Mumbles coastguard station is located on The Tutt, Mumbles. It is run by a team of volunteers. Pre 1950s the coastguard station is evident on the Ordnance Survey County Series mapping (3rd edition, Glamorgan) of 1938-51. In 2011 it was announced the coastguard station would close in the near future.

Photographed during aerial reconnaissance by RCHAMW on 4th March 2008.
L. Osborne, 15th June 2012.

The Swansea Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre was built as a coordination centre for search and rescue by the Property Services Agency (PSA), and controlled a sea area (covering 600 miles) from the Scottish border (at Solway Firth) to Cornwall (Boscastle). It was assisted by four sub-centres: Hartland, Swansea, Milford Haven and Holyhead, with another planned to be opened at Crosby (in 1982). The new centre was officially opened on 9 December 1982 by then Prince Charles who had served as an auxiliary coastguard while at Gordonstoun and held the title of Honorary Commodore of HM Coastguard. At the opening, Prince Charles unveiled a commemorative plaque made of slate quarried at Penyrorsedd in the Nantlle Valley. Charles was hosted by the regional controller at the time, Wulfrunian Dick Richards.

The first coastguard lookout was built on Mumbles Hill in the mid-19th century: a ‘Coastguard Signal Station’ is recorded on Mumbles Hill in the 1921 Ordnance Survey map to the north of the existing site, then a ‘Coastguard Station’ is recorded on Tutt Head on the 1951 Revised Edition OS map – this shows a collection of structures, with ‘Bracelet Camp’ nearby (labelled ‘Surf House’ on the 1971 OS map).

Initial designs were drawn up for the station by the PSA’s Directorate of Civil Accommodation, then the designs were developed by the Riches and Blythin Partnership, who supervised its construction. PSA provided the engineering design and quantity surveying services. The building cost £600,000 to build. The PSA was established in 1972 within the Department of the Environment to provide and maintain government property. It had its antecedents in the Ministry of Works and earlier departments dating back to the Office of Works.

The building was designed to fit comfortably within the landscape – this is an exceptional landscape, forming part of the Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The building is low-lying with a horizontal emphasis, appearing to hunker down on the hillside. It is built from a concrete substructure, faced with brown brickwork, with timber windows, and a lead-covered mansard roof. These finishing materials were chosen to blend the structure with the weathered rock and windswept vegetation. A walkway with a balustrade extends around the building.

The windows, which are arranged in a continuous strip to uninterrupted views out, are neatly tucked beneath the roof’s eaves. A lookout is built into the building’s sea-facing elevation – this projects forwards and is fitted with angled windows, providing clear views out across the sea.

A key space within the interiors was the operations room. An article in the Wolverhampton Express and Star (8 December 1982) reported that “In the operations room at the centre the duty staff work from consoles which are linked to the public telephone system, including emergency 999 terminals, but also extensive radio facilities – particularly the marine VHF radio frequencies which are continuously monitored by aerials at Tutt Head, on the Severn Bridge towers and at Rhoose Airport.”

The furniture, furnishings and floor coverings were provided by PSA Supplies, and communications equipment was provided by the Civil Aviation Authority. It closed as a rescue centre in 2015 as part of a shake-up in the national rescue network, but the building continued in use for administration and training. It was put on the market in 2014 - sales photographs show an original piece of equipment within the ceiling of the lookout.

S Fielding RCAHMW January 2025

Refs:

‘Swansea Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre’, Construction, no.41, 1982/1983, p.21

Gerry Anderson, ‘Why sunshine is bad news for coastguards’, Wolverhampton Express and Star (8 December 1982).

Ivor Wynne Jones, ‘Back-up boost for sea search’, Liverpool Daily Post (9 December 1982).

Original plans from the Swansea archives

Site Record

Swansea Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (Mumbles Coastguard Station), Tutt's Head