Saturday, March 28, 2026
Swansea's Albert Hall
The website Save Britain's Heritage featured the Albert Hall as their building of the month in January 2021. They point out that the building opened in in 1864 as a music hall which hosted speeches by some of the big names in Victorian society including Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and David Lloyd George.
They say that after it ceased use as a music hall in 1922, it served as a cinema and a bingo hall, before finally closing in 2007. It even hosted a showing of Jaws in 1975. At that time, having stood standing empty and deteriorating since 2007, they argued that the hall (pictured below as it was) was in desperate need of restoration and new use.
A good example of repurposing a listed building for modern life.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, March 21, 2026
The tragic link between Mumbles and Chile
On December 8th, 1863, over 3,000 worshippers packed into the church of La Compañía de Jesús in Santiago, Chile, for a religious festival. The church was filled with thousands of candles, oil lamps, and other flammable decorations.
When a ceremonial candles accidentally ignited the church’s ornate decorations, the resulting inferno claimed more than 2,500 lives - mostly women and children. Their escape was hampered by narrow exits whose doors only opened inwards, and priests who fled through a vestry door, locking it behind them.
The New York Times reported on the fire as “a scene impossible to exaggerate, it cannot even be described... It is absolutely impossible to convey in words any idea of the harrowing spectacle of Tuesday night.”
It remains, reports say, the deadliest accidental building fire ever recorded. Eyewitnesses described how "the church was a furnace above and below" as the dome crashed down, followed by the spire.
The church’s bells - thought to be of Spanish origin and dating back to 1753 - fell with the collapsing tower, but at least four survived the flames. They were elaborately cast and beautifully inscribed - the largest measuring over 32 inches in diameter and weighing several hundred kilograms.
After the tragedy, four of the bells were sold as scrap copper to renowned Swansea industrialist Graham Vivan of Clyne Castle, and shipped 7,000 miles to Swansea - then the world's "Copperopolis", nicknamed so due to the region’s dominance in copper smelting.
The bells likely travelled aboard ships called Cape Horners - vessels named for their perilous route around South America's southern tip that regularly sailed between Swansea and Chilean ports.
Three of the bells were donated to All Saints Church in Mumbles in exchange for the church’s medieval bells, during restoration work in the 1860s. The fourth bell went to St Thomas’ Church in Neath.
For nearly 100 years, the Santiago bells called local parishioners to worship at All Saints Church, until structural issues in the bell tower made it necessary to remove them in 1964. They were later mounted in a metal brace and placed in the church porch.
Then, in the 1970s, a tragic opera called "The Bells of Santiago" was performed at Oystermouth Castle, bringing new awareness of the story and sparking wider interest in the bells' remarkable history.
Canon Keith Evans of All Saints Church later began detective work, piecing together the full story from historical records - including a photograph of the of the bells taken in the church ruins just days after the disaster. He even wrote a book about the event, The Bells of Santiago.
In 2009, the Chilean government formally requested the bells' return to form part of a memorial for the fire victims, to mark the 150th anniversary of the fire.
The response from All Saints Church - and the local community - was unanimous - the bells should go home. As Canon Keith Evans described it, returning them was about "one community's generosity to another and the renewing of historic links between Swansea and Chile."
After removing the bells from All Saints Church with the help of “small fork lift trucks and some strong men”, HMS Portland carried them on a five-month voyage back to Chile in April 2010. A ceremony to mark their departure from Mumbles was attended by Chilean Ambassador, Tomás Müller Sproat.
In September of that same year, an emotional gathering in Santiago saw Chilean and Welsh officials unite as the bells were incorporated into a memorial for those who died. The event was held at the site of the original disaster, in front of Chile's Presidential Palace, as part of the country's bicentennial celebrations.
A few years later in Wales, All Saints Church installed digital bells that faithfully recreated the sound of those from Santiago - you can listen to them ring here.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, March 14, 2026
When Gladstone visited Swansea
His inauguaral lecture, 'Mr Gladstone and Swansea 1887' delivered at the College on 18 November 1980, does not appear to be any longer in print. However, I have found this account of the visit:
Gladstone visited south Wales in 1887 to draw attention to the support given for Irish Home Rule in Wales in an effort to rally similar feeling in England and Scotland. Along his route from Hawarden to Swansea he was greeted by huge crowds and probably the biggest demonstration in Welsh history at Swansea. Welsh Liberals hoped to gain his support for Church disestablishment from the visit.
The events brought much press attention to Wales and many in Wales were proud of the display that was made. While it has been argued that Welsh national identity had informed electoral politics since the middle of the century, Gladstone's visit demonstrates how this political national identity took on a more vocal, ritual form after the Third Reform Act. What is more, the proximity of Gladstone's visit to the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee resulted in comparisons between the events.
His visit was also a civic occasion, to open the new public library in the town, so it was difficult for his political opponents to muster total opposition to it, while his role as both a politician and a man of letters meant that many opponents had divided feelings about him.
The events had little real impact on either Home Rule or disestablishment but they provide insights into the political culture of Wales and its sense of nationality in the late Victorian period, while the occasion also illustrates the importance of ritual and symbol in the era.
Apparently, the visit inspired a song eighty-three years later by musician John Howes, which recalled the visit to Swansea and how the grand old man tried ‘the famous oysters’. It can be listened to here.
Labels: lochist
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Major Cardiff tourist attraction to be dismantled
I first blogged on this phenomenon on 20 August 2009 just before I went on holiday. Over the next eight days my blog received 5,422 hits, most of them looking for that post. I revisited the issue a couple of times over the next two years and then moved on.
I was in Cardiff bay a few months ago and made a point of visiting the 'shrine', noting that not only is it still there but it has grown exponentially.
Now. the BBC report that the shrine is set to be taken down after nearly two decades:
The tribute was built by fans of the series to commemorate queer character Ianto Jones 17 years ago, near where the series was filmed in Mermaid Quay, Cardiff.
However, self-proclaimed shrine-keeper Carol-Anne Hillman said she was "devastated" to learn that the shrine would be taken down due to health and safety.
A spokesperson for Mermaid Quay confirmed it was exploring the possibility of a new plaque for Ianto once maintenance work had been completed.
Carol-Anne Hillman has been looking after the shrine since 2017 and is "devastated" that the tribute will be taken down.
She said: "It became part of my life in Cardiff.
"I've got a back bedroom that's got about 11 or 12 bags of decorations now that I can't use.
"I've spent hundreds buying all these decorations.
"There's loads of people now that won't get even the first look at the shrine."
