out and about - 2015
23 June 2015 .............. Mumbles Pier
I went to have a look at Mumbles Pier - I have looked down on it from Mumbles Head, but hadn`t ever been to see it in the flesh.
And here it is - I guess it is a fairly typical Victorian style seaside pier, many of which are now struggling to survive, and it looks as if this one is no exception.
It opened in 1898, and was, according to Wikipedia, the western terminus of the world`s first passenger carrying railway - so I guess that gives it a unique bit of history.
It is currently in a serious need of repair - it is open to the public in a limited sort of way, you walk down a narrow footpath down the middle of the pier, well away from the edges.
This is looking back along the pier towards the various cafes and amusement arcades that surround the area just inland of the pier.
From the far end of the pier you get a very good view across to the lighthouse on the outer of the two islands off Mumbles Head - at least, they are islands except at low tides.
The RNLI has quite a historical connection with Mumbles Pier, and they have, or have had, three stations there. I am not sure if this is the oldest one, but it appears to still be in use, there was an inshore lifeboat in it when I passed.
Number two is on a side branch of the pier, and I don`t think it is now used -
Perhaps I should say that it doesn`t appear to be used by humans - it is well used by birds - some ledges have been installed along the side of the building, and they were crammed with birds - I don`t think I am going to try to identify what species they are, I would probably get it wrong - but I can say that they were extremely noisy !
Lifeboat station number three is probably the most striking thing about the whole pier - it is new and was built to house a Tamar class lifeboat.
Quite apart from the building, the ramp down to the sea is quite a bit of engineering -
At first sight it seems a bit odd to build a new lifeboat station at the end of a privately owned pier that is well over a 100 years old, and is in serious need of repairs.
Maybe the sea conditions and very big tidal ranges around Mumbles Head require that the lifeboat station needs to be where it is - maybe there were plans to rebuild the pier - I don`t know.
It appears that the owners of the pier have said that they can`t afford to repair the pier unless they get planning permission to build a hotel / apartments / flats or whatever around Mumbles Head, so they can sell off the land at a big price as a development site.
The arguments still rumble on, and although they were first given planning approval four years ago, nothing has happened.
There also seems to be a confusion factor in that part of the land required for the development is owned by Swansea council, and not by the owners of the pier.
Now that it is there, I guess that for the pier owners it is a considerable bonus having the RNLI station at the end of the pier, as it considerably increases the pressure on the local authority for the pier owners to get planning permission and planning permission extensions, so they can make a profit out of the development, and thus pay for the repairs to the pier.
I hope it doesn`t all go pear shaped for the lifeboat station.
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