PGW(Gm)46(SWA)

Brynmill Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Swansea  

Uplands  

263445  

192558  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Public park  

1872  

Registered as a good example of a small but well preserved Victorian urban public park dominated by an attractive tree-fringed lake. Brynmill Park lies on a south-facing slope in central Swansea, to the west of the city centre and immediately east of Singleton Park, from which it is divided by Brynmill Lane. The park was opened as a public amenity in 1872, created from the Brynmill Reservoir Property of the Swansea Water Works. By 1878 early mapping shows the area landscaped with walks and planting, the layout being more or less as it is now. There was no aviary or bowling green at this stage and the reservoir was surrounded by fields with the gardens of Parc-wern to the north-west and Singleton Park to the west. By 1913 (second edition Ordnance Survey map) the area had officially been named Brynmill Park and had acquired a bowling green (added in 1907 and the first in Swansea) with pavilion, an aviary, and a gardener’s house. The park is triangular in shape and centred on the lake, the former reservoir, which is home to a range of wildfowl. The park is bounded by iron railings on all but the west side, where there is a stone wall. There are four entrances, in the south, east and west corners and towards the east end of the north side. The park is laid out informally, dominated by the lake, with winding tarmac paths, lawns, planting beds, ornamental trees and shrubs. In 2006, Brynmill Park was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for its restoration, which included a new community and educational building, the Discovery Centre. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)46(SWA). Ordnance Survey second edition 25-inch map of Glamorgan, sheet XXIII.9(1899)