First Open Day at Llanelli’s ambitious Goods Shed project a huge success
The first Open Day at Llanelli’s ambitious Goods Shed project was a huge success.
St Barnabas Hall was full for a consultation meeting about the plans for the derelict Llanelli Railway Goods Shed building in nearby Marsh Street.
And, despite the wild and windy weather, enthusiastic supporters of the project joined special guided tours of the site – the first time in years the public has been allowed access inside.
“The day was a great success and you couldn’t fail to be impressed with the interest and the enthusiasm shown by the local community,” said Goods Shed project officer Robert Lloyd.
“All those who took part in the tours were surprised at the scale of the project. We now aim to build on the renewed interest in the site and accelerate the plans to refurbish and develop the Goods Shed, a Grade II Listed building of great historical importance.”
The Open Day was held just days after the Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust charity secured a licence agreement with Network Rail to access the site and part of the building.
“This is an important first step for the charity as it allows us more opportunities to show interested parties, member of the public and community partners the scale of the project.
“It is THE largest independently organised project of its kind in the Llanelli area. It is estimated the project could take in the region of £3million to complete over a five-year-plus period.
“Since its inception, the Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust has shown its commitment to stay in the project for the long haul.
“Projects of this scale take time, but there is a substantial amount of goodwill and enthusiasm for the project out there in the community of Llanelli.
“The dialogue with Network Rail has taken some time to get to this point, but the aim is accelerate the development of the project from here on as we work to gain grant funds and source cash from benefactors, businesses and individuals.”
“This is an exciting project to breathe new life into a derelict historical building.
"The plans to bring the building back into community use include everything from creating arts and crafts venues, offices for start-up businesses and social enterprises.”
“The overall vision sees the creation of a community hub, arts centre, workshops, offices, café and heritage centre – the key to it all being ‘community’.
“This is no ‘White Elephant’ project. We aim to develop ideas and partnerships with the community that will see the Goods Shed used seven days a week. A project of this size and scale must be sustainable in the long term. Given the support of the local community and based on the great response we have already had in terms of ideas for the project the sustainability targets are very achievable.”
The public consultation event at St Barnabas Hall was opened by Nia Griffith MP, chair of the Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust.
She said: “Restoring this building will give a huge lift the area. We want to see this historic building restored, and used in ways which will secure a viable income to cover future running costs.
“We have had to do a lot of basic work behind the scenes in preparation for our main funding bids and we are very pleased to have secured funds to employ a project officer, Robert Lloyd, who will now be able to accelerate the process.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the project should contact Robert Lloyd by calling 07777 683637 or alternatively you can email him on rlloydpr@btinternet.com
Weblinks –
http://www.llanellirailwaygoodsshedtrust.org.uk/
Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Llanelli-Railway-Goods-Shed-Trust/822722171085322
@LlanelliRGST
A full house for the public consultation meeting at St Barnabas Hall, Llanelli.
History:
The South Wales Railway opened in stages from 1850, the line through Llanelli being opened on 11th October 1852. The final part of the route to Fishguard was postponed and instead, a terminus built at Neyland for the Irish traffic. It was not until 1906 that the extension to Fishguard was eventually built.
The Great Western Railway undertook a very large programme of investment in the 1870s, rebuilding many stations and improving the goods facilities to accommodate the increasing traffic, and also to attract more business. Proposals for rebuilding of both the station and goods shed at Llanelli appeared in the early 1870s, perhaps, coincidentally with the removal of the broad gauge. However, they were more likely to have been driven by the substantial increase in demand, particularly for goods facilities for the tinplate industries of the area.
Llanelli was to become one of the most important centres for tinplate in the world, and the Great Western Railway had an ideal opportunity to capitalise on the growth of the industry in the Llanelli and surrounding area.
The improvement of rail facilities at Llanelli entailed redeveloping the existing South Wales Railway station site to accommodate a larger station. Prior to the works to the station taking place, the contract for erecting the new goods shed was let first and the building completed by 1875.
Goods traffic in its pre–World War II pattern generally declined on the railways and the need for the traditional goods sheds at stations became less as modernisation of rolling stock and methods such as containerisation and bulk traffic were promoted. Thus many of the smaller goods facilities were abandoned, and during the 1960s and 1970s were demolished, sometimes to make way for a different type of commercial development.
Llanelli, however, is believed to be unique in South Wales in retaining its goods shed whereas those other stations on the line have had their, often Brunel-designed, goods sheds demolished.
Furthermore, the Llanelli shed was probably unique in its size and importance when built by comparison with other goods sheds along the line. None would have been similar to that at Llanelli since no investment on the same scale took place.
Although a few of the goods sheds built by the Great Western Railway during their massive expansion programme in the 1870s still survive, none of them are in this part of South Wales. The goods shed at Llanelli represents a style of architecture typical of the Great Western Railway in that period, but few examples remain.
A significant historical event occurred at the goods shed in Llanelli on August 19th 1911. A large crowd had gathered at the station in support of a strike held by railwaymen. Troops were sent to ensure trains were not held up, and in the ensuing disorder the Riot Act was read and two bystanders were shot and killed. This sparked a riot in the area which involved the looting and burning of wagons at the Goods Shed and tragically resulted in four people being killed in the explosions that followed.
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