The History of the Mulberry Harbours and Swansea’s Remarkable Connection

Mulberry Harbour

The Mulberry Harbours were among the most extraordinary engineering achievements of the Second World War, conceived in secrecy and constructed on a scale never before attempted. These temporary artificial ports enabled the Allies to land and sustain vast quantities of troops, vehicles, fuel and supplies on the Normandy coast after D‑Day, 6 June 1944. Although most closely associated with the beaches of France, the story also reaches Wales—and particularly Swansea—through engineering innovation, wartime service, civic ambition and public remembrance. Swansea’s link to this logistical triumph is richer and more personal than many realise.

Why the Mulberry Harbours Were Needed

The success of the Allied invasion depended on the rapid movement of men and materiel from Britain to France. Capturing a major French port immediately after the landings was judged too dangerous, a lesson reinforced by the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 1942. The solution was revolutionary: Britain would construct portable harbours, tow them across the Channel and assemble them off the invasion beaches. Thousands of workers across Britain contributed to the prefabricated components—massive Phoenix concrete caissons, floating Whale roadways, adjustable pierheads and protective Gooseberry breakwaters formed from scuttled ships. These innovations transformed the invasion’s prospects and reshaped modern military engineering.

Construction and Deployment

Following the landings, the harbour components were towed to Normandy and assembled with remarkable speed. Two harbours were created: Mulberry A at Omaha Beach for American forces, and Mulberry B at Gold Beach near Arromanches for British and Canadian troops. Within days they were operational, landing thousands of tons of supplies daily and ensuring the momentum of the Allied advance. Their success demonstrated the power of engineering to alter the course of a campaign and, ultimately, the war itself.

Welsh Contributions to the Project

Wales played a notable role in the Mulberry story. The engineer Hugh Iorys Hughes contributed ideas that shaped the final design, while Morfa Conwy in North Wales became a major testing ground. More than a thousand workers took part in large‑scale trials of harbour components, refining the structures and techniques that would later prove vital in Normandy. This Welsh involvement placed the nation at the heart of one of the war’s most ambitious engineering endeavours.

South Wales Evening Post

A Swansea Family Connection: Major Rowly Gwynne Morgan Matthews

One of Swansea’s most poignant links to the Mulberry Harbours emerged decades after the war. In 1993, the South Wales Evening Post published an obituary for Mrs Josephine Thomas of Langland—magistrate, former High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire and wartime member of both the British Red Cross and the Women’s Royal Naval Service, personally commended by Sir Winston Churchill. The obituary revealed that her brother, Major Rowly Gwynne Morgan Matthews of the Royal Engineers, had been one of the designers of the Mulberry Harbours.

1921 Census

The 1921 Census places the Matthews family at 24 Windsor Terrace, Swansea, where Rowly’s father, Thomas Morgan Matthews, worked as an engineer and surveyor. It is easy to imagine how such a household might have nurtured Rowly’s interest in engineering, ultimately leading him to contribute to one of the most daring military projects of the war.

South Wales Evening Post

Herald of Wales

This portrait was deepened by contemporary wartime reporting. On 26 June 1944, the South Wales Evening Post announced that “Major G. Rowley Matthews, Royal Engineers, of Swansea, has died in a military hospital from severe head injuries sustained during the early stages of the fighting in Normandy.” The article recorded that he was 32 years old, the eldest son of Mr Richard Matthews, a civil and mining engineer, and Mrs Matthews of Glanmor Road, Swansea. Educated at Taunton School, he trained with the Great Western Railway before becoming an assistant civil engineer at Swansea Docks. At the outbreak of war he was serving in the Supplementary Reserve, saw active service in France until the evacuation at Dunkirk, and later continued his military career with the Royal Engineers, contributing his engineering expertise to the war effort. The newspaper emphasised that he had been associated with the development of the Mulberry Harbours, the very system that proved crucial to the Allied invasion.

Rowly Gwynne Morgan Matthews Oystermouth Cemetery credit - findagrave

A further tribute followed days later. On 1 July 1944, the Herald of Wales reported that the funeral of Major G. M. Matthews had taken place with full military honours at Oystermouth Cemetery. A military bearer party and a bugler from the Royal Artillery participated in the service, which was conducted at St James’s Church, Uplands. The funeral drew a large gathering of relatives, friends, military colleagues and civic representatives, including members of Swansea’s engineering community and organisations with which Major Matthews had been associated. Family mourners included his brother, Captain Gerald Matthews, R.E., recently returned from overseas service, together with his sisters and other close relatives. Numerous wreaths and floral tributes were sent as expressions of sympathy and respect. The scale of attendance reflected the high regard in which Major Matthews was held, both as a professional engineer and as a serving officer whose life was cut short during the liberation of Europe.

Major Matthews’ grave remains a quiet reminder of Swansea’s personal link to this remarkable engineering achievement. Through him, the city can claim a direct connection to one of the defining innovations of the twentieth century.

You can explore more about Major Matthews or the Royal Engineers if you wish.

South Wales Evening Post

Swansea’s Wider Wartime Connection

Although not a principal construction site for Mulberry components, Swansea Docks played a vital role in Britain’s wartime logistics network. Coal, steel and engineering products passed through the port to support the wider war effort, including the operations that sustained Operation Overlord. Many local servicemen—soldiers, sailors, merchant seamen and dock workers—also took part in the Normandy campaign. Even linguistically, Wales offers a small echo of the Mulberry story: the Welsh word morfa, meaning a coastal marsh, appears both in Morfa Conwy, where the prototypes were tested, and in Swansea’s own Morfa district.

Swansea’s Bid for a Mulberry Harbour

In April 1945, the South Wales Evening Post reported that Swansea’s Highways Committee was exploring whether the town could acquire a section of the remaining Mulberry structures. Councillor A. Willis Pile suggested that a floating dock section could provide shelter for fishing vessels operating from Mumbles, offering an imaginative post‑war reuse of wartime engineering. Although the proposal came to nothing, it demonstrates the high regard in which the Mulberry structures were held in the immediate post‑war years.

The Mulberry Harbour Comes to Swansea

Public interest remained strong. In October 1945, the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery hosted the exhibition “Mulberry Exhibition – The Harbour We Took to France”, giving Swansea residents the chance to learn about the conception, construction and operation of the harbours. For families whose relatives had served in the armed forces, the merchant navy or wartime industries, the exhibition offered a tangible link to the events of 1944 and to the ingenuity that helped secure victory.

Storm Damage and Success

On 19 June 1944, a violent storm struck the Normandy coast. Mulberry A was destroyed and abandoned, but Mulberry B survived, repaired with salvaged components from its American counterpart. Renamed “Port Winston”, it went on to handle approximately 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicles and more than four million tons of supplies. Its endurance ensured the continued flow of men and materiel into France and contributed decisively to the liberation of Western Europe.

Mulberry Harbour - today
Arromanches, France

Legacy

Today, the remains of Mulberry B still lie off Arromanches, their massive concrete forms visible at low tide. They stand as enduring monuments to innovation, determination and the power of engineering to shape history. For Swansea, the story resonates deeply: through wartime industry, through the service and sacrifice of Major Rowly Gwynne Morgan Matthews, through post‑war civic ambition and through the 1945 exhibition that brought the achievement home, the city retains a meaningful connection to one of the greatest engineering triumphs of the Second World War.