The Development of The West Cross Housing Estate by Wendy Cope

Photo: The site of West Cross Station, visited by the land train 'Swansea Bay Rider.'

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 THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

THE WEST CROSS HOUSING ESTATE

1945      Swansea Council planned the estate to help overcome the shortage of housing which followed the war.  Negotiation took place to compulsorily purchase Grange Farm.

Have you copies of other suitable photos, which you would be willing for us to add here?  Please contact co-editors >

1946     Arrangements were made for the erection of 150 temporary aluminium bungalows (pre-fabs) by Kent and Sussex Ltd. and 188 permanent prefabricated British Iron & Steel Federation houses (steel houses) for which R. Costain won the tender.

 1947   All 150 aluminium houses were completed.  Sometimes the bungalows were ready before the council could provide the services due to shortage of materials such as electric cable.

         The first steel houses were completed in September.  All were fitted with gas cookers and wash boilers.

1948     Costain completed the 188 steel houses.

         More land was purchased to the North of Grange Farm, which belonged to the Clyne Estate, to build another 200 houses.

         Some land not yet built upon was made available for allotments

     1949     Approval was obtained for a new primary school — Grange. 

             Plans were drawn up to divert the lower end of West Cross Lane so that instead of joining Mumbles Road opposite the West Cross Inn, it would run parallel to the shore and join Fairwood Road.  To do this, the owners of Ty Nant in West Cross Lane exchanged part of their garden which ran down beside the stream, for 1016 yds. of council owned land.

1951    The council planned to build 150 2 & 3 bedroom houses using direct labour and then a further 150 were planned.  (West Cross 3 & 4)

1951    It was proposed to extend Fairwood Road to join up the two parts of the estate as building had begun at the Mayals Road end on West Cross 4.

1952      Land was put aside for Mayals Primary School (photos later).

1955   99 year lease granted to the Church in Wales for the site of a church and parsonage.

1957   Lease granted to West Cross Community Association to erect a Community Centre.

1958   Land to the rear of Cedar Crescent leased to the Boy Scouts to build a headquarters.

1960   Plans made to erect 12 flatlets for old ladies at the corner of Linden Avenue and            Fairwood Road to include a common room and oil fired central heating and to  have a female warden.  The flatlets to be built by Central Works department at a cost  of £20,000.

1961         The flatlets to be called Thomas Harris House.  They are the first purpose built flatlets in Wales.  The Minister of Housing was asked to perform the opening ceremony.   Miss N. P. Moseley was appointed as attendant.

1962       Some prefabs were being pulled down.

1964       William Hancock & Co. Ltd. applied for the site allocated for a public house at the junction of Linden Avenue and Fairwood Road and was granted a 99 year lease.

The erection of 34 traditional dwellings was awarded to Davies Construction Co. (Severn) Ltd.

1965       Upper Boarspit Farm acquired to extend the estate.

1968       Estimate for 177 dwellings at Upper Boarspit, phase 1,  was £564,222.

1969        A site in Fairwood Road was chosen for a new fire-station.

    1970       Secretary of State for Wales formally opened the first dwellings on the Boarspit                      estate.

Upper Boarspit, phase 2, to be constructed by the Central Works department.

The last tenants in prefabs in Ilston Place, Warwick Place and Fairwood Road, moved to the Boarspit estate.  The last prefabs demolished.

            The architect recommended that this site should use the Crux Design method of building produced by Messrs Williamson of Porthcawl and be erected by Central Works department.

        Land for a children’s playground set aside at Boarspit.

1971      Application from J. M. Sampson for a lease of land at Elmgrove Road to erect a non-conformist church.

         Rees & Kirby’s tender accepted for building 191 dwellings.

1972     20 additional dwellings to be erected on land between the Linden Tree and the new fire station.  Rees & Kirby to add these to their contract.

1973      No builders showed interest in tendering for the 200 dwelling Crux Development scheme.

Swansea council’s Housing Committee minutes end in 1973 when West Glamorgan was created but by then most of the land had been built on.  The development replacing the prefabs either side of the lower part of Fairwood Lane was completed in the next few years.

THE SHOPS AT ALDERWOOD ROAD

In 1950, 10 shops with maisonettes above were built in Alderwood Road and leases were offered for 21 years at a rent of £150 per annum exclusive of rates.

The earliest potential tenants were —

1.  Cooperative Wholesale Society    self service grocery

2.          “               “              “      butchery

3.  John Belli                                   café & ice cream parlour

4.  Gwyn Jones                               chemist

5.  A. L. Evans                                 newsagent, tobacconist,                        

                                      Confectioner & post office.

6.  J. H. Barrett                                fruit, greengrocery & wet fish.

7.  Roy Matthews                             fish and chips

8.  Montague Black                  drapery

Two of these withdrew. 

In 1952 one shop was taken by Trevor Dick Barton as a fish and chip shop and café.

