first gun.
From a County Borough of Swansea plan of the 6 inch Battery, drawn around 1960, prior to the demolition and burial of the sight after the Second World War.
Mumbles Hill Coastal Gun
One of the two camouflaged 6 inch gun emplacements. Both overlook Mumbles Lighthouse,
photo: Ronald Studden
Corporal Joseph Russell, R.A. is pictured third from the left middle row, while training at Llandudno.
Photo: Charles Russell
Corporal Joseph Russell, Royal Artillery.
Corporal Joseph Russell, Royal Artillery, served on the 6 inch ex Naval Guns at the Coastal Battery on Mumbles Head. His son Charles, who was born in 1950, sent us some treasured photos, including a portrait of his father as well as two taken while Joseph was Training at the Coast Artillery School at Llandudno.
Charles said: 'My father, Joseph, often talked about his time at Mumbles, where he served in the Royal Artillery on Mumbles Head when he was around 29 years old and perhaps one of the oldest Bombardiers in his unit.' and added: 'My father suffered with Tinnitus for the rest of his life, as a result of the noise from the Guns.' Continued below : -
Continued:-Joseph talked to his son, about the problems soldiers had while using the causeway to Mumbles Lighthouse, as well as the florescent glow the seaweed used to make when it was more visible at night. He remembered that at least two soldiers, who served at the Lighthouse, had slipped off the causeway and drowned, when making their way off duty, as the tide was rising. Their dedicated off duty accommodation was in huts constructed on Bracelet Bay car park, but the men could have planned to spend their off duty time in places of leisure in Mumbles.
'Near the end of the war father was sent, with the other members of the unit, to Germany for ‘mopping up.’ My dad only ever mentioned the disaster of the Allied ‘Operation Market Garden’ at Arnhem, in September 1944 and that he had watched enemy soldiers trying to swim to safety across the River Elbe, in Germany, while under sniper fire from the Canadians, in April 1945.
Caroline Russell, nee Grace, June 1945.
'After Joseph was demobbed, he was out of work for a while, until he found work as a Widow Cleaner, then worked as a plasterer for David Thomas and Sons. My father pushed a hand cart, to repair the war damaged houses, in some cases many miles, as these were the austerity years, with rationing until 1954.
My mother did war work from around 1940, when 26 years old, and had to sign the official secrets act. She worked for the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company, Liverpool, who specialised in making parts, mostly gyroscopic compasses, for Lancaster Bombers and Spitfires.
She used to have to walk to work in this secret factory outside the city when the trams stopped during air raids, I think she saw more action than my father. She lost her job after the war and suffered from long term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by her wartime experiences during the bombing.'
The wedding of Joseph Russell to Caroline Grace, 11th April 1945.
This photo was taken on the occasion of the wedding of Joseph Russell to Caroline Grace, at Saint Saviours Church, Everton, Liverpool,11th April , 1945.
I asked my father about his War Service Medals and he said that he never received them. I sent for them and received back his two Medals, The War Medal, 1939 -1945 and The Defence Medal. I put them in a frame in 1980s, along with his cap badge.
More photos and memories -
Cpl. Joseph Russell R.A. served on the Coastal Guns, at Mumbles Head >
Others who served on one of the 6 inch Coastal Guns, as well as Peter Smith Home Guard; who said, 'I also fired the 4.7inch guns on the Lighthouse Island in 1943 where my brother in law, Jack Jackson, served in the Royal Artillery.'
Ernest Macey: 20, Oak Drive, served as a Lanc. Bombardier, Royal Artillery. In 1941, he came down from Barrow in Furness. The name of the Battery, ‘Fort Mumbles.’
