Ymddiriedolaeth Penllergare Trust

Ymddiriedolaeth Penllergare Trust

At a glance

Causes

  • Education
  • Environment
  • Gardens and parks
  • Local / community
  • Museums / heritage

Other details

Geographical remit: 
National - Wales

Objectives

In the mid-1990s planning agreements had failed to provide the promised country park in Penllergare Valley Woods (Penllergare) on the northern fringe of Swansea to an acceptable quality and safety; and failed also to protect the historic fabric of the Registered (Grade II) park and gardens and its two scheduled monuments.

Originally under the auspices of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, the Penllergare Trust was set up in 2000 as an independent charity (Regd No 1082128) to:

• further the protection, conservation and restoration of the cultural landscape of Penllergare

• enable local people and visitors to enjoy in safety this, the principal and largest recreational green space in North Swansea

• promote knowledge and appreciation of Penllergare, its history and biodiversity

• protect and enhance Penllergare's diversity of wildlife

• provide sustainable training, employment and voluntary action.

A decade later the Trust had raised upwards of £1 million and transformed Penllergare into a safe, functional and enjoyable place to visit. In so doing it had:

• re-opened the path network and built bridges

• begun the regeneration of the historic woodlands

• delivered a comprehensive community and learning programme

• obtained leases for the country park and astronomical observatory

 

Activities

Most recently and informed by the unique archive of John Dillwyn Llewelyn’s C19 photography, as well as extensive research, the Heritage Lottery Funded ‘Parks for People’ Phase 1 of the £2.9 million restoration project has centred on the rugged picturesqueness of the upper valley. This has entailed saving, repairing and bringing back into use historic structures such as JDL’s astronomical observatory, the silted upper lake and the stone-arched Llewelyn Bridge. More information is on the Trust’s website at penllergare.org

Phase 2, for which HLF has awarded a development grant, will bring the rest of the designed landscape into coordinated management by restoring and reviving the formal walled gardens in their ornamental woodland setting, and balancing wetland habitat conservation with access in the river corridor.

Valley Woods is therefore well on the way to becoming a regionally unique and diverse visitor attraction, as well as achieving greater resilience through more opportunities for volunteering and increased income.

However the founding members are now nearing retirement and the Trust is therefore seeking their successors who share their belief that parks and gardens of this scale and complexity really can be saved and managed by an independent local charity,

If you therefore have a background in the management of the historic or natural heritage; or business management, or education or fund-raising, then please consider helping to safeguard and manage one of the most important and diverse historic parks and gardens in Wales.

No current opportunities

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