More than 860 miles (1,384 km) from the shrine in Cardiff Bay, Claudia from Germany was sad to learn that the attraction would be taken down.
"I love Doctor Who, but Torchwood was something else. It was quirky, it was campy, it was just a lot of fun," she said.
"[But] let's face it, the area is dodgy.
"The metal is rusted, the wood is decaying, it's in desperate need of some refurbishing and renovation."
Having last visited the shrine in 2018, Claudia plans to spend her 60th birthday in the city this year but will not get the chance to see the shrine again before it is taken down.
It isn't just the fans who will lose out by this decision of course. The 'shrine' attracts a lot of people to Cardiff Bay, many of whom will be disappointed.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Rock of the night
The castle was formerly owned by opera singer Adelina Patti, but is now a wedding venue. Its landscaped grounds are a country park, managed by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.
According to wikipedia, the main building was built between 1841 and 1843 by Captain Rhys Davies Powell, to designs by Thomas Henry Wyatt. It was bought by Morgan Morgan of Abercrave for £6,000 in 1876:
Captain Morgan and his family, plus his son also called Morgan Morgan and his family, lived jointly in the castle for several years. The family cleared a large plantation of 80-year-old fir trees which stood between the castle and the quarries above, which were said to be home to a local population of red squirrels.
Adelina Patti purchased the castle and surrounding park land for £3500 in 1878 to develop it as her own private estate. She spent the rest of her life at Craig-y-nos, leaving it only to sing in the premier opera houses of Europe and to tour the United States:
After her second marriage, to French tenor Ernesto Nicolini, she embarked on a major building programme at the castle, adding the North and South wings, the clock tower, conservatory, winter garden and theatre. After making her last public appearance in October 1914, when she sang for the Red Cross and filled the Albert Hall, she spent the rest of her life at Craig-y-nos with her third husband. The castle is a Grade II* listed building.
The Adelina Patti Theatre is a Grade I listed opera house. Built to be Patti's own private auditorium, it was designed by Swansea architects Bucknall and Jennings, with input from Sir Henry Irving. Briefed by Patti to be her miniature version of La Scala, Milan, it incorporates features from Wagner's Bayreuth Festspielhaus opera house in Bayreuth, and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.
Able to seat 150 people, the back of the theatre houses a gallery where the domestic staff would sit, enabling them to enjoy the performances. The orchestra pit is separated from the seating area by a balustrade, and holds up to 24 musicians.
Invitations for the July 12, 1891, opening event went to two types of guest: those invited to stay at the castle, and those invited just for the performance. House guests included: the Spanish Ambassador; Baron and Baroness Julius De Reuter, founder of the Reuters news agency; and Lord and Lady Swansea. Journalists from international newspapers including The Daily Telegraph, Le Figaro and the Boston Herald were also invited as house guests to report on the opening.
Final rehearsals occurred in the afternoon with the Swansea Opera Company, before a specially chartered train arrived at Penwyllt with the performance guests. Due to start at 20:00, the performance eventually started at 20:30 after a light tea. Sir Henry Irving was to have given the opening address, but as he was unable to attend, leading actor William Terris deputised. Patti's performance included the prelude to act one of La traviata, and in the second half the Garden Scene from Faust. There then followed a buffet supper served in the conservatory, with a total of 450 bottles of champagne consumed at the party.
Today the theatre remains a time capsule, and the stage is probably the only surviving example of original 19th century backstage equipment. The opera house is licensed for weddings.
Naturally, the castle is said to be haunted and occasionally hosts ghost tours.
Today the theatre remains a time capsule, and the stage is probably the only surviving example of original 19th century backstage equipment. The opera house is licensed for weddings.
Naturally, the castle is said to be haunted and occasionally hosts ghost tours.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, February 28, 2026
On the trail of Richard Burton
They say that in 2025, to mark the centenary of the great man’s birth, the county of Neath Port Talbot curated two walking trails showcasing his old haunts, and two Blue Plaques were unveiled along the routes, one at Richard Burton’s birthplace and the other at the former home of his mentor and adoptive father, Philip Burton.
The two walking trails bring together a number of sites associated with Richard’s formative years, namely 'The Birthplace Trail', based in Pontrhydyfen, where Richard was born, and 'The Childhood Trail', in the town of Port Talbot, where Richard grew up:
From here, visitors follow the main road along to the Miners Arms pub (now the Pontrhydyfen RFC Clubhouse), where Burton’s parents met and married, before looping back along Penhydd Street, where many of Richard’s family lived. The actor would make frequent trips to visit his family here throughout his career, even bringing along his wife Elizabeth Taylor on several occasions (the actress reportedly dubbed the village, 'Pontrhyheaven'). The route also takes in Bethel Chapel, now home to a beautiful café, where 800 people gathered to mourn after the actor’s sudden death at the age of 58.
Like 'The Birthplace Trail', 'The Childhood Trail', which takes fans around Richard-associated sites in the town of Port Talbot, doesn’t have a specific order, but a nice starting point is the Taibach Community Education Centre on Margam Road. This former youth club is where Richard starred in some of his earliest productions, honing his craft before his big move to theatres in London’s West End.
Other stops on this route include Richard’s sister’s home on Caradog Street, where the young actor lived during his school years (Richard’s mother died when he was just two years old), and Taibach Library, where a young Richard developed his ferocious appetite for reading and poetry. A nice spot to end the walk is at the peaceful Talbot Memorial Park, where a flowerbed-flanked monument to Burton features a poem penned by the actor about walking in the hills surrounding the town.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, February 21, 2026
A history trail in Mumbles
The walk has twenty points of interest, and stirred memories of a walking tour I helped write back in the 1980s. It starts with Clement's Quarry, one of a number of limestone quarries in Mumbles between 1806 and 1902, which is now a long stay car park, when it is not hosting the workmen and their equipment for the recent flood defence works.
The Dairy car park across the road was originally the site of The Elms, built in 1850, and was in turn a private house, a hotel and in the 1860s and 1870s, refreshment rooms for the Mumbles railway terminus and offices. Later it was a skating rink before housing a dairy and bottling plant.
An interesting fact is that although, while standing on Oystermouth Square at low tide you can see the remains of oyster dredgers or skiffs on the beach, Oystermouth itsef is not named after the oyster trade that briefly flourished in that area, and once attracted Gladstone to sample its wares, but from the Welsh name for the area, Ystumllwynarth, which appears in early Medieval Welsh literature and derives from Ystum Lluarth, meaning a "place of entrenchment on a hill".
