Swansea University Archives Blog

Since 2018, the historic Mumbles Pier has been undergoing a £3.2 million refurbishment including an upgraded pavilion, boardwalk extending out into the water, and plans to convert the former lifeboat house into a restaurant and visitor centre.

Archives in the South Wales Transport Collection show that it’s not the first time the Victorian Pier has been in need of change and repair.

As well as being a comprehensive resource for the development of transport in South Wales, and particularly the famous Mumbles Railway (said to be the worlds first passenger service), the collection also include records relating to Mumbles Pier and Lifeboat Station.

Records detail the history of the pier, from the original plans approved by the Board of Trade, to its sale to Amecco (Amusement Equipment Company Ltd, who have been involved with the running of the Victorian pier for over 70 years.

• I889: an Act of Parliament was obtained incorporating the Mumbles Railway and Pier Company, who built an extension of Mumbles Railway to Mumbles Head, and a new deep water pier.
• 1898: The new line and pier opened.
• 1899: both Mumbles Railway and the Pier were leased to Swansea Improvements and Tramways Company. This lease was later transferred to the South Wales Transport Company.
• 1938: Amecco sub-leased the Pier from the South Wales Transport Company.
• 1959: the South Wales Transport Company purchased the pier, hotel and railway from the original owners Swansea and Mumbles Railways Limited and Mumbles Railway and Pier Company. While the railway was soon after abandoned, South Wales Transport allowed Amecco to continue their lease of the pier.
• 1971: Amecco purchased the freehold, becoming owners of the Pier.

Repairs A folder of plans and correspondence with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution detail a new lifeboat station and an extension to the slipway in the 1920s, and the establishment of an inshore lifeboat station in the 1960s. Files kept by the company’s secretary include reports on the negotiations between the lessees and sub-lessees for the repair and plans of the proposed new jetty, after the Pier was closed and declared unsafe in 1952.

Attractions A series of legal deeds include agreements for facilities and amusements for the pier in the 1900s. These include agreements with a Pierriot troop (they would appear every day except Sundays), a company supplying a Mutoscope Machine (an early motion picture device), a company supplying a confectionary machine, the lessees of a photographer’s shop, and a fancy dealer’s shop.

One of the main attractions at the Pier was the Pier Hotel, which included a dance hall. A dispute over the lease of the hotel in the 1940s reveals how the hotel was enjoyed by people during the Second World War. Officials of the South Wales Transport Company described how goodwill and increased business were brought about by the war. There were more troops in the area, Mumbles was felt to be at greater safety from bombing compared to Swansea and travelling restrictions meant that more people were staying local for holidays. Visitors to the war time dances (held every night except Sunday) were made up of American troops, a large number of merchant seamen of all nationalities, some British troops and munitions workers.

people have ‘gone crazy on dancing, drinking and any form of amusement during the war’.

Statement on Pier Hotel from inspector (Ref. LAC/10/1/4/8/2)

These papers also show the inherent link between the railway and the pier, with one inspector estimating that 90% of people attending the dances would travel there and back on the railway. The trains ran every 16 minutes, and sometimes the driver was unable to stop until Oystermouth because the carriages were so full.

With this in mind, it would be interesting to see if there has been, or will be, any talk of proposals to bring back the Mumbles Railway, to complement the planned rejuvenation of the pier!

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Catalogue for the South Wales Transport Company Collection is available via the Archives Hub