Llandarcy is a village near Neath in the Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales, and was the site of the first oil refinery in the United Kingdom. It was originally designed as a garden village to house the workers for the BP refinery built between 1918 and 1922. The village is near junction 43 of the M4 motorway. [1]
Llandarcy was chosen as a site for a refinery because Neath Rural District Council was the only council in the country at that time which could guarantee the requisite daily volume of water required by the refinery. This was supplied from the recently constructed reservoir at Ystradfellte, which was proposed and promoted by Councillor Howells of Skewen. Llandarcy's proximity to Swansea docks, where crude oil could be transported by sea from the Middle East was incidental. Llandarcy was the source of the fuel pipeline PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean) which supplied fuel to the D-Day landings. The site was damaged by Luftwaffe bombing in 1940. [2] At its peak the refinery was a major employer in South West Wales, with over 2,600 workers. [3] However, it was also responsible for industrial pollution at nearby Crymlyn Bog, an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. [4] Operations at the refinery were gradually scaled back in the late 20th century, and the site closed in 1998. [5]
The village was named after William Knox D'Arcy, a founding director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (the forerunner of BP). Consisting of exactly 100 houses and flats, each property was designed to be different, and they are all of stone construction, with a community centre and local shop. The village is a conservation area as its construction followed the lines of the Cadbury village.
The village was the site of the murders of schoolgirls Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd in 1973. Their killer's identity remained a mystery until 29 years later, in 2002, when DNA evidence was taken by South Wales Police from the grave of Joseph Kappen, confirming him as the killer. Kappen, who lived in Sandfields, Port Talbot and worked as a doorman, lorry and bus driver, died of lung cancer on 17 June 1990, at the age of 49, and took his secret with him to the grave. [6]
The BP refinery also operated a sports and leisure club. When the refinery closed in 1998, the leisure facilities were acquired by Llandarcy Park Ltd. They redeveloped the site to a new health and fitness club, a restaurant and hotel. [7] Llandarcy hosts the Virgin Active Health & Racquets Club, formerly the Glamorgan Health & Racquets Club, which has a range of indoor and outdoor sports facilities, [8] and the Llandarcy Academy of Sport, which has one of only two indoor grass training fields in Wales. [9]
The disused land from the scaling down of the oil refinery has found a number of new uses. [10] Part of the site is now occupied by offices of Natural Resources Wales. The land near the old refinery entrance close to the M4 junction 43 is now a business park. All of the remaining brownfield land occupied by the refinery is being re-developed into a new village called Coed Darcy. The Prince's Trust is an interested party in this development, which seeks to develop the site as an "urban village" in the same vein as the Poundbury village project in Dorset. [11]
Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town. It is one of the biggest steelworks in the world, but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s. The population was 31,550 in 2021, comprising about a fifth of the 141,931 population of Neath Port Talbot.
Neath is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historically in Glamorgan, the town is located on the River Neath, seven miles east-northeast of Swansea.
Neath Port Talbot is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf to the east, Powys and Carmarthenshire to the north; and Swansea to the west.
Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The Welsh name may indicate that the church, llan, is protected from the wind, awel. Alternatively, Sawel may be a derivative of Saul, St Paul's earlier name, who, supposedly, once landed at Briton Ferry. An alternative Welsh name unused today is Rhyd y Brython, a direct translation of Briton Ferry. The Normans referred to the River crossing as La Brittonne and Leland in 1540 as Britanne Fery.
Skewen is a village within the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, in Wales. The village is served by Skewen railway station and has its own rugby club.
Margam is a suburb and community of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being larger and extending into Taibach community.
Coedffranc is a village in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales.
Coedffranc West is an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. As of May 2022, it is represented by two councillors from the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
Sandfields is a mainly residential district of Port Talbot, Wales. The area is located in South Wales on a narrow coastal plain between Mynydd Dinas and the sea. The M4 motorway, A48 trunk road and South Wales Main Line run nearby. The area includes a council estate, industrial areas and a seaside resort at Aberavon Beach.
Blaengwrach is a community near Glynneath and Resolven in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It is also the name of an electoral ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough, which is a larger area than the Community. The principal settlement is Cwmgwrach, a village on the south side of the Neath valley, of which the eastern end is called Blaengwrach, which sometimes causes confusion.
Baglan Bay is a part of the Swansea Bay coastline and a district of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Baglan Bay is also the name of a local government community. Baglan Bay is served by the M4 Motorway and the A48 road which traverse the northeastern edge of the area.
The Llandarcy Oil Refinery, also known as the National Oil Refinery, BP Llandarcy and Skewen refinery, was the United Kingdom's first oil refinery, initially opened by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company on 29 June 1922, although operations had begun on 1 July 1921. Before this, the only oil refined in the UK came from Scottish shale.
Crymlyn Burrows is an area in Wales to the east of Swansea city centre, and south of Crymlyn Bog. It is bounded by Jersey Marine Beach to the south and the River Neath to the east. The land west of Baldwin's Crescent falls within the City and County of Swansea and from Baldwin's Crescent eastwards falls within Neath Port Talbot. The area northwest of the Fabian Way contains a small settlement at Elba Crescent and Baldwins Crescent, and areas of industry and commerce.
The A4241 Port Talbot Peripheral Distributor Road is a distributor road serving Port Talbot, Wales.
The Baglan electoral ward includes the communities of Baglan and Baglan Bay, in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Baglan falls within the parliamentary constituency of Aberavon.
Coed Darcy is a new village currently being developed adjacent to Llandarcy in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales.
BP Oil Refinery Ltd Ground is a cricket ground in Llandarcy, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1950, when the Glamorgan Second XI played the Gloucestershire Second XI in the 1950 Minor Counties Championship. The ground has held a further 19 Second XI fixtures for the Glamorgan Second XI in both the Second XI Championship and Second XI Trophy.
Neath Football Club were a Welsh football team based in village of Llandarcy near Neath. Neath Port Talbot, in Wales. The team played in the Welsh Football League. In 2005 the team merged with Skewen Athletic to form Neath Athletic.
Joseph William Kappen, also known as the Saturday Night Strangler, was a Welsh serial killer who committed the rape and murder of three teenage girls in Llandarcy and Tonmawr, near his home town of Port Talbot, in 1973. Kappen is also suspected of committing a fourth murder in February 1976.
Media related to Llandarcy at Wikimedia Commons51°38′25.00″N3°50′53.00″W / 51.6402778°N 3.8480556°W
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