The White Rose pub on the corner opposite was once the favoured watering hole of the actor, Hywel Bennett, when he was in the area. Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop was born in the area, while Catherine Zeta Jones, Bonnie Tyler, Archbishop Rowan Williams, Rugby player Geoff Wheel, Dylan Thomas and Kingsley Amis all have associations with Mumbles.
The steps alongside the cottages are the beginnning of a path that can take you to the top of Mumbles hill, which is a nature reserve and once housed a battery dating back to 1844. You can also see the remains of second world war gun emplacements.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, February 14, 2026
A plaque to a bread maker
According to this historical marker database, David Ayres Jones was an engineer and inventor of Bakery Machinery, being responsible for creating the Worlds first bread moulder in 1947.
When I worked there in 1963, D. AYERS JONES & CO. LTD., also traded under the name of 'MONO UNIVERSAL BAKERY ENGINEERING CO LTD'. The Managing Director was David Ayres Jones himself who founded the bakery engineering company. He also had a bakery shop in Manselton known as 'MANOR BAKERY ', and if my memory serves me right, the shop was situated in Manor Road, Manselton , within a couple of hundred yards from where 'CLIFF ROWE' the DAIRY had his small milk bottling plant in the yard at the back of his home. Manor Bakery was renowned for its quality bread and fresh cakes baked at the rear of the shop. David Ayres Jones eventually expanded the bakery side of his business, and eventually he opened up a bakery which adjoined the engineering part of the factory on the Queensway, Fforestfach.
I recall a father, and his son named Brian working there. They were both 'Master Bakers' who baked and decorated to a very high standard, birthday and wedding cakes to order, as well as their daily routine of baking bread, doughnuts and various fancy cakes for supply to the shops. Quite often I would attend work twenty minutes before time and would pop into the Bakery Side of the factory for a chat with Brian and his Dad. Being in the bakery with the smell of freshly baked bread and cakes for just those twenty minutes before start of work, were very mouth watering moments; and even at 6.40am in the morning, I couldn't resist the offer of two scrumptious warm donuts pumped full of raspberry jam and covered in sugar. "There we are boy " Brian would say, " You can have those two as they are out of shape " (not up to the standard for selling).
The bakery engineering side of D. AYRES JONES & CO. LTD., manufactured bakery machines which were transfer labelled 'MONO UNIVERSAL' and were distributed on completion by their own lorry to London, and many bakery machines went onward from there to Europe. The machines which were made at the factory 'from scratch' were for various purposes in the process of producing bread and cakes. He employed his own draughtsmen to plan and design the machines and come up with new ideas. David Ayres Jones (Mono Universal) was a one time leader in the manufacture and marketing of bakery machines such as a dough mixers, dough dividers, bread provers, donut makers, pancake makers, and mini moulders for making the perfect shape bun.
I quite enjoyed the description of David Ayres Jones, who when he did pay a visit to his Fforestfach factory, would arrive driving a Rolls Royce. Apparently, it was such a large limousine that his head could barely be seen above the steering wheel whilst driving. Mono Equipment has its own website, which includes an account of its beginnings:
During the Second World War, MONO Equipment's founder and President, Mr D Ayres Jones, was working at the family's bakery in Swansea, South Wales. When his brother was conscripted for war service, and facing acute labour problems, Ayres found it increasingly difficult to manage the increased workload on his own and began contemplating the design of a machine which would mechanically assume the laborious task of moulding the dough before baking.
His dogged determination, combined with his love of engineering, meant that within a short period of time Ayres had designed and built his first bread moulder almost entirely from scrap materials, including parts from an old motor cycle and bits and pieces sourced from a local scrapyard. The parts he couldn't source, he made himself using a small lathe which he had taught himself to use.
In the time-honoured fashion of the day, there was no welding involved in the machine's build as each part was riveted together piece by piece. This post-war 'make-do-and-mend' philosophy helped fire the imagination and creativity of designers and inventors who had to be truly innovative with the limited materials they had available.
The bread moulder was so successful that other bakers in the principality heard of this wonderful new time-saving machine and approached Ayres to make a moulder to help production in their bakeries too. As a result of the genuine interest expressed by local bakers, and those further afield, in 1946 the MONO Universal Bread Moulding Machine went in to commercial production.
It is from such beginnings that commercial empires are built.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, February 07, 2026
From conservatory to indian restaurant
It was constructed along with a clock tower by Spanish opera singer, Adelina Patti who, after the failure of her first marriage, and in search of privacy and good trout-fishing for her lover, married French tenor Ernest Nicolini, bought a Welsh country house overlooking the River Tawe near Penwyllt, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.
The conservatory and clock tower cost £100,000, which she was able to pay for by doing just one tour of the USA in which she charged £1,000, or £60,000 now, per performance. As Wales-online says, in 1918, at the age of 75, she donated her winter garden conservatory, now known as the Patti Pavilion, to the people of Swansea.
The building was dismantled from its Swansea Valley location and re-erected overlooking the bay in Victoria Park, Swansea, two years later in 1920. The building has been used widely for rock concerts, festivals, cultural events and a variety of other uses. I recall seeing Bob Geldof and Man there amongst many others.
In 1994, it was given a superficial makeover by the BBC's Challenge Anneka. This caused a small controversy as the various local workmen changed the colour of the roof from red to green, an alteration that Cadw took unbrage with even though the original roof was made of glass.
Wikipedia records that the building was damaged by a suspected arson attack in 2006. It underwent a major £3m overhaul in 2009 after it became clear that it was not being utilised to its full potential. The project was funded by Swansea Council. Work began in late 2007 to extend the building by adding a new glass covered wing housing an Indian restaurant; Patti Raj, which has subsequently been rebranded as Adelinas Bar and Indian Kitchen.
The conservatory and clock tower cost £100,000, which she was able to pay for by doing just one tour of the USA in which she charged £1,000, or £60,000 now, per performance. As Wales-online says, in 1918, at the age of 75, she donated her winter garden conservatory, now known as the Patti Pavilion, to the people of Swansea.
The building was dismantled from its Swansea Valley location and re-erected overlooking the bay in Victoria Park, Swansea, two years later in 1920. The building has been used widely for rock concerts, festivals, cultural events and a variety of other uses. I recall seeing Bob Geldof and Man there amongst many others.
In 1994, it was given a superficial makeover by the BBC's Challenge Anneka. This caused a small controversy as the various local workmen changed the colour of the roof from red to green, an alteration that Cadw took unbrage with even though the original roof was made of glass.
