Saturday, October 04, 2025
Swansea's forgotten village
They remind us that the Bristol Channel was once an expansive, forested land, with semi-fossilised ancient tree stumps occasionally exposed at the lowest tides until it was drowned by the melting of ice-age glaciers millennia ago:
However, evidence suggests that land existed beyond Mumbles Head as recently as four centuries ago. Medieval accounts tell of a bridle path from Penrice Castle to Margam Abbey that led travellers far past the headland of Mumbles.
It's believed that Grove Island, or Green Grounds as it was also known, may have been obliterated by the colossal flood which claimed two thousand lives one January morning in 1607. Tales of this great flood describe a savage wave, over seven metres high, surging up the River Severn and inundating the lowland areas of south Wales, along with Gloucestershire, Somerset and north Devon.
Descriptions in 17th century pamphlets depict the event with 'huge and mighty hills of water', with water moving 'faster than a greyhound can run'. Some now argue that this wave was in fact Britain's first recorded tsunami, while others maintain it was actually a potent storm surge - a mix of high tides and winds.
The origins of the great flood were explored in a book about the disaster, published six years ago.
Evidence of the Green Grounds' existence came to light during an 1890s court case when Sir John Morris began quarrying Mumbles Hill and was subsequently presented with a bill for way leave by two sisters who claimed ownership of all the land from All Saints Church to the headland.
The Miss Angels, as the sisters were known, won their legal battle after producing an old map that clearly showed a farmhouse on Green Grounds out in the bay, and a large meadow crossed by a stile.
An Antiquarian Survey of east Gower, published in 1899, also mentions the area, recounting how 'a slab of rock was dragged up on the Green Grounds bearing marks of a chisel and cement.
"It is supposed to have come from the old house of the Angels, said to have existed on these lands."
Near the entrance of the harbour at Swansea docks, there's a buoy known as a Swigg buoy, with the first word referring to South West Inner Green Grounds.
According to a bar in the city's marina, this buoy serves as a reminder of the farm, forests and village of 'Green Grounds' that were washed away.
This buoy is featured in a mural at the bar, painted by artist George Little.