In 1953 one shop was leased to Welsh Dry Cleaners Ltd. and another, number 14 Alderwood Road, to Mrs Harriet Morgan, boot and shoe retailer, while South Wales Electricity Board negotiated for a shop for the sale of electrical goods.

In 1955 Mrs Morgan was permitted to carry on an off licence business at her shop and the following year sub-let her premises to P.M. Lock as a baker’s and flour confectionary business.

In 1956 Mrs Freer and Mrs Campbell opened a hairdressing salon and A. M. Lewis became the pharmaceutical chemist.

The last shop, 7 Alderwood Road, failed to find a tenant so it was turned into a bed-sitting room flat.

By 1966 the Coop had 3 shop units, numbers 10, 11, & 12, but there were disputes among the lessees concerning the trading restrictions as more than one shop would like to sell confectionery, cigarettes and tobacco.

There were further changes over the years.  By 1985 David Beynon was the proprietor of the chemist’s shop, A. G. Williams was selling fruit and vegetables and frozen food, while number 14 was now Fran’s Wool shop.  

In 1998 the shops consisted of —

No. 8     David Beynon, pharmacist.

No. 9     The Meat Loaf, a Happy Shopper store.

Nos. 10, 11, 12.  Abdullah’s West Cross Supermarket.

No. 13    West Cross Post Office and newsagent.

No. 14    Movies video shop.

No. 15    M’s International hairdressers.

No. 16    Dick Barton’s fish and chip shop.

Since then the Co-op have bought the pharmacy, the supermarket has changed its name to Best One and No.14 has become a takeaway called Hot Stuff.

For many years there were 2 shops in Mulberry Avenue just below Chestnut Avenue.  There was Forrester’s Wine Stores and Pritchards stores selling groceries, sweets and tobacco.  Close by was R. C. Roberts Sunnybank Nurseries.

THE WEST CROSS LANE SHOPS

When the Boarspit estate was being built a parade of 6 shops was built at the top of West Cross Lane.

The topmost shop was V. & K. Superstores in 1985, with the hairdressers next to it, while  Dickens & Law, chemist and off licence was next to the Chinese Takeaway at the other end of the row.

The topmost shop now belongs to West Cross Community Church, then comes the hairdresser, off licence, newspaper and confectioner, Spar mini market and West Cross Chinese takeaway.

In 1992 shopkeepers and shoppers petitioned the council to improve parking outside the shops.  Michael and Julia Morgan-Swinhoe of M’s hairdressers presented the petition to Councillors Martin Caton, Maurice Jones and Des Thomas.  The parking area was later widened to allow chevron parking.

                                                                       Evening Post.  19 March 1992.

Mohammed Iqbal, Zahid Abdullah and Shafqat Abdullah of Abdullah’s supermarket.                                                      Evening Post.  24 April 1999.

1969  A site in Fairwood Road was chosen for a new fire station.

When the estate was first built, the tenants had problems with 50 or 60 sheep which had been left to graze on the adjacent common by the farmers and which were invading the estate and causing havoc in gardens.  They arrived at the crack of dawn, waking residents with their bleating. 

In 2004 the school was threatened with closure to make way for the new Welsh language school.                                                                     Evening Post.11 September 2004.

THE LINDEN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP  

The Linden Christian Fellowship began in the early 1960s with the creation of a Sunday School that met first at Mayals School and later at West Cross Community Centre where services began to be held on Sunday mornings and evenings.  By the early 1970s the Sunday School attracted about 100 children on Sunday afternoons.

Although a plot of land at Elmgrove Road was found and permission to build a church on it was obtained from the council in 1971 it took a long time to find sufficient finance to start building and it was not until January 1983 that the Linden Christian Centre opened its doors for the first time.  Much of the electrical, painting and decorating work was done by church members.

In summer the church has at times met at Southend or Caswell and baptisms have been conducted in the sea as well as in the pool in the church.  When Mumbles had a carnival, the church members would enter a float in the parade.

In the early 1990s Linden folk became involved with aid to Albania, working especially to improve the conditions at an orphanage at Vlore.  A few years later they turned their attention to Zambia and gave a minibus to a church there.

The Centre has always had a thriving youth group but they were concerned about other teenagers who had nowhere to meet.   Linden Christian Fellowship members bought a building at Southend and in 2001 opened the Red Café as a safe non alcoholic meeting place which provides activities and training.

THE RED CAFÉ

The building at Southend has three stories.  The ground floor is the café.  There are training rooms above and the top floor is the manager’s flat.  In January 2001, Kristina Williams and Helen Hunter were appointed on a job share basis as project managers.  The café began by opening three nights a week and attracted about 30 young people a night.  The first workshops offered were DJ-ing and music production.

The 1988 summer play scheme with a circus theme.  Wendy Vent, the organiser and ringmaster in the front.                                         Evening Post. 9 August 1988.

A Linden Christian Fellowship meeting at Caswell - -    - - and at Southend.

The Linden float in a Mumbles Carnival.

A baptism in the Centre’s pool - -     - - and in the sea.

John Sampson, a well known leader at Linden, who was awarded the MBE in 2004.          Evening Post. 12 June 2004.

