Landore ( cy, Glandŵr) is a district and
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The district falls in the
Landore council ward. A mainly residential area, it is located about 2.5 miles north of
Swansea city centre
Swansea city centre in Swansea, Wales, contains the main shopping, leisure and nightlife district in Swansea. The city centre covers much of the Castle ward including the area around Oxford Street, Castle Square, and the Quadrant Shopping Centr ...
. The north-easterly part of Landore is known as
Morfa. There have been a number of new developments in the 21st century, such as the Liberty Stadium, now the
Swansea.com Stadium, and the Morfa Shopping Park, which opened in 2005. It had a population of 6,168 as of the 2011 UK census.
Facilities
A new £1.5m
bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
stadium, the
Landore Bowls Stadium
The Swansea Indoor Bowls Stadium is an indoor bowls stadium based in Plasmarl, Swansea, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and w ...
opened in early 2008 becoming the home of the Swansea Indoor Bowls Club. The venue hosted the World Indoor Singles and Mixed Pairs Championships in April 2008.
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
's
Landore Depot is used for servicing
passenger trains. Landore once had a railway station, a stop on the
South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...
located near the Swansea Loop East Junction. The
Landore Viaduct
The Landore viaduct is a railway viaduct over the Swansea valley and the River Tawe at Landore in south Wales. It provides a link between Swansea city center and the West Wales Line to the South Wales Main Line. The valley crossing provid ...
is a prominent landmark.
Landore has a
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
with 550 spaces. The associated bus service, which is operated by
First Cymru
First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Swansea.
History
In 1987, South Wales Transport was sold during the privatisation of the National Bus Company in a man ...
as route 501, uses a
bus lane
A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway ...
to
the railway station.
In September 2013, the Swansea City Landore Training Academy was opened. The facility cost £6 million and is home to the club's
reserve and academy teams, including an indoor pitch as well as grass and
Artificial turf
Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...
outdoor fields.
Industrial heritage
The first
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
works in the Swansea area was opened in Landore in 1717,
[The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008] and in the 1860s
Carl Wilhelm Siemens
Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman.
Biography
Siemens was born in the village of Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Han ...
perfected the
open hearth furnace
An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to produce steel. Because steel is difficult to manufacture owing to its high melt ...
at a local works.
By 1873 the area had one of the world's largest steelworks,
and industrial pollution in Landore inspired the
doggerel
Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...
''it came to pass in days of yore / the Devil chanced upon Landore. / Quoth he:"by all this fume and stink / I can't be far from home, I think."''
Landore has a number of
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s from its industrial past. There is a campaign to make the remaining historical buildings in the
Lower Swansea valley
The Lower Swansea valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe Isaf) is the lower half of the valley of the River Tawe in south Wales. It runs from approximately the level of Clydach down to Swansea docks, where it opens into Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel. This ...
, including Landore, a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.
Swansea History Web Home Page
/ref>
Grade II listed buildings include:[City and County of Swansea: Listed Building Index](_blank)
*Pier to former Waste Tip Tramroad & adjoining boundary wall, Hafod Copper Works off Neath Road
*Copper Slag Abutment to former Waste Tip Tramroad, Hafod Copper Works off Neath Road
*Hafod Lime Kiln, off Neath Road
*Canteen Building, at former Yorkshire Imperial Metal Works on Neath Road
*Morfa Bridge, off Normandy Road
*Morfa Quay, off Normandy Road
*Laboratory Building at entrance of former Yorkshire Imperial Metal Works on Neath Road
*Vivian Works Engine House at former Yorkshire Imperial Metal Works on Neath Road
*Chimney west of Vivian Works Engine House at former Yorkshire Imperial Metal Works on Neath Road
*Casey's Roofing Centre, formerly Landore Cinema on Neath Road
*Old Siloh Chapel (English) & Sunday School on Siloh Road
*Museum Stores, formerly Morfa Copperworks
*Former Hafod Copper Works, River Quay
*Former Vivian Locomotive Shed
*Boundary Wall at former Hafod Copper Works
Grade II* listed buildings:
*Mushgrove Engine House & adjacent Chimney Stack, at former Yorkshire Imperial Metal Works, Neath Road
*New Siloh Congregational Chapel
The New Siloh Congregational Chapel, also known as the Siloh Welsh Independent Chapel or simply the New Siloh Chapel, is a Grade II* listed chapel building at the top of Siloh Hill in Landore, Swansea, Wales. The prefix 'New' distinguishes it fro ...
& School House on Siloh Road
See also
* George Prowse, Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
recipient from Landore
*Lower Swansea valley
The Lower Swansea valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe Isaf) is the lower half of the valley of the River Tawe in south Wales. It runs from approximately the level of Clydach down to Swansea docks, where it opens into Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel. This ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Wales News: World bowls along to Swansea
Districts of Swansea
Communities in Swansea