Townhill, Swansea
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Townhill is a residential district,
community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
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 t ...
in
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. It is named after a local hill.


History

In medieval Swansea Townhill was an area of woodland and
heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
designated as
common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...
. It was commonly referred to as “the mountain” and in Welsh as Graig Llwyd. The name Town Hill came into common use in the mid-18th century. After the 1762
Enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
Act the area was, apart from remnants of the (still surviving) heathland, transformed into farmland. The origins of Townhill as a housing estate lie in the efforts of
Swansea County Borough Council Swansea County Borough Council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections were held in November 1889. The number of electoral wards had been increased, from four to ten, namely Alexandra, Brynmelin, Castle, E ...
at the turn of the 20th century to remedy the lack of good quality affordable housing for working class families. The Council established a Housing Department in 1902 and an Estates Department in 1904. Influenced by the Garden City housing reform movement of the time, in 1910 the Council organised an exhibition of model working class houses which led to the construction of experimental blocks of newly designed council houses in neighbouring
Mayhill Mayhill is a district of Swansea, Wales, situated on historic Townhill, Swansea#Townhill landform, Townhill, a 175m high landform north west of the city centre, the urban geography of which is divided between the Townhill, Swansea, Townhill distr ...
. The success and cost-effectiveness of this project encouraged the Council to commission plans for the design of a new estate on Townhill and by 1913 plans for the construction of 500 houses were in place. The project was led by the Borough Architect Ernest Morgan who engaged as a consultant
Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, Yor ...
, the leading advocate of the
Garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...
. Due to the outbreak of the First World War building work was delayed until the 1920s. The new post-war government’s “ homes fit for heroes” initiative provided funding through the 1919 Housing Act which Swansea Council was readily able to access with its pre-war plans already in place. During the interwar period the Townhill estate along with the neighbouring Mayhill development were completed in a programme of council house provision in Swansea in which 4000 properties were constructed. The new streets in the Townhill and Mayhill developments were named after significant figures in Welsh history and culture. Townhill Community School, designed by Ernest Morgan, was built in 1924. In 1912 the Swansea Training College for teachers moved from the city centre to a new building on the western slopes of Townhill. It subsequently became part of the West Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education (from 1976 to 1992) and then the Swansea Institute (from 1992 to 2008) Thereafter it became a campus of
Swansea Metropolitan University Swansea Metropolitan University () is a former university based in Swansea, Wales, UK. The university merged with, and became a constituent campus of, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David on 1 August 2013. Employing more than 500 staff ...
which later merged with the
University of Wales Trinity Saint David The University of Wales Trinity Saint David () is a public university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, and learning centres in Cardiff, and Birmingham. The university ...
. The campus was closed in 2018 and the site allocated for a housing development in which the original features of the Edwardian building were to be preserved.


Townhill district

The suburb of Townhill falls within the Townhill electoral ward. It had a population of 8,696 in 2011. The district of Townhill consists of a council estate and some private housing spread over a steep hill of the same name bordering
Mayhill Mayhill is a district of Swansea, Wales, situated on historic Townhill, Swansea#Townhill landform, Townhill, a 175m high landform north west of the city centre, the urban geography of which is divided between the Townhill, Swansea, Townhill distr ...
to the east and visible from the Swansea city centre. The area overlooks Swansea city centre,
Swansea Docks Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales, which are immediately south-east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century, the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe Val ...
and
Swansea Bay Swansea Bay () 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 tidal range. The sh ...
to the south; and
Cockett Cockett () 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 Swansea, was the ...
,
Gendros Gendros is a suburban district of the City and County of Swansea, Wales falling within the Cockett ward. Gendros approximates to the settlement northwest of Carmarthen Road (A483 road) between Cwmdu and Penlan. Other areas surrounding Gendros ...
and
Cwmbwrla is a residential area and community of Swansea in Wales, within the Cwmbwrla ward of the city. Located on rising ground about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commer ...
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. Townhill is a
Communities First Communities First was a Government of Wales, 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 t ...
area.


Townhill Churches

Townhill Baptist Church was formed in the late 1920s and the church still meets today on Sunday mornings and evenings in the original building on Powys Avenue. St Nicholas on the Hill, the parish church for Townhill and Mayhill, 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 landform

Backing Swansea city centre to the north is a large slab of
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
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. The Uplands, Swansea, Uplands district occupies the southwestern face of the hill which slopes gently downwards towards
Singleton Park Singleton Park () is the largest urban park in the city of Swansea. It is located in Sketty and is listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. The park encompasses 250 acres. An ornamental ga ...
.


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 as a
wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, also known as a habitat corridor, or green corridor, is a designated area habitat (ecology), that connects wildlife populations that have been separated by human activities or structures, such as development, roads, or land ...
. 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 spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...
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 An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
, royal fern and
rowan tree The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...
s. Around thirty species of birds can be found in the park, including
sparrowhawk Sparrowhawk (sometimes sparrow hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the subfamily Accipitrinae The Accipitrinae are the Family (biology), subfamily of the Accipitridae often known as the "true" hawks. The subfamily contains 73 s ...
,
kestrel The term kestrel (from , 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 behaviour which is to hover ...
, and
tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized owl in the family Strigidae. It is commonly found in woodlands across Europe, as well as western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. The tawny owl' ...
. Additionally, there are
frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
s,
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, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...
including the
blue-tailed damselfly The blue-tailed damselfly or common bluetail (''Ischnura elegans'') is a damselfly, belonging to the family Coenagrionidae. Subspecies and varieties Subspecies and varieties include: *''Ischnura elegans ebneri'' Schmidt, 1938 *''Ischnura elegan ...
, which is used as the quarry's symbol. Recreational facilities in the park include
picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''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 su ...
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 ea ...
bike track. The Rosehill Quarry six-acre site was
quarried A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
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 building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...
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 A development plan sets out a local authority's policies and proposals for land use in their area. The term is usually used Town and country planning in the United Kingdom, in the United Kingdom. A local plan is one type of development plan. The d ...
. 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

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