When Mumbles was ‘The Mumbles’
a poem by Cyril Gwynn
When Mumbles was ‘The Mumbles’, ‘tis not so long ago,
Since I was but a nipper going to school,
When fishing craft and dredger would anchor in a row,
And the boy who couldn’t swim was dubbed a fool.
Then Mumbles was The Mumbles, especially Southend,
Where the smallest kid could holler ‘Ship Ahoy!’
And knew the cut of every craft that sailed around the Head,
For the sea was then a Mumbles fellow’s joy.
To days of thrilling rescues my memory often runs,
When Coxswain Billy steered the ‘Charlie Medland’,
To ‘Doctor’ and ‘Barney’, the old man’s stalwart sons,
In the crew who sailed the lifeboat ‘round the headland.
When ‘Jasper’ on the lighthouse all passing vessels warned
To shape their course away from Mixen Sands,
When Mr. Clough held classes where Mumbles ladies learned
To fit themselves for posts in many lands.
When Apsey Peachey’s cabhorse was waiting at The Dunns,
To meet a fare at every downward train;
To Langland or Caswell was then a horse’s run,
For motor cars were few, let me explain.
When Alderman Morgan Hopkins ‘The Ship and castle’ kept,
And dredgers ‘round ‘The Pilot’ span a yarn,
When ‘Smoker’ or ‘Hammer’ on Woolacot’s tallart slept,
And ‘Owen’ went to roost in someone’s barn.
Then Bracelet and Limeslade were backed by living green
Where wild things lived and never came to harm.
Corn grew in the dingles where dwellings now are seen
‘Twixt Limeslade and Langland lay a farm.
When Billy Howell’s tea shop nestling on the beach,
Was washed in each sou’wester by the tide,
When Mabel Higgs had donkeys on Langland’s sandy reach,
And used to charge a penny for a ride.
Yes, Mumbles was The Mumbles but twenty years ago.
Now paving stones have covered up the furrough,
And Mumbles isn’t Mumbles, for I would have you know,
‘Tis ‘Oystermouth’, a section of ‘The Borough’.
An extract from The Gower Yarns of Cyril Gwynn published by the Gower Society
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