Bill Morris: Royal Artillery, I was stationed on the Lighthouse Island, where we formed the ‘Examination Battery’, which had for that duty two 4.7 inch guns, situated on the fort ramparts. He lived in Somerset House post-war as a caretaker. More: My Army Life by Bill Morris
The view overlooking Swansea Bay today and a typical 6 inch Gun, 1940
The typical 6 inch gun was sited at Berthlwydd near Penclawdd
Each watch contained enough officers and men to fire both guns for two minutes. The duty gun crew were to be at readiness, fully equipped and at their respective posts within moments of an alarm. One guard was stationed by the guns during the day, with two at night. The off duty crew, or Reserve Watch, would be kept at a state of readiness at the War Accommodation. When the alarm was sounded, they would man the magazine and keep the gun crew supplied with ammunition. The third crew could be off duty
Royal Artillery gunners manning a 6 inch gun, 1939
A typical coastal Defence gun at Sheerness, November 1939. © IWM (H 121)
The photo above shows two gunners on the lower left, who are ready to pass cordite cartridges [in flash-proof leather carry cases] up to the gun crew as required. Eight gunners were needed to fire each six-inch gun and usually two (mentioned) to supply ammunition for sustained firing.
The battery was supported by Mumbles Home Guard, shown next with their Vickers Machine Gun.
NOTE All the Home Guard officers pictured are wearing their medal ribbons (as was the sergeant installing the guns). The medals, playfully referred to as Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred, confirm that the men had served in the First World War, from 1914 or 1915. The marked soldier is PETER SMITH who is also mentioned later. They usually paraded at 19.25 hrs and were dismissed at 06.00 hrs. so were available for duty at Dusk and Dawn.#
A 6 inch Coastal Gun, overlooking Mumbles Lighthouse, suitably camouflaged.
A DEFENCE EXERCISE
A DEFENCE EXERCISE
John Radford of Mumbles Home Guard remembered:
‘One day, it was decided by the army to hold a defence exercise on Mumbles Hill. Our CO, Major Davies of Moorside Road, West Cross, informed our platoon that we were to attack the 6” gun battery from the Bracelet end, but this was to be only a diversion as another group of us was to infiltrate from a little-known path on the Northern side.
The battle duly commenced and we gained the summit of the hill unobserved. We approached the fence that surrounded the site and made our way underneath it, there being no R.A. defenders to be seen except one solitary army umpire.
He had watched us as we made our way to the gun pits, where we set off thunder flashes, followed by a successful withdrawal.
Our CO was very pleased with our efforts, which were definitely ‘one up’ for the Mumbles Home Guard!
Typical 6 inch Gun at East Solent-IWM
A COASTAL BATTERY IN ACTION
Loading the shell into a 6 inch gun
Typical Coastal Defence Battery at Felixstowe © IWM (H 3293)Peter Smith, of the Home Guard was trained to fire the six-inch guns and he described how the gun team worked. He was an auto set layer (traversed sideways); another man was a rocking bar layer (for elevation, up and down); two loaded the gun with shells and cordite; and another was on the breech inserting the cartridge to fire the gun. One man was a setter for the range and another was on the telephone, taking orders from the battery observational post.
BATTERY OBSERVATION POST
The B.O.P.: The rangefinder and chartman at their post
Typical B.O.P. at the Needles on the Isle of Wight. © IWM (H 12517)The battery observation post (B.O.P.) was in an elevated position behind the guns and housed the depression rangefinder, used to calculate the range and bearing of a target. The information was then passed on to the gun emplacements. From the Post, Alarm gongs could be sounded at the war accommodation, the searchlights, and the engine room. The battery observation post was aided by a spotter’s post nearby. The Battery Commander had a private direct-line line telephone link to headquarters and with all parts his command, with Battery (B) on Mumbles Island and with the Navy at the Port War Signal Station, who would identify all vessels steaming into Swansea Bay and signal to them with any orders.
Post-war investigations of the disused observation post revealed a panorama of the whole bay painted on the wall and, nearby, two machine-gun pillboxes.
Observation Post Plan (Key 7)
From a County Borough of Swansea plan of the 6 inch Battery, drawn around 1960, prior to the demolition and burial of the sight after the Second World War.
A small amount of ammunition was kept in the ‘ready-use’ lockers around the rear of each gun emplacement, (enough to last two minutes) but the bulk was kept in the underground Magazines adjacent to each of the guns. (Key nos. 4 & 5 on the main plan). The entrance to each magazine, protected by a thick concrete roof and blast proof steel doors, was down a flight of steps, descending 25ft below ground level.
