Landore () is a district and
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 ...
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 ...
. The district falls in the
Landore council ward. A mainly residential area, it is located about 2.5 miles north of
Swansea city centre. 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 players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
stadium, the
Landore Bowls Stadium 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 History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
's
Landore Depot is used for servicing
Inter City 125 passenger trains. Landore once had a railway station, a stop on the
South Wales Railway located near the Swansea Loop East Junction. The
Landore Viaduct 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 commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...
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 previously in Swansea, it is now part of the First Wales and West region which also covers Bristol, Bath, Somerset, Bath and ...
as route 501, uses a
bus lane
A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst ...
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, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...
outdoor fields.
Industrial heritage
The first
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) 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 pinkish-orang ...
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.
autobiography
Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens FRS FRSA, anglicised to Charles William Sie ...
perfected the
open hearth furnace
An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial Industrial furnace, furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to Steelmaking, produce steel. Because steel is difficult to ma ...
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 de ...
''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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
s from its industrial past. There is a campaign to make the remaining historical buildings in the
Lower Swansea valley, including Landore, a
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
.
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:
See also
* George Prowse, Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
recipient from Landore
* Lower Swansea valley
References
External links
Wales News: World bowls along to Swansea
{{Swansea
Districts of Swansea
Communities in Swansea