Shaw's Community Woodland and Friends of Gowerton Woodlands and Open Spaces

Overview

Shaw's Woodland
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 locally. A substantial drive way (the remains of which are still visible) led from an arched gateway on Bryn Y Mor Road to the 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 St John's 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 Cedar and a Great Western Cedar. The Woodlands are now owned by the City & County of Swansea.

The Friends group can be contacted on 872449 or 411952.

The Gower Green Map
updated 11/2017 by Sustainable Swansea