Wikipedia records that the building was damaged by a suspected arson attack in 2006. It underwent a major £3m overhaul in 2009 after it became clear that it was not being utilised to its full potential. The project was funded by Swansea Council. Work began in late 2007 to extend the building by adding a new glass covered wing housing an Indian restaurant; Patti Raj, which has subsequently been rebranded as Adelinas Bar and Indian Kitchen.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, January 31, 2026
The Abbey that never was
In summary, Marino (the house that would become Singleton Abbey) was a house built for Edward King in the latter half of the 1700s:
In the early 1800s it was purchased by John Henry Vivian and transformed into the building known as Singleton Abbey (though never actual an Abbey or even a church). Through the 100 years of Vivian family ownership the building played host to Royal Visits and much spectacle, before finally being bought by the then Swansea Corporation, fore runners of the Swansea Borough Council.
A more detailed history is available here by working your way down the links under Singleton Abbey. The building lies within the City's Singleton Park, a large chunk of which has been developed for the University campus and for one of Swansea's two hospitals. The website tells us that the history of Singleton goes back further than some people think:
Oliver Cromwell’s Survey of Gower in 1650 identifies a property known as Singleton made up of 32 acres and valued at a high rate of £7, 4s, 0d per annum and described as a mansion house, barn and certain parcels of arable pasture and rough ground lying all together about the house called by the name of Singletons which is held by David Jones and late of Ellis Price, gent. To the east of this lay the farm of Tir Powell.
The farm Tir Powell (with its 15 ½ acres), once belonging to the old Manor of East and West Millwood, and was owned by Silvanus Bevan and occupied by William Padley (1762–1801), (both Quakers and Swansea merchants) in the 1770s. The LTAs of 1773 identify Singletown as owned by the Duke of Beaufort and held by David Lewis and Sarah Hugh.
In 1781 occupancy passed to Jane Matthew until 1784 when it was acquired by Edward King Esq (1750-1819). Following his arrival to Swansea, King successfully procured the title of Deputy Comptroller of Customs for the Port of Swansea (appointed in 1786) and Collector of Customs between 1810-1815. Subsequently, thereafter King demolished the original farm and constructed a fine new octagonal villa in 1786, which he named Marino.
King hired the Swansea regency architect William Jernegan to build a house for him that would be unique in the country. This house would be known as Marino in the first instance and later as Singleton, Singleton House and Singleton Abbey depending on the author/source.
Shooting ahead through the 140 years of construction and reconstruction, the website recalls that on 17th July 1919, Singleton was sold to the Swansea Corporation. They paid £ 90,000 for it [nearly £5 million, in 2021].
Swansea University’s foundation stone was laid by King George V on 19 July 1920 and 89 students (including eight female students) enrolled that same year. By September 1939, there were 65 staff and 485 students:
In 1947 there were just two permanent buildings on campus: Singleton Abbey and the library. The Principal, J S Fulton, recognised the need to expand the estate and had a vision of a self-contained community, with residential, social and academic facilities on a single site. His vision was to become the first university campus in the UK.
By 1960 a large-scale development programme was underway that would see the construction of new halls of residence, the Maths and Science Tower, and College House (later renamed Fulton House).
Today, Swansea University has around 20,000 to 21,000 students, with recent figures from 2023/24 showing 21,225 students, comprising about 15,690 undergraduates and 5,540 postgraduates on two separate campuses.
A more detailed history is available here by working your way down the links under Singleton Abbey. The building lies within the City's Singleton Park, a large chunk of which has been developed for the University campus and for one of Swansea's two hospitals. The website tells us that the history of Singleton goes back further than some people think:
Oliver Cromwell’s Survey of Gower in 1650 identifies a property known as Singleton made up of 32 acres and valued at a high rate of £7, 4s, 0d per annum and described as a mansion house, barn and certain parcels of arable pasture and rough ground lying all together about the house called by the name of Singletons which is held by David Jones and late of Ellis Price, gent. To the east of this lay the farm of Tir Powell.
The farm Tir Powell (with its 15 ½ acres), once belonging to the old Manor of East and West Millwood, and was owned by Silvanus Bevan and occupied by William Padley (1762–1801), (both Quakers and Swansea merchants) in the 1770s. The LTAs of 1773 identify Singletown as owned by the Duke of Beaufort and held by David Lewis and Sarah Hugh.
In 1781 occupancy passed to Jane Matthew until 1784 when it was acquired by Edward King Esq (1750-1819). Following his arrival to Swansea, King successfully procured the title of Deputy Comptroller of Customs for the Port of Swansea (appointed in 1786) and Collector of Customs between 1810-1815. Subsequently, thereafter King demolished the original farm and constructed a fine new octagonal villa in 1786, which he named Marino.
King hired the Swansea regency architect William Jernegan to build a house for him that would be unique in the country. This house would be known as Marino in the first instance and later as Singleton, Singleton House and Singleton Abbey depending on the author/source.
Shooting ahead through the 140 years of construction and reconstruction, the website recalls that on 17th July 1919, Singleton was sold to the Swansea Corporation. They paid £ 90,000 for it [nearly £5 million, in 2021].
Swansea University’s foundation stone was laid by King George V on 19 July 1920 and 89 students (including eight female students) enrolled that same year. By September 1939, there were 65 staff and 485 students:
In 1947 there were just two permanent buildings on campus: Singleton Abbey and the library. The Principal, J S Fulton, recognised the need to expand the estate and had a vision of a self-contained community, with residential, social and academic facilities on a single site. His vision was to become the first university campus in the UK.
By 1960 a large-scale development programme was underway that would see the construction of new halls of residence, the Maths and Science Tower, and College House (later renamed Fulton House).
Today, Swansea University has around 20,000 to 21,000 students, with recent figures from 2023/24 showing 21,225 students, comprising about 15,690 undergraduates and 5,540 postgraduates on two separate campuses.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, January 24, 2026
King Charles' forgotten Hamlet
Coed Darcy is a new estate built on the old BP works in Llandarcy. St Modwen, the developer behind the project and the owner of the entire 1,000 acre Coed Darcy site, originally announced a 25-year vision for a £1.2bn, 4000-home 'urban village' with 10,000 residents and four schools, however the development stalled and so far only has a few hundred houses, a play area and an empty shop.
The estate was meant to be a model of urban renewal, but before the development started in earnest, the company tasked with transforming the area, decided to pay homage to the then Prince Charles' interest in 'classic' architecture. The BBC even did a news piece on the hamlet fronted by Griff Rhys Jones, which can be viewed here.
