extensive open grassland giving way to a wooded wilderness and panoramic vista. In 1911, Swansea Corporation purchased 47 acres of Clasemont which became Morriston Park in 1912. For several years the park received investment and new facilities, hosting many activities, carnivals and musical performances. It once incorporated a large ornate bandstand, swimming baths, lido, aviary, cricket pitch, changing rooms, shop and even a 9-hole golf course. But in recent years all of these assets, and more, have disappeared. Over the years the significance of Morriston Park has slipped from the collective consciousness. It now suffers from severe drainage problems with many paths and borders overgrown and in poor condition. Despite this neglect, the park still maintains the structure of an 18th-century landscape garden with magnificent views over the Lower Swansea valley. Industrial heritage Morriston is part of the Lower Swansea Valley. Over a period of about 150 years up until the 1920s, the valley was one of the most heavily industrialised areas of the developed world. Morriston was constructed as "Wales' earliest planned industrial village" and was laid out on a grid pattern designed by William Edwards and named after its founder, Sir John Morris, Bt. The grid pattern remains in evidence today. Morris originally named the town "Morris Town", but this was shortened into the single word "Morriston" with the Welsh language translation being Treforys. Morriston was initially constructed for the workers of the tinplate and copper industries that built up along the banks of the River Tawe in the 18th century. The Swansea Canal also ran through the area transporting coal, limestone and other products along the valley but it was drained from Clydach to Swansea in the 1970s. Some small remains, including a footbridge, are still present in Morriston. Tin-plating had almost vanished from the area by the end of the Second World War, with production in South West Wales concentrated at new works in Felindre and Port Talbot. Sir John Morris was also responsible for the construction between 1768 and 1774 of Morris Castle, considered to have been the world's first accommodation built specifically for workers by their employer. Little of the structure remains today, although its ruins are visible on high ground above the nearby Landore district. Arts Morriston is home to a number of choirs. The internationally-renowned Morriston Orpheus Choir was formed in 1935 and performs around 25 engagements annually both in the UK