Visiting Mumbles

The terms "The Mumbles" has in recent years been popularly extended to include the whole of the limestone peninsula that shelters the village of Oystermouth and dramatically terminates the curve of Swansea Bay on the western side.  The Mumbles are the two islands that lie at the very tip of the curve.  The derivation of their strange name is uncertain, it may be an Anglicization of the Welsh Mynydd Moel - Bare Mountain.

On the outer island is the lighthouse, first built as far back as 1794, and surrounded with a complex of storehouse, signal stations, and fortifications which are now largely disused since the light has become automatic. 

Underneath the cliff on which the lighthouse stands is the cavern known as Bob's Cave.  In the late 1870s a popular peom by Clement Scott, made famous the heroism of the sisters Ace the daughters of the lighthouse-keeper, who rescued a drowning sailor.  They waded into the surf and pulled him ashore with a rope made from their knotted shawls.