Wales-on-line tells us that not far from the current community, nestled amidst green fields, scrubland and trees is a quaint little hamlet of red and grey-roofed homes. There are streets, something that looks like it could be a little school or community hall and some ponds:
The white-fronted buildings look pretty with their different coloured brightly painted doors and neat windows.
Look for any length of time, and you won't see a single person. No lights will illuminate the windows on an evening, and there won't be a sound to be heard, other than the wind or the steady thrashing of rain we've become accustomed to of late.
In fact, if you are anywhere near you will have had to traipse over rough ground, as there are no proper roads leading to this ghost community.
The houses were built on the site of the former BP oil refinery in Llandarcy, Neath, in 2013, with traditional Welsh stone and using cutting-edge construction techniques.
They were designed as a showcase for an environmentally sustainable village made up of thousands of new homes, and even had the backing of Prince Charles.
But six years since they were built, these particular homes, distant from other development on the massive old industrial site, remain empty with no infrastructure connected to them.
In fact, more than a decade on from when the plans were first submitted in 2006, just 250 homes have been built in the new village named Coed Darcy.
The original vision was for the empty houses to be part of an environmentally-sustainable urban village of 4,000 homes, similar to Prince Charles' Poundbury village in Dorset.
The Prince even visited the site himself when they were completed in 2013.
He said he was "trying to break the commercial mould with the kind of challenges the world is now facing," by backing the project.
This article is from just over six years ago and the homes are still empty, which in a housing crisis is not a good look.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, January 17, 2026
The huge Roman villa unearthed in Margam
The footprint of the villa is 572 square metres, surrounded by fortifications, and according to the BBC, has been described by Dr Alex Langlands. the co-director of Swansea University's Centre for Heritage Research and Training, as a "really impressive and prestigious" building, likely to have been finely decorated with statues and mosaic floors:
The location, in a historical deer park, is significant because the land has not been ploughed or built on, meaning the villa's remains - less than a metre below the surface - look to be well preserved.
Those involved from Swansea University, Neath Port Talbot council and Margam Abbey Church said the discovery offered "unparalleled information about Wales' national story".
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"We've got what looks to be a corridor villa with two wings and a veranda running along the front," he explained.
"It's around 43m (141ft) long and looks to have six main rooms [to the front] with two corridors leading to eight rooms at the rear.
"Almost certainly you've got a major local dignitary making themselves at home here," he added.
"This would have been quite a busy place - the centre of a big agricultural estate and lots of people coming and going."
As a standalone structure, it is the largest villa yet to have been discovered in Wales.
Most of the known Roman remains in Wales are from military camps and forts, while grandiose estates like this are less commonly found.
The discovery would force experts to "rewrite the way we think about south Wales in the Romano-British period", Langlands said.
"This part of Wales isn't some sort of borderland, the edge of empire - in fact there were buildings here just as sophisticated and as high status as those we get in the agricultural heartlands of southern England."
It also showed that Margam - "a place that may even have lent its name to the historic region of Glamorgan" - was "one of the most important centres of power in Wales".
Further details of the team's findings will be shared at an open day at Margam Abbey Church today.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, January 10, 2026
From ruins to a cultural centre
As the centre's website relates, the Old Guildhall (as it was known) looked quite different to today:
Built by Thomas Bowen, between 1825-1829, from designs by architect John Collingwood, the building originally had sweeping grand staircases either side of the main entrance and the building housed court rooms and smaller offices.
Beautiful as the structure was, the doubling in size of the borough through the Municipal Corporations Act (1835) meant that the building could not function to the capacity needed. Thus the decision was made to enlarge the site in 1848, with the newer version of the Guildhall completed in 1852 by William Richards to plans by architect Thomas Taylor.
As well as a more spacious building, the façade was embellished and the courtyard to the front contained a statue of the MP and industrialist John Henry Vivian, as well as two Russian canons captured during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.
The building functioned as the Guildhall until 1934 when the decision was taken to build an entirely new civic centre (which includes the Brangwyn Hall) near Sandfields and St Helen’s cricket ground.
In the late 1930s, following this move, the Old Guildhall became a place of education and training:
Its first role was as a juvenile employment centre; briefly interrupted when the building was requisitioned by the army for recruitment purposes during the Second World War.
From 1949 to 1969 the building returned to its former role in education: one section of the Old Guildhall was occupied by the Youth Employment Bureau and another part of the building became Swansea Technical School. Later, the space would house the College of Further Education (1960-1971) and was finally the annexe to Dynevor School (1970-1982) until the building closed in 1982.
I first came across it in the mid-1990s, when Swansea was bidding to become the city of literature. I was a non-voting member of the company board set up to organise this festival, and one of our first tasks was to establish a literature centre. When it became clear that a new build was not possible, the then West Glamorgan County Council offered us the old Guildhall.
By then the building had been uninhabited for over a decade. It was covered in graffiti and was being used as a shelter by a number of homeless people. It was also listed, so the renovation had to be carried out very carefully, essentially keeping the facade and demolishing and rebuilding everything behind it.
It re-opened in 1995 as Tŷ Llên (‘the house of literature’), the major venue for the UK Year of Literature with the ceremony being performed by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter – himself a fan of Dylan Thomas’s work.
In October 2014, the Centre launched the permanent "Love the Words" exhibition which explores Dylan's life and work through a variety of media and including letters, books, worksheets and photographs, made possible with support of nearly £1 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Dylan Thomas Centre was also home to a year-round programme of literary events, including book launches, plays, poetry evenings, changing exhibitions and science talks and hosted the annual Dylan Thomas Festival held between Dylan’s birth and death dates, 27 October to 9 November.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, January 03, 2026
A castle and a country house
Dinefwr Castle is a ruined castle overlooking the River Towy. It lies on a ridge on the northern bank of the Towy, with a steep drop of one hundred feet to the river. Dinefwr was the chief seat of the Dinefwr dynasty of the Kingdom of Deheubarth. The castle is a Grade I listed building. I was there a few days ago and, as you can see, the views are spectacular.
As Wikipedia says, tradition relates that a castle was first constructed on this site by Rhodri the Great, but no archaeological remains have been dated from this period:
Dinefwr later became the chief seat of Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda, first ruler of Deheubarth and later king of most of Wales. Rhys ap Gruffydd, ruler of Deheubarth from 1155 to 1197, is thought to have rebuilt the castle. Giraldus Cambrensis tells a story about a plan by King Henry II of England to assault the castle during a campaign against Rhys. One of Henry's most trusted followers was sent on reconnaissance, guided by a local Welsh cleric, who was asked to lead him to the castle by the easiest route, but instead took the most difficult route he could find, ending the performance by stopping to eat grass with the explanation that this was the diet of the local people in times of hardship. The planned attack was duly abandoned.
