ARCHIVE PICTURES.
Tuesday 1st July 2003.
Kilvey Hill.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind
permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland
Kilvey Hill is very different now from when, as a child, I played on it's slopes, fished in its ponds and explored the empty lonely hilltop. Now, as I start my walk at the beginning of the Sculpture Trail I well remember how this particular part of the hill looked years ago. There were no trees or greenery, just ugly spoil tips and blackened fume poisoned earth inherited from those who, between the early eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, made their riches out of the copper and other industries on the banks of the nearby River Tawe. Reclamation work, started in the early 1960's, has transformed an area of industrial dereliction into what you see today. This archway entrance to the Sculpture Trail was carved by Nansi Hemming during Winter/Spring 2001 from a large curved oak trunk sawn down the middle. The design includes....
...... panels depicting local scenes from prehistory to the present day.
The path leads us upwards through pleasant woodland passing on our way a colourful carved totem pole. At the base of the tall pole is this wierd face which I think deserves a picture all to itself..
Further on we come to what appears to be the bows and figurehead of a viking type longboat. Perhaps it got stranded here on a particularly high tide.
I've simply no idea what this figure is meant to represent.
As we progress up the slope, the nature of the woodland changes and the trees are now mainly conifers. A good setting no doubt for this rather scary figure emerging out of the gloom of the forest.
It is worth the trek to the top of the hill just for the wonderful panoramic views alone. This pic is a view over the north west of Swansea.
Looking to the south west, we see the city centre and the curve of the bay edged by the sandy beach which stretches for five miles from the city to Mumbles. In the foreground, a rhododendon bush is in bloom, this is as foreign to Kilvey Hill as are the fir trees.
As well as the trees planted on the slopes of the hill, large areas of the top are taken over by conifers. It pleases me to see the once bare slopes clothed with trees, even though conifers are not my favourite trees. But I do wish the top could have been left as I remember it, an open, quiet, unfrequented expanse, where the song of the lark was ever present and the waving shivery hill grass uncluttered by trees and those hideous television masts.
No comment!.
This stump of stonework is all that remains of what is known locally as the windmill. It was a circular structure and most people now believe it was not a windmill but a beacon. I'm not sure but for as long as I can remember it has always been called the windmill. When I spent my time, back in the 1930's playing and scrambling over it's ruined walls it must have been about 20ft high. It saddens me to see those thick walls, a landmark used for years by ships in the bay, reduced to almost nothing.
As I sat here in front of the windmill looking out over the empty docks, my mind went back over the years to when no trees were here to obstruct the view and the whole of the of the docks and the railways which served them could be seen. Unlike today, Swansea at that time was a busy port. Ships from all parts of the world would be loading and discharging cargo whilst others waited in the bay to enter the locks at high water. I would sit and watch the fussy tug boats nudge and pull the large ships into position at the quays or tow them in or out of the docks. Watch the small dock steam locomotives as they noisily shunt the endless lines of coal trucks to the many large coal hoists spaced at intervals along the edge of the Prince of Wales Dock. (the nearest dock in the picture). I would listen to the roar of the falling coal as truckload after truckload was tipped into the hold of the ships waiting below the hoists to receive their cargo of welsh coal. Now the docks are silent, none of those once familiar sounds reach up to me as I sit here at the old windmill. Time has moved on, shipping in the docks is but a shadow of former days. No longer is coal exported from the Prince of Wales Dock and I have no wish to see it return. A new cleaner development is planned for the dock area which will include apartments, office accommodation, hotels and a marina.
After my little rest, I walked on eastward only to find my way blocked by a fence so I turned back and followed a path.....
......that led to what now appears to be a riding school with stables and other buildings. There used to be just a cottage here and if I remember correctly, it was occupied by a family called Ridgeway. I don't remember many fences on the hill but now they seem to be everywhere.
I'm now making my way down the lower part of the hill towards the St. Thomas district where I want to take a few pictures of the docks and Swansea Bay.
View over the city from the east side.
View looking towards the Marina area with Mumbles Head across the bay.
St Leger Crescent in St. Thomas. Harry Secombe grew up here at No.7 (on the left, just opposite the first red car). I believe a plaque to commemorate his life has recently been attached to the house. St Thomas Church, where he sang in the choir is at the bottom of the road.
Another view of the city.
and another......'bye.
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