Cwmdonkin Park on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Cwmdonkin Park is an urban park situated in the Uplands area of Swansea, 
Poet Dylan Thomas grew up near the park at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive.
The park features heavily in the radio broadcasts, ''Return Journey'' and ''Reminiscences of Childhood'', and the poem, ''The Hunchback in the Park''. A memorial stone with lines from ''Fern Hill'' was placed in the park in 1963.
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 west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. The park has a bandstand, children's play area, water gardens, tennis courts, and a bowling green. The park is listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
History
The use of the land for public recreation originated with the creation of Cwmdonkinreservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
around 1850 by William Henry Smith and the Swansea Waterworks Company. The records of the Borough of Swansea and the Cambrian newspaper detail the somewhat controversial use of public funds to take over and run "the destructive pit at Cwmdonkin, euphemistically called a reservoir".
The first suggestion to landscape the grounds around the reservoir was raised in 1853 but it was not until 1874 that Swansea Council purchased two fields from Mr James Walters for £4,650 to create the park which was opened on 24 July 1874. There was some criticism that the park was in an essentially wealthy, middle-class area of town: this led to the emergence of the "Open Spaces Movement" led by William Thomas of Lan, which campaigned for more parks for deprived working class areas.
Cwmdonkin Reservoir was filled in with rubble in the 1950s and landscaped to become a children's play area.
Dylan Thomas
Poet Dylan Thomas grew up near the park at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive.
The park features heavily in the radio broadcasts, ''Return Journey'' and ''Reminiscences of Childhood'', and the poem, ''The Hunchback in the Park''. A memorial stone with lines from ''Fern Hill'' was placed in the park in 1963.
Refurbishment
On 7 September 2013, after an extensive £1.39m refurbishment, the park reopened in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dylan Thomas's birth. The park is listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.References