Parkmill

Parkmill
The ford, at Parkmill, Gower
Parkmill is located in Swansea
Parkmill
Parkmill
Location within Swansea
OS grid referenceSS545891
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSWANSEA (Welsh: Abertawe)
Postcode districtSA3
Dialling code01792
PoliceSouth Wales
FireMid and West Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Swansea
51°34′58″N 4°06′05″W / 51.58274°N 4.10132°W / 51.58274; -4.10132

Parkmill (Welsh: Melin y Parc) is a village in the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, midway between the villages of Penmaen and Ilston, about eight miles (13 km) west of Swansea, and about one mile (1.5 km) from the north coast of the Bristol Channel. The village lies to the north of the A4118, the main South Gower road between Swansea and Port Eynon, in a wooded area, at the bottom of a valley.

The building at the centre of the village is a former school that is now home to the West Glamorgan Girl Guides Activity Centre. Pennard golf course lies immediately to the south of the village. Parkmill is in the Gower ward of the City and County of Swansea.

Parkmill's only religious building is the Mount Pisgah United Reformed Church, a Congregational chapel, erected in 1822 and rebuilt in 1890.

The area is little changed from the mid 19th century, when Samuel Lewis said in his 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849):

The hamlet of Park-Mill, forming the most populous part of the parish, [Ilston] is yet extremely rural; and the surrounding scenery, which is characterized by features of tranquillity and seclusion, is enlivened by the small rivulet called Pennarth Pill, winding along a beautiful dell, in which are the ruins of an ancient chapel. On this stream a cloth manufactory was established early in the present century, but it has been discontinued.[1]

The 'cloth manufactory', a 12th-century water-powered corn and saw mill, at Parkmill has since been renovated and a rural crafts centre sited in it, called the Gower Heritage Centre.[2]

  1. ^ "Iddole – Is-Y-Graig , A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1849), pp. 440–443". British History Online website. University of London & History of Parliament Trust. 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  2. ^ "Gower Heritage Centre". Gower Heritage Centre website. Gower Heritage Centre. 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2007.