Caswell Bay, Gower, Swansea - postcard c.1950s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Caswell Bay, Swansea borough [on the Gower]
• Publisher:  none given
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  2&half d. red Wilding defin.
• Postmark(s):  Swansea 4 July 1960 World Mental Health Year 1960 slogan postmark
• Sent to:  Egham, Surrey
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Caswell Bay is a popular UK holiday resort in the south east of the Gower Peninsula, Swansea, Wales.

Access to the beach is relatively easy and inland from the sandy beach is a recreational park. Caswell is ideal for surfing, holidays in the nearby Hotels and Chalet Park. The beach regularly receives Blue Flag status and is close to the village of Mumbles.

Between 1829 and 1840 much of the land around Caswell Bay was bought by John James, a former Curate of Bishopston, for his daughter and his son-in-law, Charles Morgan.^[1] In 1846, The Morgans sold a piece of land on the eastern side of the bay to 19th Century pioneer photographer John Dillwyn Llewelyn who was a regular visitor to the bay. Llewelyn built a holiday home, Caswell Cottage, which stood until around 1960 on the site of what is now the Caswell Bay public car park.^[2] In 1854 images of two of his photographs of Caswell Bay were requested by Prince Albert.^[3] In August 1878 Llewelyn's thirteen year-old grandson drowned whilst swimming in the bay, with the inquest held at the Caswell Bay Hotel.

After the death of Mrs Charles Morgan in 1877, her Caswell Estate was divided amongst her six children.^[1] Soon afterwards, a portion of the land on the western side of the bay was sold to the Davenport family who built a large house on the land. The house was called Redcliffe, named after Redley Cliff which bounds the western side of the bay. In the late 1920s Redcliffe was the family home of poet Vernon Watkins, a contemporary and close friend of Dylan Thomas.^[4] The house stood until the 1960s when it was demolished to make way for the Redcliffe apartments that now overlook the west side of the bay.

The three daughters of Mrs Charles Morgan, Emma, Agnes and Alice made Caswell Bay their home from 1877 and built many of the houses which remain to this day, including their own home, Bay House which stands above the centre of the bay. The sisters also planted many of the bay's distinctive pine trees.^[1]

In 1883 a wind pump was built at the peak of Redley Cliff to pump water to nearby houses. The wind pump was badly damaged in a gale less than five years later and had ceased to be used by 1900. It remained a landmark until it was destroyed for safety reasons in 1930 having been badly damaged in a suspicious fire.^[5] On top of Redley Cliff there is also evidence of the existence of a defended Iron Age enclosure.^[6]

In the 1890s a large concrete water tank was built at the base of the cliff, which remains to this day. The water tank was used to collect water from a small spring during the late 19th century.^[7] Around the same time a pump house was built on the eastern side of the bay, consisting of two buildings built a short time apart. By the end of World War I the pump house was no longer required and for a time it was used as a café.^[5] The newer of the two buildings remains to this day alongside the base of the older building.

For more than forty years in the 20th century, Caswell Bay played a central role in a murder mystery. Less than 2 years after settling in a house overlooking Caswell Bay, George Shotton and his wife Mamie Stuart mysteriously disappeared before Christmas 1919. When police tracked down Shotton in 1920 they feared he had murdered Mamie Stuart, but were unable to find the evidence. On 5th November 1961 a sack of human bones was found in a disused mine at the nearby Brandy Cove. A coroner’s inquest determined the remains were those of the missing Mamie Stuart. After an extensive manhunt George Shotton was traced to a cemetery in Bristol, having died just 3 years earlier.^[8]

On the cliff top above the centre of the bay are the Caswell Bay Court apartments which were built in the 1990s on the site previously occupied by the Caswell Bay Hotel.^[9] The hotel was expanded from a simple Victorian villa built in the 1850s.^[1]

In 2006 Caswell Bay was named as one of the top 50 beaches in the UK by Guardian.co.uk.^[10]

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=wales

county/ country=glamorgan

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=posted