Friends of Morriston Park is a voluntary group set up to support, maintain and develop this historically significant garden. Sir John Morris, 1st Baronet of Clasemont, built, a mansion in 1775 called Clasemont at Pengwern on the western slopes of the lower Swansea valley. The mansion had a garden of extensive open grassland giving way to a wooded wilderness and panoramic vista. In 1911 Swansea Cor
poration purchased 47 acres of Clasemont which became Morriston Park in 1912. For several years the park received investment and new facilities, hosting many popular activities, carnivals and musical performances. It once incorporated a large ornate bandstand, swimming baths, lido, aviary, cricket pitch, changing rooms, shop and even a 9-hole golf course. But in recent years all of these assets, and more, have disappeared. Over the years the significance of Morriston Park has slipped from the collective consciousness. It has suffered from severe drainage problems with many paths and borders becoming overgrown and in poor condition. Despite this neglect, the park is still a lovely example of a late Victorian/early Edwardian urban park, with extant 18th century picturesque, landscape garden features and magnificent views over the lower Swansea valley. Our goal is to rejuvenate this tarnished jewel in the crown of Swansea east, thereby enabling Morriston, once again, to sit proudly in the premier division of the city’s parks and gardens
