Skewen

Skewen (Welsh Sgiwen) is a village in South Wales.

Llandarcy

Llandarcy is a village to the south of Skewen. It is the site of the first ever oil refinery in the United Kingdom. This was an important target for the German bombers during World War II. The tiny village of Llandarcy was built to house some of the workers of the Oil Refinery. The village is named after William Knox D'Arcy, founding director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). APOC is the forerunner to British Petroleum.

Related Topics:
William Knox D'Arcy - British Petroleum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oil from this refinery is piped to containers at Swansea Docks to be shipped out. Over the last 3 decades the operations at the refinery were gradually been scaled back until the final closure.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The disused land from the oil refinery has been distributed to various parties for new use. some of the land at Crymlyn Bog has been converted for use as a nature reserve. Plans are afoot to re-develop some of the brownfield land into a village. The Prince's Trust is an interested party in this development.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BP the company operating the refinery also operated a sports club. The club was originally designated for use or BP workers. Gradually, members of BP workers' families were allows to use the facility. Today the sports club has been re-developed into a comprehensive sports club. Sports facilities include: tennis couts, swimming pool, gynmasium, playing field for cricket, football, archery etc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~