The (explosive or shrapnel) shells, cordite charges (in silk bags) and primer caps or cartridges (for firing) were stored in separate rooms. Shown here is a photo of two men at work setting the fuses on shells in a ‘typical’ Battery Shell Room and a plan of the Magazine was made when the site was cleared.
Alongside the two Magazines were three underground repair Workshops, numbered 3 on the plan.
An engine house generator provided power for lighting, radios and other equipment.
Setting fuses on 6inch shells in the Magazine. Photo: Ness Battery Booklet.
Setting fuses on 6inch shells in the Magazine. Photo: Ness Battery Booklet.
Magazine: plan and section, (Key nos. 4 & 5 on the main plan).
Somerset House (now Mumbles Hill House) on Mumbles Hill was requisitioned by the army as the officers’ mess. ‘War accommodation’ consisting of barracks, kitchen and washhouse was provided on both gun sites for those on duty. Off-duty men from the lighthouse island returned to Nissen huts at Bracelet Bay (where the car park is now) and on Mumbles Hill (now Thistleboon Drive). At both of these sites there was separate accommodation for women serving in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (W.R.N.S) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S).
Wash House, Store, Cook House and nearby War Accommodation, also noted on 'sketch' plan shown earlier.
LOCAL DEFENCES AND HOME GUARD WEAPONS
LOCAL DEFENCES AND HOME GUARD WEAPONS
To protect against any invading enemy force the 299th Battery was defended by a double line of barbed-wire with trenches and pillboxes to provide cover for a platoon of thirty Home Guard troops armed with Lee Enfield rifles, grenades, Sten guns and mortars.
A Vickers machine gun defended the track up to the battery and the open ground around (near the present-day coastguard aerial). To protect against attack from the west there was a minefield and a 75 mm mobile field gun capable of firing fifteen aimed shells per minute. These mutually supporting defences ensured that in the event of any attack several gun positions could cover all the land between the sea and the top of Mumbles Hill. In addition, decoy ‘guns’ were added to the defences. Local residents remember seeing on the cliffs west of Limeslade Bay two dummy guns made from telegraph poles painted to look like big guns when viewed from a distance.
In December 1941, It was decided by the War Office to enrol members of the Home-Guard into some of the Royal Artillery coastal batteries to augment the regulars. There were many experienced veterans in the ranks who had operated similar weapons twenty years before.
Coast Artillery School at the Great Orme, Llandudno, 6 inch Gun Battery. Photo: Nat Archives
Peter Smith, a Lance Sergeant in the Home Guard served on Mumbles Hill Battery (as well as at the Lighthouse Fort) and is pictured on the right of the above group, during training at the Royal Artillery Training School at Llandudno, where he was taught to fire the six-inch guns. In 1942, training at the school reached a peak, as 150 officers, 115 Cadets, and 445 other ranks could be accommodated and up to 14 courses could be run at any one time. He was one of around 20,000 military personnel who were trained at the site during the war. Peter remarked, 'This was serious stuff.... Naval guns were somewhat different to the rifles, hand grenades and pickaxe-handles which had previously been in our armoury.'
A group of the WRNS at Tutt Head, on the left is herself Joan S (Jones), ‘Visual Signaller WRNS’.
Gunnery practice by the Home Guards at Mumbles Hill was witnessed by WRN Joan Jones, who remembers that the HMS Erebus (‘AIREEBUS’) entered Swansea Bay in the evenings, to be used as a target-towing ship and the six-inch guns on Mumbles Head would fire between the two towed targets (usually called Hong-Kong targets). On one occasion one of the targets was accidentally hit. [Apparently the Royal Navy was not pleased.]
HMS Erebus, used as a target towing ship in Swansea Bay, Photo: 1930.
A towed Hong -Kong target as witnessed by WRN Joan Jones.
Rev. George Wilkinson, Vicar of All Saints' Church
CHURCH PARADE
CHURCH PARADE
The late Mrs Anne Ardouin recalled that, during the war, every Sunday morning, between church services, her father, the Rev. George Wilkinson, Vicar of All Saints' Church, visited the Army camp on Mumbles Hill, where he would lead a service.