On Rhys ap Gruffydd's death the castle passed to his son Rhys Gryg, and the earliest parts of the present castle are thought to derive from this period. Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was now extending his influence to this area, and Rhys, finding himself unable to resist, dismantled the castle. Llywelyn however had it restored and held it until his death in 1240. In 1255 Llywelyn the Last gave Dinefwr to Rhys Fychan, then later gave it to Maredudd ap Rhys before later returning it to Rhys Fychan. Maredudd now allied himself to King Edward I of England, and his son Rhys ap Maredudd helped Edward capture Dinefwr in 1277. This Rhys had apparently been promised Dinefwr in return for his help, but Edward did not keep his promise and had Rhys executed in 1291.
The castle now came into English hands, though it is recorded to have been burnt during the rebellion of Llywelyn Bren in 1316. In 1317 it was given to Hugh Despenser, the king's favourite. It was unsuccessfully besieged by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1403. Towards the end of the 15th century the castle was held by Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who carried out extensive rebuilding. In 1531 his grandson Rhys ap Gruffydd was executed for treason and the castle was confiscated by the crown, though the family were later able to recover it.
In 1660 Newton House (pictured) was built nearby and the castle keep modified as a summer house. The remains of the large windows can be seen at the top of the keep, but it burned down in the 18th century. The castle is now owned by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and managed by CADW on their behalf.
Dinefwr later became the chief seat of Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda, first ruler of Deheubarth and later king of most of Wales. Rhys ap Gruffydd, ruler of Deheubarth from 1155 to 1197, is thought to have rebuilt the castle. Giraldus Cambrensis tells a story about a plan by King Henry II of England to assault the castle during a campaign against Rhys. One of Henry's most trusted followers was sent on reconnaissance, guided by a local Welsh cleric, who was asked to lead him to the castle by the easiest route, but instead took the most difficult route he could find, ending the performance by stopping to eat grass with the explanation that this was the diet of the local people in times of hardship. The planned attack was duly abandoned.
On Rhys ap Gruffydd's death the castle passed to his son Rhys Gryg, and the earliest parts of the present castle are thought to derive from this period. Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was now extending his influence to this area, and Rhys, finding himself unable to resist, dismantled the castle. Llywelyn however had it restored and held it until his death in 1240. In 1255 Llywelyn the Last gave Dinefwr to Rhys Fychan, then later gave it to Maredudd ap Rhys before later returning it to Rhys Fychan. Maredudd now allied himself to King Edward I of England, and his son Rhys ap Maredudd helped Edward capture Dinefwr in 1277. This Rhys had apparently been promised Dinefwr in return for his help, but Edward did not keep his promise and had Rhys executed in 1291.
The castle now came into English hands, though it is recorded to have been burnt during the rebellion of Llywelyn Bren in 1316. In 1317 it was given to Hugh Despenser, the king's favourite. It was unsuccessfully besieged by the forces of Owain Glyndŵr in 1403. Towards the end of the 15th century the castle was held by Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who carried out extensive rebuilding. In 1531 his grandson Rhys ap Gruffydd was executed for treason and the castle was confiscated by the crown, though the family were later able to recover it.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, December 27, 2025
The history of Britain's best large indoor market
I make a point nowadays of visiting markets whenever I go to a new place. I grew up revelling in the delightful chaos and colour of Birkenhead market, only to see it now relocated and constrained within sterile, shuttered bunkers without any real atmosphere. Swansea market, however, has so far resisted such modernisation and continues to convey the sort of bustling activity and liveliness which I have always associated with such destinations.
According to the council website, this is the third market to be located on Oxford Street, having opened over 50 years ago, but the history of Swansea market goes back much further.
The archive service tells us that the earliest covered market dates back to 1652, and was located under the shadow of the Castle, but the first purposely built market building was known as Market House and erected in 1774:
Market House was situated at the Castle end of Wind Street with the wonderfully named Butter and Potato streets leading down either side of the building with Island House in front which dates back to Medievel times.Market House was a low roofed, one floored building supported by pillars and had no outer walls. Surrounding streets were stood cheek by jowl and lack of space meant traders would spill over on each others pitches.
They record that by the 1870's Island house was demolished to make way for the new street trams and Market House followed suit:
Swansea had also outgrown its Castle located market and by the end of the 19th century expansion was needed as the town population mushroomed from around 13,000 in 1830 to over 90,000 by the 1890s.
The archives site tells us that the new market was much larger:
It boasted entrances on Oxford Street, Union Street and Orange Street. A modest rubble wall punctuated with chimneys ran alongside the Oxford Street face, enclosing the stalls and encircling an area measuring 320 by 220 feet (98 by 67 metres). A market house was situated in the centre with a prominent clock tower which was built with stone from the old market hall by the Castle.
However, by late Victorian times, massive improvements were urgently needed and, as the archives site records, the market was modernised and expanded:
On 22 June 1897 (the same day as Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee) a brand new red Ruabon brick-fronted building was opened to the public by the mayor, Councillor Howell Watkins. It covered the same two-acre site as its predecessor, but with a grand façade built around the Oxford Street entrance with two 60ft high towers greeting you to a new shopping experience. This time a roof covered the whole market, and was at the time the largest structure of glass and wrought ironwork in the UK.
In December 1897 electricity was introduced to the market and by 1900 the corporation's new power station at the Strand lit the whole building. History was in the making.
The second Oxford Street Market was an impressive and important building in Swansea's architectural history and housed an incredible 597 stalls by the end of the 1920s. As always many stalls sold fresh produce from the Gower peninsula which made the market very desirable to visitors and tourists. It was boom time.
The picture above shows the impressive frontage, but it was not to survive the second world war. The archives site takes up the story:
During the 3 Nights' Blitz of February 1941, the Luftwaffe devastated central Swansea. The bombs showed no mercy to the market.
The external walls remained, but the roof and interior was completely destroyed, leaving the iron structure in ruins. The market would have to be replaced along with the majority of the town centre, but as it was such a mammoth task to rebuild the town after the Blitz, the rebuilding of the market had to be put back by several years.
Nonetheless it was essential to keep supplying the people of Swansea with food in these testing times. Action was taken with a temporary market, set up on the upper floors of the bus garage in Singleton Street. The market stalls were reinstated in Oxford Street in October 1941 where it remained as an open-air market through the 1940s and 1950s. Temporary sites were at Whitewalls (the site of the present Primark store) and between Orange Street and Wassail Square (now the area covered by the Quadrant Shopping Centre).
