About

Many of the Woodlands and open spaces within the Gowerton area have been industrialised in the past centuries but are now havens for flora and fauna.

In the 1850s this was an arboretum run by brothers William and Richard Shaw, who supplied foreign and British trees and bushes to the large estates in the Swansea area. William Shaw lived in the Gurnos Mansion and a substantial drive way (the remains of which are still visible) led from an arched gateway on Bryn Y Mor Road to the house and glasshouses where a small workforce of women propagated the trees and plants. Richard Shaw lived in the nearby farmhouse of Fern Hill near the Mount. The Shaw Brothers donated and helped with the initial landscaping around the St Johns Church.

Some of the specimens planted by the Shaw Brothers are still in evidence in the Woodland today, such as the 7 Giant Redwoods (from North America), a line of Scots Pines, some black alder, a Deodar, Great Western Cedar. The Woodlands are now owned by the City & County of Swansea.

This is the site of a former coal mine. Once a hugely busy industrial site, criss-crossed with railways and coal spoil tips, in the past hundred years nature has taken over this disused area, stabilising the coaltips with ash, willow and oak trees and draining the area with streams.

Over a hundred years ago, this was the site of the Fairwood Tinplate Works and a pickling Factory. It is now a pleasant little woodland of mainly Birch and Oak trees. It has a Right of Way leading to the Afon Llan walk. It is privately owned by the Penllergare Estate and is under consideration by the City & Council of Swansea as an area for housing development under their Local Development Plan.

This is a small woodland running alongside the new primary school development on the Elba site. It is mainly small oak trees, sycamore, holly, and has a stream running through it. Widely used by dog walkers and children, it has a large pool, which is all that remains of the historic Gowerton Canal which in the eighteenth century carried coal from the Llewitha Mine to the small docks at Penclawdd. It is hoped that FOGWOS will be able to help with its maintenance at some stage.

A very neglected area of woodland below the Cecil Road and very boggy. Once the crossing place for the railways from the Cefn Gorwydd Site. Presumed to be in the ownership of the City & County of Swansea.

This is one single field on a sloping site, used regularly for access to the schools, playground and shopping areas of Gowerton. Again under consideration for the Local Development Plan.