On these occasions, he would wear a purple armband on top of his clerical robes, emblazoned with O.C.F. (Officiating Chaplain to the Forces) and would gain ready admittance as the Padre to the guarded camp. Afterwards he would enjoy a breakfast of bacon and eggs at the Officers mess. If Anne was especially lucky and time permitted, he would let us accompany him, as bacon and eggs were heavily rationed at home.
She particularly remembered a comment by one of the other ranks that, THEY only ever had bread and jam for breakfast.
OFF DUTY AND N.A.A.F.I.
OFF DUTY AND N.A.A.F.I.
The men were able to spend some of their off duty time and buy essential items at the NAAFI, and maybe watch film shows and other entertainment there. The village, with two cinemas, numerous pubs and several dance halls was nearby, for those with permission to be off camp.
Kay Sandalls remembered that her mother Gwyneth Jepson, from Cleveland Avenue, Limeslade, ran the NAAFI on the hill and remembered that ‘she used to bake things at home for the men, because the food was not very good’. One day, she had to sack the cook for not wearing any knickers!’ How this was discovered we shall never know.
Miss Margaret Eileen Stevens, served at this NAAFI. Photo: John Williams.
Miss Margaret Eileen Stevens, served at this NAAFI, (also at the NAAFI at Margam Park). Her son, John Williams, recalled that 'whenever we walked along the front close to the The George, she remembered that the steps alongside the right of the George were the steps she used to climb up to the NAAFI'. Indeed, this was confirmed, when John Powell, the editor of this website, took me to the site of the NAAFI and showed me a map which recorded the only footpath she could have used, as alternative ways onto the hill, which we use today were then out of bounds.
Her son also recalled, 'My Mother did talk of the Americans at Margam Park, but also mentioned a small group of Norwegian Troop and was not sure if these were on special missions etc.'
The steps leading to Mumbles Hill, from The George Hotel
Reorganisation in 1943
Reorganisation in 1943
By the spring of 1943, the likelihood of an enemy invasion had diminished. and meant there could be a gradual reduction in coastal defences. The scheme was entitled ‘Flood Tide.’
In many batteries, Home Guard members had already replaced all but a few serving soldiers and this was the case in Mumbles.
SECRET FLOOD TIDE Reorganisation in 1943
Therefore, by November 1943, men of the Mumbles Home Guard detachment (under the control of two Royal Artillery non-commissioned officers) took over the manning and upkeep of one of the two six-inch guns on Mumbles Hill. The other six-inch gun was maintained but not crewed, and the men were not continually 'closed-up' on the gun for the duration of their shift but were on 5 minutes notice in 'war accommodation' nearby.
Only seven men would be needed on each shift, as it was not expected to have to fire continuously. As part of the coastal defences reorganisation carried out in 1943-4, the Mumbles Island examination battery was also reduced.
Closure of Examination Services 1944
In August 1944, Examination Batteries were no longer required and The Home Guard were stood down in November that year, The End was near!
Mumbles Home Guard The youngest at 17 and oldest at 70
DECOMMISSIONING :
DECOMMISSIONING :
SECRET dated 23 Jan 1944
Due for disbandment on 1 April 1944
Royal Artillery Records > reveal that the Battery, a part of 559 Coast Regiment RA - Mumbles Fire Command was 'Disbanded' in April 1944.
Some time later, guns and other equipment were removed from both the Coastal and Anti-Aircraft Batteries. (The examination battery on the lighthouse island had already been disbanded.) Mumbles Head was finally decommissioned in 1957 and the six-inch gun battery bunkers and gun emplacements were either removed or covered over.
Today, only markers and information boards indicate what was once there. The searchlight emplacements and the engine house on the lighthouse island still exist and remains of the concrete causeway going out to the island can be seen at low tide.
Secret: 23 Jan 1944
From Western Command to
559 Coast Reg, SWANSEA
Mumbles Hill House. Photo: G. McKechnie, 2015.
