Here’s some information about some places of interest in and around the park. Some of these reflect Swansea’s industrial, commercial and cultural history.
The Bandstand. Bandstands were popular features of Victorian and Edwardian parks. Cwmdonkin’s bandstand stood between what is now a picnic area and the water garden. It was erected in the late 1880s. It had a thatched roof which was later replaced with tin. The police band held regular concerts there. The bandstand was removed in 1964.
The Dylan Thomas Memorial Stone. Ten years after his death money was provided by two American women to fund a memorial to the poet. The memorial is of pennant sandstone from Cwmrhydyceirw quarry in Morriston. Ron Cour, a schoolboy contemporary of Dylan and later a lecturer at Swansea Art College engraved lines from Fernhill. It was installed in November 1963. Over the years the stone became worn and then obscured by foliage. In 2018 The Friends of Cwmdonkin arranged for the stone to be uncovered, cleaned and repointed. On the 65th anniversary of the poet’s death, Glenys Cour, the respected artist and widow of the sculptor, unveiled the restored stone. The bulk of the funding for this project was provided by four local councillors with a contribution coming from the Dylan Thomas Society.
Restored Dylan Thomas memorial unveiled in Swansea – BBC News
The Water Fountain. The cast iron fountain was made at MacFarlane’s Saracen Foundry in Glasgow, It originally has one or two metal cups hanging on chains from the top. Dylan Thomas mentions the fountain in his poem The Hunchback in the Park. He describes ‘the solitary mister’ who drank from the chained cup ‘that the children filled with gravel’.
The Dylan Thomas Memorial Shelter. The shelter immediately above the old reservoir site was donated by Oakleigh House School in 1977.
Uplands House. A fine late Georgian/Regency house on the east side of the park, built by the Lucas family from Gower. In 1928 the house became private school, Clevedon College. This closed in 1970 and the building knocked down in the 1980s. Some of the original garden walls still form part of the park’s boundary.
Penlan House. (Now Oakleigh House School). This was the residence of James Walter, member of a wealthy and successful commercial family in Swansea. From the late 18th century they had been involved in banking, coal mining and the corn and butter trade. The family was active in purchasing land in the Mount Pleasant and Uplands area for housing development (hence Walter Road!) The school has occupied the house since 1919.
Cwmdonkin Convalescent Home. The remarkable Amy Dillwyn (the cigar smoking, novelist and successful industrialist member of the Dillwyn Llewellyn family) was active on Swansea’s Hospital Management Committee, becoming its president in 1901. She took the initiative in establishing a convalescent home. Through her contacts she raised £15,000 and the home opened in 1903. It was designed by the local noted architect, Glendinning Moxham (who designed the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery) The home was used for nearly 80 years before the land was sold off for development.
Notts Gardens. Today this cul-de-sac opposite the Penlan Crescent entrance to the park, seems a typical housing development of the 1960s or 70s. It had been the site of gardens belonging to a Mr Nott. It was developed as a market garden by William John Nott who, when he was a boy, had moved with his family from Devon in 1852. Much of the south facing land between Townhill and Uplands/Ffynnone was used for allotments and market gardens until well into the 20th century.
The Shooting Range. The Ordnance Survey map of 1880 shows that a shooting range extended several hundred yards above and roughly parallel with Terrace Road. Platforms and targets were arranged at various distances ending near Notts Gardens. The local Volunteer Regiment used the range for practice and competitions were held. Letters to The Cambrian newspaper complain of the noise from the range!
Cwmdonkin Shelter for Fallen Women. In the 1880s there was a campaign to improve the lot of women (and girls) who were considered to be in ‘moral danger’. (Not surprisingly no such equivalent for men has been identified.) In 1888 a shelter was established in one of the houses on Penlan Crescent which borders the park. Education, opportunities for domestic service and advice on emigration were offered. In 1907 the shelter moved to another location in Heathfield but retained its Cwmdonkin tag until it closed in the early 1970s.
Dylan Thomas’s House is at 5 Cwmdonkin Terrace. The poet was born here and lived with his parents until he was 17 when he went to London. The house has been refurbished in period style and is open to the public by appointment. Details of conducted visits and events are on their website.
Kingsley Amis’s House. The English writer and critic taught at Swansea University for 12 years. During this time he wrote two of his most successful novels, Lucky Jim and That Uncertain Feeling (filmed in Swansea as Only Two Can Play). A blue plaque on the wall of 24 The Grove shows that Amis lived there from 1951 to 1956.
BBC Recording Studio. During the Second World War the BBC moved its studio from Alexandra Road to this small building (now 5 The Grove but originally built as a chapel). It was from here that Dylan Thomas made a number of broadcasts. Perhaps the best known of these took place after the war when Dylan recorded a programme called Swansea and the Arts. The other contributors were Vernon Watkins-poet, Alfred Janes-painter, Daniel Jones-composer and John Prichard-novelist. The 30 minute programme was broadcast on October 24th 1949.