OYSTERMOUTH, a parish, in the union and hundred of SWANSEA, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (S. W.) from
Swansea; containing 1477 inhabitants. This place was anciently 279 OYST called by the Welsh Caer Tawy, and probably
derived that name from the erection of a castle, the foundation of which is by some historians ascribed to Henry de
Beaumont, .who wrested from Caradoc ab Iestyn extensive territories in the province of Gower, for the security of which he
built several castles; and by others to 'Richard de Granville, one of the Norman knights who attended Robert Fitz-Hamon,
and who materially contributed to his conquest of Glamorgan. The parish, situated in the peninsula of Gower, and bounded
on the east by the bay of Swansea, comprises a very large portion of amble and pasture, inclosed and in good cultivation,
and a tract of common, which is uninclosed and open to the proprietors and tenants of land. The village is much resorted
to by visiters during the summer; but, from its peculiar situation under a high limestone rock, which deprives it of the
sun for several months in the winter, is a very dreary residence during that season. The surrounding scenery, though
rather bold and striking, has little either of a picturesque or pleasing character; but the high grounds command noble
views over the bays of Swansea and Carmarthen, the peninsula of Gower, which separates them, and the Bristol Channel.
Woodlands Castle, the seat of the late General Warde, is a handsome modern mansion, situated about a mile and a half to
the north of Oystermouth Castle. There are some quarries of limestone of an excellent quality, which, from its being
susceptible of a fine polish, is substituted for marble in the manufacture of mantel-pieces, monumental tablets, and other
articles: a considerable number of the poorer inhabitants find employment in these quarries, which are wrought upon an
extensive scale, and in the mills that have been erected for sawing and polishing the blocks of stone, which are here
manufactured into the various articles above noticed. In working the quarries it has been stated that human bones of a
large size have been often discovered. A tram-road, that has been constructed from this place to Swansea, along the sea-
coast, affords facility of convelaing the limestone from the quarries, and of bringing coal and manure. The oyster fishery
is carried on during the season to a considerable extent, chiefly for the supply of the Bristol market; and salmon are
frequently procured from the weirs on the shores of Swansea bay. The Mumbles Point, an insulated rock at high water, forms
the western extremity of Swansea bay; and the trustees of the harbour have erected a lighthouse upon it, which has been
productive of the greatest benefit to vessels navigating this coast, and is supported by a small toll payable by each
vessel passing within a certain distance of it. The Mumbles Roads provide excellent shelter, with good anchorage, for
ships navigating the channel, which frequently put in here during the prevalence of westerly gales, to the number,
occasionally, of two hundred sail. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £1000
parliamentary grant; net income, £85; patron and impropriator, Colonel Perrott. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a
neat and appropriate edifice, though not remarkable for any architectural details of importance, and contains a monument
to the memory of Thomas Bowdler, Esq., of Rhydings, in this county, editor of the Family Shakseeare, and of a purified
edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. There are places of worship for Independents, and Calvinistic
and Wesleyan Methodists. A National school, consisting of about 30 children, is maintained by annual subscriptions of a
guinea, for which sum each donor recommends two children; and there are a day school, in which about 20 children, chiefly
boys, are instructed at their parents' expense; and two Sunday schools, in one of which, superintended by the incumbent,
are from 60 to 70 males and females, and in the other, supported by the minister of the Independents' chapel, are 107.
Mrs. Benbow bequeathed a rent-charge of £2 per annum to the poor, to be distributed in bread on Easter and Christmas days;
but the late Rev. Thomas Fryer, who possessed a moiety of the lands so charged, made a will in 1834, empowering his
executor to transfer to the curate £100 three per cent. consols., to relieve the property, and the dividend to be expended
in bread, according to the will of the original donor; and the poor also receive benefit from two other gifts of an
ancient date, amounting to £4, the interest of which is paid out of the parish rates. Upon the summit of a knoll,
surrounded by broken cliffs, a little to the north-westward of the church, and commanding a fine marine prospect, are the
remains of the castle, consisting principally of the shell, which is nearly entire: the walls are finely mantled with
ivy, and in such good preservation, that the plan of several of the apartments may be distinctly traced; the prevailing
character of the architecture is the early English style, of which it affords a very good specimen, and the ruins retain
an air of venerable and stately appearance.