Somerset House (later renamed Mumbles Hill House >) used as the Officers Mess and by the two caretakers postwar, was also decommissioned and sold. One of the caretakers, Mr Bill Morris, has written on this website about his time in the Army and his service in the Mumbles Head Battery at Mumbles Lighthouse, entitled - My Army Life >
VE DAY May 1945
Used by homeless families
Used by homeless families
Mumbles Hill resident Mike Hurst
Nissen huts at both Bracelet Bay and Mumbles Hill were used for a while as temporary accommodation for homeless families, (those at Thistleboon are shown below).
A young resident of Mumbles Hill was Mike Hurst, who is pictured outside one of the army huts which, after the war. was home to some of those who had been bombed-out during the Swansea blitz
David Passmore with a cat, outside his hut at Mumbles Hill Camp postwar, with his cousins Dave and Alan Brewer.
Post-war, a fried of Ronal Studden named Christancock lived in one of the Nissan huts at Bracelet Bay and noted that in the early 1950s they had prior warnings, which arrived in the post twice a year, 'we were warned that the guns on the hill would fire twice a year for testing, usually January and July and as a security measure we should tape up our windows.'
Removing the scars of war
Overlooking Limeslade Bay
Overlooking Limeslade Bay
Pneumatic drills are used to break up the concrete gun emplacements at Tutt Head, Mumbles, near Swansea. In the background is beautiful Limeslade Bay.
Photo: posted by Stephen Evans, January 2023,Hand Drawn Wartime Plan
of Tutt Head
They are probably demolishing the items marked PB, on the map below
The map Includes- Personnel Bunkers (BP) , Accommodation for a dozen WRNS (Signals Wrens), War Accommodation for Royal Artillery personnel who also served on the Lighthouse Island, Port War Signal Station (Peacetime Coastguard Station).
Postwar remains at Swansea
Postwar remains at Swansea
Taken in 1964, this photo shows a WW2 gun site, at what was known as 'Boys End' on Swansea beach. This area today is roughly where the Marriet Hotel and seafront flats are today and part of the old sea wall still exists.
The black shed featured is where the local shunting tractor which was used around this area was garaged and repaired along with other mechanical equipment, Photo: Carton Smith, Swansea History Society, Facebook page
Mumbles Pier, from the Lighthouse Island
Continued:
Back to- The GUNS OF MUMBLES HEAD > Collection
Including The Anti-Aircraft battery, The ATS & WRNS Establishments
Swansea Ramblers Walk -
Mumbles Hill Nature Reserve -
This trail includes many photos and maps
as well as other walks in the area
NB - Clicking the link takes you away from this website
Walks, Views & History
A simple Google Map with access to photos
The situation of the Second World War Remains,
parking, seating and footpaths
NB - Clicking the link takes you away from this website
The Gower Walking Festival Also includes Walks over Mumbles Hill in its programme
A view of Mumbles Lighthouse from the gunsite now. The top of the magazine can be seen above the centre boards.
The Information Boards were renewed in June 2017 and in October 2022.
Acknowledgements:
Acknowledgements:
City and County of Swansea; The National Archives; West Glamorgan Archives; Mumbles Development Trust; Oystermouth Historical Association; John & Carol Powell; Gareth Ellis; Kate Elliott- Jones.
Contact the Website Editor Part of this article was published in The Swansea History Journal
Guided walks onto the hill have been held held as a part of the- The Gower Walking Festival >
Mumbles Hill Local Nature Reserve,
Contact: Sean Hathaway 01792 635749 or 07974 760980.
Nature Conservation Team > Environment Department, City and County of Swansea, The Guildhall, Swansea SA1 4PH
This City & County of Swansea project is under the supervision of Glamorgan Gwent Archaeology Trust Ltd., with assistance from Mumbles Development Trust and Oystermouth Historical Association.
Oystermouth Historical Association (OHA) Publications
Many leaflets are available to order including:- Mumbles at War, 623 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery and Mumbles at War, Coastal Defences 299th Battery,
and
The Royal Artillery 1939 -1945 - Home page
https://ra39-45.co.uk/
Various sections include the units & information concerning their organisation
Back to:- The GUNS OF MUMBLES HEAD > Collection
Including The Anti-Aircraft battery, The ATS & WRNS EstablishmentsPage updated
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