The Mumbles – Lighthouse, Pier and Bracelet Bay, Wales
The Mumbles is a busy corner of the Gower Peninsula close to Swansea. Being just a short distance from the bustle of Swansea, Bracelet Bay is the first ‘proper’ beach that you will reach after leaving Swansea Bay and heading west. The small beach has lots of deep rock pools to explore and at one end on a small island is the Mumbles Lighthouse. The beach has views across to the North Devon coastline as well as along the South Wales coast towards Port Talbot. Being so close to Swansea it is a beautiful area to explore while not being too far from amenities.
Mumbles Lighthouse History
The Mumbles Lighthouse sits at the south-eastern end of Bracelet Bay and guides shipping over the nearby Cherry Stone Rock and Mixon Sands, two large sand banks which have taken countless vessels over the years.
The construction of the lighthouse started in July 1792, but poor design meant that by October it had collapsed. This slow start and a rethink of design by the engineer William Jernegan meant that the lighthouse was finally lit for the first time in 1794. It initially had two coal fires one above the other so it could be distinguished from the nearby St. Ann’s Head Lighthouse and Flatholm Lighthouse, both of which had single lights.
In 1860 a fort was built around the lighthouse by the War Department and in 1934 it was automated. The fort is known as a Palmerston Fort, built to deter a French invasion and is similar to the one found across the Bristol Channel at Brean Down. Electricity only arrived in 1969 with solar panels being installed in 1995. This small lighthouse is only 17 metres high and sits 35 metres above the high tide mark. It flashes 4 times every 20 seconds and can be seen for 15 nautical miles with a fog horn for bad days.
The lighthouse can be reached at low tide, but you really must check the tide times to make sure you aren’t going to get stuck on the small island. Concrete steps lead up to the small keeper’s cottage from the causeway between the two islands. The installations for two searchlights can be found as well as the lookouts.
Bracelet Bay
There are several small beaches around the Mumbles, but the main beach is Bracelet Bay. Steps take you down from the parking area to a beach with golden shingles and large flat rock pools. The whole beach is a mass of gullies and boulders covered in seaweed and limpets. The rocks are a range of beautiful colours but are completely covered at high tide. In the centre of the beach, the rocks make way for sandy gullies while at the edges of the bay, the rocks become large slabs of rock with much deeper gullies. In the winter months, this beach is fairly empty and is a great place to watch large waves roll in.
Mumbles Pier
Mumbles Pier, just the other side of the lighthouse from Bracelet Bay is a tourist magnet and can be busy during the summer months. The pier was built in 1898 and was the terminus for the Swansea and Mumbles Railway. In the 1920’s a lifeboat station was added and more recently a second more functional lifeboat station has been added. The Pier has all the usual seaside attractions with an amusement arcade, ice creams and chips. It is also home to one of the few breeding colonies of Kittiwakes on a manmade structure in the UK. They can be seen nesting on specially placed platforms along the edge of the old lifeboat station from April until about mid-August.
Getting to Mumbles Lighthouse and Bracelet Bay
The bay can be reached by following the main A4067 from Swansea towards the Gower. Once you reach the Mumbles village go straight over the roundabout and continue for a further mile past the pier on your left. The road will drop down and the large pay and display car park, restaurant and toilets will be seen on the left. The beach and lighthouse can be seen from the car park, but a rough set of steps in the middle of the bay leads to a narrow path onto the pebbly beach.
- Mumbles Road, Mumbles, Swansea SA3 4EN
- Find Bracelet Bay Parking on Google Maps
- Parking details for Bracelet Bay