Like a modern Phoenix from the ashes, and almost 20 years since the loss of the red-brick behemoth, our current market was opened on 18 May 1961 at 11.30am by the Mayor Councillor Sidney Jenkins JP, and the Chairman of the Estates Committee Alderman Francis Charles Jones, who said it was a historic occasion, "a day of accomplishment and pride."
Labels: lochist
Saturday, December 20, 2025
Alcock and Brown and the first transatlantic flight
The RAF commemorated the occasion with an exhibition in Swansea Museum and a very swanky dinner, which I wrote about on my Mayoral blog, here.
As Wikipedia recalls, together with John Alcock, Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. The two men flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.
The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented them with the Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane in "less than 72 consecutive hours". A small amount of mail was carried on the flight, making it the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) a week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.
The original plane is housed in the British Science Museum, hanging from a ceiling. The picture is of a replica produced for the exhibition.
The Swansea link comes from the fact that Sir Arthur Whitten Brown lived here for most of his adult life, working at the Vickers office in the town centre. There is though, no official blue plaque on Belgrave Court, as this letter to the Guardian in 2019 makes clear:
Jan Wiczkowski (Letters, 16 June) claims Arthur Whitten Brown as a Manchester man, although Brown was originally from Glasgow and died in Swansea in 1948. However, it is certainly true that he, John Alcock and their pioneering flight are largely ignored these days.
My mother was a neighbour of Whitten Brown when he lived in Belgrave Court in the Uplands district of Swansea. From what he seems to have told her the historic flight was at times terrifying, yet this was a man who would not go to the air raid shelter during the three-night blitz on Swansea in February 1941.
Your correspondent is right: “courage tempered with a little wild and optimistic madness” deserves to be remembered and celebrated, yet there is only a small, inconspicuous memorial on Belgrave Court. If anyone deserves a proper blue plaque, it is Whitten Brown.
Rev Dr Peter Phillips, Swansea
Time for that to be put right.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Swansea's link to the development of radar
Near the end of the war, he moved to Australia, where he used this knowledge to carry out research that he headed as Chief of the Radiophysics Division of CSIRO:
These programs, which included his enduring personal interest in cloud physics, artificial rainmaking, and the causes of natural variability in rainfall, were undertaken in the stimulating environment that he fostered at the radiophysics laboratory.
Wikipedia adds more detail about the revolutionary work carried out by Bowen in fitting radar into an aircraft, which they describe as difficult because of the size and weight of the equipment and the aerial:
Furthermore, the equipment had to operate in a vibrating and cold environment. Over the next few years Bowen and his group solved most of these problems. For example, he solved the problem of the power supply in aircraft by using an engine-driven alternator, and he encouraged Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) to produce the first radio-frequency cables with solid polythene insulation.
Further refinements continued until September 1937, when Bowen gave a dramatic and uninvited demonstration of the application of radar by searching for the British Fleet in the North Sea in poor visibility, detecting three capital ships. Bowen's airborne radar group now had two major projects, one for the detection of ships and the other for interception of aircraft. Bowen also experimented briefly with the use of airborne radar to detect features on the ground, such as towns and coastlines, to aid navigation.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Bowen's unit was moved to St Athan. One of the first things that Bowen did there was to try to detect a submarine by radar. By then, the cavity magnetron had been improved by John Randall and Harry Boot, making airborne radar a powerful tool. By December 1940, operational aircraft were able to detect submarines at up to 15 miles (24 km). This technology had a major effect on winning the Battle of the Atlantic which eventually enabled forces to be built up by sea for the invasion of Europe.
In April 1941, RAF Coastal Command was operating anti-submarine patrols with about 110 aircraft fitted with radar. This increased the detection of submarines both day and night. Few of the attacks were lethal until the introduction in mid-1942 of a powerful searchlight, the Leigh light, that illuminated the submarine. As a result, the U-boats had to recharge their batteries in daylight so that they could at least see the aircraft coming. The radar and the Leigh light cut Allied shipping losses dramatically.
It is fair to say that this work would have proved fairly significant in helping the Allies win the war in the Atlantic.
Wikipedia adds more detail about the revolutionary work carried out by Bowen in fitting radar into an aircraft, which they describe as difficult because of the size and weight of the equipment and the aerial:
Furthermore, the equipment had to operate in a vibrating and cold environment. Over the next few years Bowen and his group solved most of these problems. For example, he solved the problem of the power supply in aircraft by using an engine-driven alternator, and he encouraged Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) to produce the first radio-frequency cables with solid polythene insulation.
Further refinements continued until September 1937, when Bowen gave a dramatic and uninvited demonstration of the application of radar by searching for the British Fleet in the North Sea in poor visibility, detecting three capital ships. Bowen's airborne radar group now had two major projects, one for the detection of ships and the other for interception of aircraft. Bowen also experimented briefly with the use of airborne radar to detect features on the ground, such as towns and coastlines, to aid navigation.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Bowen's unit was moved to St Athan. One of the first things that Bowen did there was to try to detect a submarine by radar. By then, the cavity magnetron had been improved by John Randall and Harry Boot, making airborne radar a powerful tool. By December 1940, operational aircraft were able to detect submarines at up to 15 miles (24 km). This technology had a major effect on winning the Battle of the Atlantic which eventually enabled forces to be built up by sea for the invasion of Europe.
In April 1941, RAF Coastal Command was operating anti-submarine patrols with about 110 aircraft fitted with radar. This increased the detection of submarines both day and night. Few of the attacks were lethal until the introduction in mid-1942 of a powerful searchlight, the Leigh light, that illuminated the submarine. As a result, the U-boats had to recharge their batteries in daylight so that they could at least see the aircraft coming. The radar and the Leigh light cut Allied shipping losses dramatically.
It is fair to say that this work would have proved fairly significant in helping the Allies win the war in the Atlantic.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, December 06, 2025
Too risque for the House of Lords?
As the Glyn Vivian website records the ensuing battle ended with Swansea winning the bid:
The building of the new Guildhall was underway and the city council proposed raising the Assembly Hall ceiling to 13.4 metres to accommodate the Panels. This tipped the scales in Swansea’s favour. With great pomp and excitement, the Assembly Hall was renamed the Brangwyn Hall – in honour of the Panels – and inaugurated with the rest of the building in October 1934 by the Duke of Kent. In 1937, it was visited by King George VI.
