Swansea Wales communities - Townhill locator

Townhill is the name of a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

, a residential district and a

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, t ...

(civil parish) and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of 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 C ...

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 ...

, UK. It had a population of 8,696 in 2011.

History

The Garden City style layout of Townhill was overseen by Ernest Morgan, the Swansea city architect, in the early 1920s.

Townhill Baptist Church

Townhill Baptist Church was formed on the hill in the late 1920s and the church still meets today on Sunday mornings and evenings in the original building on Powys Avenue.

Swansea St Nicholas on the Hill and St Jude, Townhill

St Nicholas on the Hill, the parish church for Townhill and

Mayhill Mayhill is a district of Swansea, Wales, at the top of a steep hill of the same name just north west of the city centre, partly separated from Townhill to the west. Mayhill Garden City started in 1914 as an experimental row of six houses that ...

, is located on the corner of Dyfed Avenue and Powys Avenue. With the closure of St Jude in Mount Pleasant in 2015, the two parishes were merged into The Benefice of Swansea St Nicholas on the Hill and St Jude.

Townhill district

The suburb of Townhill falls within the Townhill ward. The district of Townhill consists of a council estate and some private housing spread over a steep hill of the same name bordering

and visible from the Swansea city centre. The area overlooks Swansea city centre, Swansea Docks and

Swansea Bay Swansea Bay ( cy, Bae Abertawe) is a bay on the southern coast of Wales. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan, River Kenfig and Clyne River flow into the bay. Swansea Bay and the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel experience a large tid ...

to the south; and

Cockett Cockett ( cy, Y Cocyd) is a district and community in Swansea, Wales falling within Cockett ward. It is located about north-west of Swansea city centre. It includes the eastern half of Gowerton. Cockett, in common with much of western Swans ...

, Gendros and Cwmbwrla to the north. Local amenities at the top of the hill include a public library, the Townhill Community primary school, a nursery school and some playing fields.

Swansea Metropolitan University , students = 5,765 , undergrad = 4,520 , postgrad = 1,075 , other = 175 FE , city = Swansea , country = Wales, UK , campus = Urban , address = Mount PleasantSwansea SA1 6ED , we ...

had a campus to the west. In 2018 the university opened a new £350 million campus at the

SA1 Swansea Waterfront SA1 Swansea Waterfront (''colloquially'': SA1) is the marketing name given to the brownfield development area located in northern part of Swansea Docks. The area is located directly to the southeast of Swansea city centre. It is bordered by ...

, housing Yr Athrofa: the Institute of Education, and the Faculty of Architecture, Computing and Engineering. Staff and students from the city centre Townhill and Mount Pleasant campuses relocated to SA1, with Townhill closing at the end of the 2017–18 academic year although the university has retained a presence at Mount Pleasant. Townhill is a

Communities First Communities First was a Welsh Government programme aimed at reducing poverty. The programme was community focused and supported the most disadvantaged people in the most deprived areas of Wales with the aim of contributing to alleviating persisten ...

area.

Townhill landform

Backing Swansea city centre to the north is a large slab of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

called Townhill. The summit of Townhill is approximately 175m above sea leve

At the top of hill lies the housing estate of Townhill which falls away to the north west of the hill. The Mayhill district lies on the northeast face of the hill. The southeastern face of the hill is the steepest and is covered by the district of Mount Pleasant, Swansea, Mount Pleasant. The

Uplands Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

district occupies the southwestern face of the hill which slopes gently downwards towards Singleton Park.

Rosehill Quarry Community Park

The hill is rounded by a band of rock which is too steep to develop on and is recognised by the

City and County of Swansea council , coa_pic = , coa_res = , coa_alt = , logo_pic = Swansea City Council Logo.svg , logo_res = , logo_alt = , house_type = Unitary authority , jurisdiction = , foundation = 1 April 1996 , preceded_by = West Glamorgan County CouncilSw ...

as a

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

. In this band, on the south side of the hill is the designated Rosehill Quarry Community Park. Rosehill Quarry is a semi-natural

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces ar ...

which is not formally cultivated in its entirety. Wildlife areas include a stream, waterfall and several ponds. There are over one hundred species of plants including oak, royal fern and rowan trees. Around thirty species of birds can be found in the park, including sparrowhawk,

kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...

, and tawny owl. Additionally, there are

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

s, dragonfiles and

damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings alo ...

including the

blue-tailed damselfly The blue-tailed damselfly or common bluetail (''Ischnura elegans'') is a damselfly, belonging to the family Coenagrionidae The insect family Coenagrionidae is placed in the order Odonata and the suborder Zygoptera. The Zygoptera are the damse ...

, which is used as the quarry's symbol. Recreational facilities in the park include

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

tables, play equipment, and a

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

bike track. The Rosehill Quarry six-acre site was

quarried A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

for stone for house-building from the 1840s, creating the only flat ground in the area. The area stood derelict for some time until the early 20th century when the area was used as a tennis court which later fell into disuse. In the 1970s,

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

was granted for a block of flats, which never got built. In the 1970s and 1980s, local residents' initiatives persuaded the local council to buy the land and designate it as a public open space in the Local Plan. The Rosehill Quarry Group was formed, with support from the council, to develop and maintain the quarry as the first community park in Swansea.

References

Rosehill QuarryTownhill Baptist Church
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