PGW(Gm)48(SWA)

Cwmdonkin Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Uplands  

263791  

193243  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1874  

Cwmdonkin Park is registered as a well-preserved Victorian urban public park retaining much of its original layout. It also has historical associations with Dylan Thomas. The park is medium-sized (13 acres), constructed on land which was then on the western edge of Swansea but now situated in a residential area, to the west of the city centre. It is elongated east-west and lies on a south-facing slope, the northern end steeply sloping down to a more level central area. Both layout and planting were informal in character, with areas of ornamental tree and shrub planting, open lawns, and sports facilities - tennis courts, pavilion and bowling green. The park was laid out in 1874 on land bought from Mr James Walter. Its layout is shown on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map and most of the original paths survive today, although their surfaces have mostly been replaced by tarmac. A reservoir in the south-east corner treated as an ornamental feature with a path running all the way around it, has since been filled in to form a play area. Informal planting led to boundary tree and shrub belts and borders, an area of woodland in the centre of the south side, and the beginnings of the wooded bank along the north side. The tennis courts, pavilion, bandstand and bowling green were later additions, the bowling green being built in 1908. The octagonal bandstand, now gone, stood in a lawn with a gravel path around it. The narrow winding paths at the west end of the park are shown on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map, but the wall and archway were subsequent additions as they are not shown. The park was much loved by the poet Dylan Thomas, whose poem ‘The hunchback in the park’ was written about Cwmdonkin. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)48(SWA). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, XXiii.8 (1899)