Towards the south boundary of Singleton Park (nprn 700373), west of the main entrance to the university campus, is a botanic garden. It lies adjacent to the Biosciences building and is divided into two contrastingly different areas by the former drive from the south-west corner of the park. The garden was designed for the university by the Percy Thomas Partnership in 1959.

To the north is a formally laid out area which is integrated with the block to its north with its wings and a central semi-circular projecting bay. Next to the building, between the wings, is a level area of six large, rectilinear ‘Experimental Beds’ at either end and three similar sized beds in the centre, called the ‘Upper Terrace’ (?now replaced by glasshouses). South of the central bed is a large rectangular ‘Court’, surrounded by a brick and wood pergola with mixed climbers growing on it. South of the court, on the 'lower terrace', are two east-west pergolas. The pergola ends at the west end of the ‘Lower Terrace’ but continues on the same axis along the north side of a compartment called the ‘Reptiliary’. Rectilinear, it is largely taken up by a slightly mounded, kidney-shaped island surrounded by a narrow water channel around it. The island - the ‘Reptiliary’ - is planted with mixed shrubs including cypresses and Japanese acers with a rockery area and a small ‘cave’. The area once housed a variety of reptiles, but is now merely ornamental.

South of the road/former drive the Botanic Garden is informal and wooded. It has four main elements - the ‘Woodland Bank’, the ‘Pool’, the ‘Marsh’ and the ‘Pinetum’. The ‘Woodland Bank’ is a large, linear earthen bank which runs from the east end of the area to the pool. It is planted with deciduous trees, mainly beech, ash and sycamore, and has an informal path running along its spine. Near the west end of the ‘Reptiliary’ concrete steps flanked by box edging lead down past two large yuccas on the east and some conifers on the west (the ‘Pinetum’) to a concrete paved area and the ‘Pool’. This is roughly circular, with a small island and concrete edging. On its west side are four tanks in a row, with the pond’s sluice next to them. A stream flows southwards from here into the ‘Marsh’ area of boggy woodland, where there is a footbridge over the stream. On the east side of the pond is a grass slope with a flight of steps up it.

Source:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan, 188-99 (ref: PGW(Gm)56(SWA)).

RCAHMW, 18 July 2022

Site Record

Swansea University Botanic Garden, Swansea