Swansea Docks – Origin of Names

In the 1960’s, with the redevelopment of the north side of the Prince of Wales Dock, the rebuilding of the roadway from the main docks entrance to the new Ferryport, and the construction of the new Marine Control Building, the three main men of the day decided to perpetuate their heritage by ascribing their names to these various works.

      Keith Langdon, the Docks Engineer, wanted the new main dock roadway to be called Langdon Road, but Bill King, the Docks Manager, decided that he would rather retain that privilege for himself and, to this day, ‘King’s Road’ remains the name of that particular stretch of highway. Nevertheless, Bill King generously allowed Keith Langdon to attach his name to the less-important new roadway along the north side of the Prince of Wales Dock, and this is still known as ‘Langdon Road’. Ironically, owing to its level of trade with the local building industry and the general public, Langdon Road has turned out to be much more of a docks ‘landmark’ than King’s Road ever was. Oh well…
      Meanwhile, the Dockmaster, Captain Jack White felt it fitting that his name should be appended to the new Marine Control Building, and this became officially known as the ‘White House’. I suppose we should be grateful that the new Harbour Office, which was constructed under the auspices of the later Port Engineer, John Pope, didn’t become known as ‘The Vatican’.

      Other more historical links come directly from the industries of the day, such as the Graigola Merthyr Patent Fuel Company, the Rose Fuel Works, the Phoenix Patent Fuel Works and the Petolite Fuel Company, which gave their names to Graigola Wharf, Rose Wharf, and Phoenix Wharf on the south side of Kings Dock, and to the Petolite Yard on the south side of the Prince of Wales Dock.

     There are some interesting residential connections too with local industry, such as the former Lambert’s Cottages alongside ‘D’ Shed which housed workers from Charles Lambert’s Copperworks on the south side of the Prince of Wales Dock. Also, the adjacent conurbation of Port Tennant owes its very name to the owner of the Neath & Swansea Junction Canal, George Tennant, as the Swansea terminus of his canal was a small dock within Fabian’s Bay known as ‘Port Tennant’. Later, when the Prince of Wales Dock was built over the site of George Tennant’s canal basin, the south-east wharf of the new dock was given over to traffic from the canal and became known as Tennant’s Wharf. At the eastern end of the Prince of Wales Dock, the canal company also built a lock keeper’s cottage which remained in use as a domestic residence until well into the 1990’s. 

     The docks themselves are named after distinguished historic royal individuals although, for some reason, they remain curiously anonymous. So, for the sake of clarification, the Prince of Wales Dock is named after Edward, Prince of Wales, who opened the facility in 1881; Kings Dock alludes to King Edward VII (formerly the aforesaid Edward, Prince of Wales) who ‘cut the first sod’ of the dock in 1904, and Queens Dock takes its name from Queen Mary who, together with her husband King George V, performed the opening ceremony in 1920.

    Residents and visitors to the Swansea Marina will be familiar with the area known as Pocketts Wharf, but some may not know that it owes its name to Mr. James Wathen Pockett, who relocated his company’s steam packet business from the North Dock to the South Dock Basin in 1871. ( See section on paddle steamers )

 I ’m sure that others will be able to contribute much more on the origin of names within the Swansea Docks area, but now I really must have a look at Port Talbot!


Ian Rogerson