The Greeks have their tales of Atlantis, and even within the UK, there’s the story of Cantre’r Gwaelod in Cardiff Bay. Both legends speak of cities and civilisations swallowed by the sea, but for those residing in South Wales, there’s a little-known narrative much closer to home.
The Bristol Channel was once an expansive, forested land, with semi-fossilised ancient tree stumps occasionally exposed at the lowest tides. The earliest settlers inhabited lands 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, and 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.
Proof of the Green Grounds’ existence emerged during an 1890s court case when Sir John Morris started 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.”
For generations, children in Mumbles were frightened with the phrase ‘you can hear them out on the Green Grounds’.
The memory of the Green Grounds persists in other parts of Swansea Bay. Near the entrance of Swansea docks harbour, a buoy known as the Swigg buoy stands, with ‘Swigg’ referring to South West Inner Green Grounds.
A local bar in the city’s marina claims that this buoy serves as a poignant reminder of the farm, forests and village of ‘Green Grounds’ that were tragically washed away. This buoy is immortalised in a mural at the bar, crafted by artist George Little.
In 2019, Ruth Clement from Swigg bar revealed: “The mural was the last painting George did before he passed away, but it gets people talking.
“People ask us the story behind it and I think they appreciate the story of Green Grounds, and I hope we are doing our little bit for keeping the history of the area alive”.
