Focus on Glanmor and Ffynone


 I start this article in 1898 when the stables were built on Glanmor Road. They occupied the site of the former Post Office (right) which was next door to where the new coffee shop, Sloth, has opened.

The stables were part of Penlan House, now Oakleigh House School, and the two Ordnance Survey maps of 1879, and 1913 (below) show the development of the landscape with the stables.

Penlan House was the address where a James Walters died a decade earlier in 1888. James Walters was a prosperous and influential man, who was instrumental in the development of the land which we know today as Walter Road. James was the second son of Thomas Walters who ran a drapery shop and founded a grocery and chandlery business in Castle Street. He later became a banker. Thomas Walters sold the business to Christopher Thomas of Bristol, who also bought White Style Field from Mr Gwyn Jeffreys. This area became known as the Ffynone Estate and it was here that Ffynone House was situated.

    James Walters, in turn provided victuals for ships and the businesses that were associated with them.  James was also a member of the Town Council. At the time of his marriage in 1867, to Emily Burns at St Peter’s Church, Cockett, his home address was “Uplands House” but by 1870, they were living at “Penlan”. Two fields situated alongside Penlan were sold to the Swansea Corporation in 1874 and would become part of Cwmdonkin Park.

One of James Walters major building achievements was the construction of St James Church (above right). Building work started in 1867 and cost somewhere between £2,500 to £3,500 to construct. Even though the church doesn’t have a bell tower, it still had one of the bells from Santiago, Chile.

On the 8th December 1863, a fire raged through the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus in Santiago, Chile. Over 2,500 people died in the fire, mainly women.

There was a long-standing trade partnership between Swansea and Chile, and the Vivian Family who were involved in the copper smelting industry transported the church bells to Swansea where they were installed in All Saints Church in Oystermouth and St James in Ffynone.

    Colonel Henry Lucas owned or rented large areas of land in Uplands, from Swansea Corporation, and went onto build Uplands House which was situated in Cwmdonkin Drive. It was home to Clevedon College until it closed in 1970 and the house was demolished.

More information relating to the Lucas family can be found in my article Salt, Tunnels and Pigeons, September 2021.

Following James Walters’ death, (death certificate above) Penlan House was left to his nephew William Walters. William took over his uncle’s firm, running it with his brother Frederick. At the time of his marriage in 1897, to Mary W. Fischer, Penlan House was his home address, but soon after they moved to Ffynone. Following his death in 1911, the family moved back to Penlan House.

Ffynone House at this time was on loan to Sir Alfred Mond, MP of Swansea West, until 1918, when it was then used by the Ministry of Pensions for a few years. Ffynone House was demolished during the 1970s.

Sloth coffee shop opened in December 2022. The premises were formerly used by Gower Dental Laboratory (right). In 1728, false teeth were constructed with metal frames and teeth sculpted from animal bones, as described by Pierre Fauchard, the French physician who is described as the “father of modern dentistry”. By 1770, dentures were made from porcelain, by Alexis Duchateau. The following year, the first British patients were supplied with dentures by Nicholas Dudois De Chemant. However, it wouldn’t be until the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, that teeth were pulled from the soldiers killed on the battle field and used to make false teeth. These false teeth were known as Waterloo Teeth (below right).

Next month we are getting minted!

Copyright - The Bay Magazine, March 2023

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