Following this purchase, Brangwyn gifted Swansea the preparatory drawings and studies for the Panels – all of which are under the care of Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. These sketches and small paintings, teeming with delicate foliage, flora and fauna are fabulous natural studies of the lands that Brangwyn travelled to (as well as the animals he visited regularly in London Zoo).
For Brangwyn had an enduring Romance with Asia, the Middle East and Moorish Spain that earned him accolades in America and Europe. Art historian Libby Horner argues that he was amongst the most revered artists of the 1900s for his merging of the so-called ‘decorative arts’ with fine art traditions. This holistic approach to art-making was inspired by his voyages. Brangwyn sailed the seas for much of 1880s and 1890s, visiting Spain, Japan, North and South Africa and Istanbul. Influenced by the Continent’s fascination with Orientalist paintings, he made vivid-hued paintings of Egypt, Turkey and Morocco, which he visited in 1893.
The panels are controversial as they are both risque and hark back to an earlier age of empire. The Glyn Vivian site suggests that the House of Lords’ reason for rejecting them in 1930 was because they were teeming with “tits and bananas”:
They hardly sit comfortably with current sensibilities either. How can one help but notice the bare bodies and servile positions ascribed to the ‘native’ females? In the light of BlackLivesMatter and the urgent need to ‘decolonise’ the past, one has to agree with young activist Stevie MacKinnon Smith’s assessment that the Panels’ regressive colonial narrative needs to be addressed; that “their continued display without this acknowledgment is problematic”.
This article on Wales-on-Line says that Brangwyn intended for them to be a memorial to the First World War, and for a gloomy hall to be brought to life with a representation of the British Empire:
The plan was for them to be situated in the Royal Chamber, and Brangwyn made many considerations to the chosen location when painting the work, from the lighting that would enter the room, to allowing for the darkening of his work through the thick smoke from the peers' cigars.
But five years later came an announcement that the artist could not have foreseen.
After years of work and effort, a decision was made for the commission to be rejected, something at the time which was considered a great scandal, and a decision which reportedly left the artist heartbroken.
The Fine Art Commission made the decision as it felt it was not of the Cubist style then in vogue.
Whatever the reason for their rejection by the House of Lords, they remain a colourful addition to Swansea's premier concert hall.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, November 29, 2025
A cultural gem
There is an excellent website here, that goes into some detail as to how this historic and much-loved building became a major hub of culture in Swansea. It records that Frederick Mouillot and H. H. 'Mackenzie' Morell, two entrepreneur actor managers, seized an opportunity to build a Theatre in Swansea in 1897.
They purchased the former Drill Hall in Singleton Street from Colonel Pike, demolished the building, and employed architect William Hope of Newcastle to design the Grand Theatre. The Memorial Stone for the Theatre was laid by Adelina Patti on the 26th of July 1897:
The opening production for the Theatre was 'The Geisha', a Japanese Musical Comedy, on Thursday July 29th 1897, and was the Theatre owners' own production which they mounted to then tour the country.
Early artists to play the Grand were, Fred Terry and Julia Neilson in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'. In 1914 Sarah Bernhardt appeared on Friday July 10th in 'Nana'. Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion', shocked Swansea audiences by the words 'Not Bloody Likely' uttered by Eliza Doolittle in January 1915. Frank Benson's Shakespearean company visited, as did Oscar Ashe with his wife Lily Brayton in 'Spanish Main', and there were visits by the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company.
By the 1920's Forbes Robertson appeared in 'The passing of the 3rd floor back.' Bransby Williams appeared in 'David Copperfield, Matheson Lang in 'The Wandering Jew' and Tom Walls and Leslie Henson in 'Tons of Money. On February 8th 1924 Ivor Novello, Madelaine Seymour and Hannah Jones appeared in 'The Rat'. By 1926 the musical 'Rose Marie' played, and toward the end of the twenties, 'The Desert Song' played, and Gladys Cooper appeared in 'The Sacred Flame'.
The Grand Theatre's own website takes up the story:
During the theatre's early years (1897 - 1930), the Grand established itself as a venue for the best touring companies and star names of the time, with visits by the likes of Jessie Mathews, Ivor Novello, Forbes Robertson and the first knight of theatre, Sir Henry Irving - whose signature can still be found in the theatre today.
The Grand then entered a turbulent period in its history from 1933 to the early seventies with many successes and many failures including being turned into a Cinema for a fourteen year period, being sadly neglected, and having dwindling audiences mainly thanks to the popularity of television in the 1960's and 70's.
The then local authority (Swansea Corporation/City Council) came to the rescue and took out a long lease in May 1969 before buying the building outright in 1979. The City and County of Swansea continues to own, manage and fund the building today.
A multi-million-pound refurbishment programme from 1983 - 1987 turned the 1000 seat theatre into one of the most technically advanced and aesthetically pleasing venues in the UK at a cost of £6.5m. A further £1m in 1999 and the Grand became the proud 'owner' of a new Arts Wing (opened by Catherine Zeta Jones) that increased the space open to visitors by a third and created a new studio performance area, three exhibition areas, and a rooftop restaurant and terrace.
I attended the opening night of the refurbished Grand Theatre on 17th December 1986 to see the pantomime 'Mother Goose' starring Christopher Biggins and Les Denis. I had only been a councillor for a couple of years and remember that the renovation work was so fresh that some of the paint had not had time to dry.
It is now the home of Michael Sheen's revitalised Welsh National Theatre and as such has a bright future ahead of it.
Labels: lochist
Saturday, November 22, 2025
An unlikely connection
The plaque is located on the promenade wall near the Hole in the Wall Café — a spot the philosopher is believed to have walked past many times during his visits to the area.
Born in Vienna in 1889, Wittgenstein is widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the modern era.
During these years, Wittgenstein often stayed at guest houses in Langland and Uplands, spending time walking the Gower coastline and developing ideas that would shape his later work.
It’s believed these summers spent in Swansea had a profound influence on Wittgenstein’s thinking.
Wittgenstein is best-known for his work in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of the mind, and the philosophy of language.
Sometimes, we come across the most unlikely connections.
Update: Wiigenstein was of course immortalised in Monty Python's Bruces' Philosophers Song, sung by The Bruces, stereotypical "ocker" Australians of the period. The Bruces are kitted out in khakis, slouch hats and a cork hat, and are faculty members of the Philosophy Department at the fictional University of Woolamaloo (Woolloomooloo is an inner suburb of Sydney, although there is no university there):
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table
David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel
There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
'bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed
John Stuart Mill, of his own free will
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle
Hobbes was fond of his dram
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart
"I drink, therefore I am."
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed
Labels: lochist