A survey on love was carried out in the village one Valentine’s Day.

Sorting goods collected to be shipped to an orphanage in Albania.

By the middle of November the foundations had been completed.  A concrete cross was cast above the foundations which was later secured to the wall of the church.  The new church was opened on 29th October 1956 when it was dedicated and named Holy Cross.  There was a procession from Bellevue House where the congregation had been meeting while building was progressing.  On November 11th the Bishop consecrated the altar and the first Eucharist was held.  The bell tower was added later and houses the bell which originally hung at St Faith’s church in St Helen’s Road. 

The church was licensed for weddings in 1961 and the first wedding was that of Sunday School teacher Brian Morgan and Beryl Nicholls.

Until 1974 Holy Cross was within the parish of Oystermouth but in September that year the Northern part of that parish was separated to form the parish of Llwynderw with its own two churches of Holy Cross and Clyne Chapel and with its own vicar, whereas it had previously been served by a curate.  The first vicar was Rev Anthony Pierce who is now Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

In 1978 plans were made to build a separate church hall behind the church.  This was achieved with a grant from the Manpower Commission under a job creation scheme and was opened in January 1979.

In August 1993 Llwynderw had a new vicar, Rev George Bennett, who stayed in the parish until 2006.

The induction of the first vicar of Llwynderw, Rev Anthony Pierce, in 1974.

D. J. Harris, J. R. Winter (Holy Cross wardens), Canon David Walker, Ven H. C. Williams (Archdeacon of Gower), Rev Anthony Pierce, Bishop J. J. Thomas, Canon W. C. Williams (Rural Dean of Lwchwr), Canon J. E. C. Hughes (Vicar of Oystermouth), J. Evans, E. Davies (Clyne Chapel wardens).

West Cross Hotel - Fires at West Cross 1896 and 1913 by Kate Jones ->
The Pub re-opened after the fire on 15 April 1897 as the West Cross Hotel .

West Cross Station 

GATHERING COCKLES

Every September our family would get together to walk out across the beach at low tide at West Cross to gather cockles.  Armed with rakes and buckets, some would use the rakes to uncover the cockles which nestled just below the surface of the sand, while others would then gather them into pails.

 We would then struggle back home with our heavy cargoes, which would then be washed and put into clean water with a ‘feed’ of oatmeal, as my grandmother always insisted that they had to have a good feed inside them! 

 Next day they would be put in large pans of water and brought to the boil.  After cooking and cooling, the by-now open shells would be emptied by hand.  This was a laborious task only lightened by sneaking a few to eat without my mother knowing.  Later, the remainder could be eaten cold sprinkled with vinegar and pepper, accompanied by bread and butter, or fried in bacon fat with little cubes of bread and eaten hot with laverbread (often gathered from Bracelet Bay) and bacon.

 In later years the bay became so polluted that notices appeared on the sea wall advising people that the cockles from Swansea Bay were not fit to be eaten, and so our September excursions came to an end.

                                   Carol Powell

GRANGE SCHOOL VISIT THE WEST CROSS EXHIBITION

Children from Grange School, West Cross, visited Ty Hanes in Dunns Lane, Mumbles, to see the exhibition about the growth of the West Cross estate.  What was formerly farmland began to be built upon at the end of the Second World War with an estate of prefabs and steel houses.  Over the next 30 years the estate grew to engulf all the farms and the community developed with the building of community centres, churches and schools.  One mother was delighted to find herself on a Mayals school class photograph and the children recognised another mother.  The boys especially enjoyed the section about the fire station, which is no longer there, and a display about the Territorial Army base at the Grange. 

The editor is searching for copies of these photos which include – 

John Blake, Clive Twells, Christopher Gee, Jean Twells, Anita Halliday, Mary Thomas, Audrey Riley, Brenda Roberts.

Another photograph includes – Colin Riley, Maxine Onson, John Bevan, Anita Atherton, Geoff Griffith, Geoff Riley, Viv Williams, Billy Thomas,   Colin Riley, Dennis Bevan, Hughie Picton, Peter Evans, Lyn Bevan,   Tanya Armstrong.

Have you copies of these, or other suitable photos, which you would be willing for us to add here? 

Contact Co-editors, John & Carol Powell >

We would like to acknowledge contributions towards the West Cross exhibition from —

West Glamorgan Archives

Swansea University Archives

Swansea Library Service

Swansea Museum

South Wales Evening Post

Swansea Leader

Mumbles News

The Children’s Society

Captain Gerry Briggs & Russell Williams of the T. A.

Sue Barr

Colin McRae

Dorothy Evans

Bryan James

Caroline Davies & Roy Estcourt of Brynhyfryd  

Bob Harragan

Gary Gregor

Alan Thomas

John Morgan

Hilda Venn

John Sampson

John Tancock

Keith Mills

Bryan Taylor

Therese Griffiths

Gaye Mortali

Jean Twells

Mary Adams

Pam Buller

Jennifer Secombe