A Victorian Leisure Centre

This article by Keith Tucker first appeared in the Eton Fives Association Annual Report 2005/06

The ubiquitous "Leisure Centre" containing recreational, lodging, dining and sporting facilities whether provided by the local council or part of commercial premises is an idea that most of us would consider to have its origins well and truly in modern times, but remarkably this is not the case.

Drive through the village of Jersey Marine and you will come across a hostelry that over the past few years has seen much renovation and extension. Identified today with the re-branded name of The Towers Hotel this local watering hole has its advent in the Nineteenth century.Then in 1860 Evan took a quantum leap and financed the development of Jersey Marine into a seaside resort with the building of a prestigious hotel containing all the modern appointments and comforts to be found in a first class establishment of those days. Adjacent to the main hotel building were stables and coach house, a tap room, and assembly rooms for dancing and sporting facilities. Bathing machines were also available for hire complete with attendants whereby safe bathing could be enjoyed along the extensive and gently sloping sandy beach.

The resort enjoyed many years of popularity but as fashions in holidaying changed visiting numbers fell and the hotel went into decline. During World War 2 the main hotel building and the assembly rooms were requisitioned and used as barracks. On another occasion the coach house was employed as a mortuary. In peacetime things progressively fell into decay, the roof and floors of some buildings collapsed, whilst others disappeared under encroaching vegetation. The main building became so ramshackle that, for safety, it was demolished in the 1960s. The tap room continued as a public house, changing hands on a number of occasions. An attempt to restore some of the buildings to their former glory had some success in the 1990s, but by the turn of the millennium the buildings were vacant and vandalised with even the roof slates having been stolen.

At the eleventh hour a consortium of local business men purchased the whole concern and have in effect repeated what Evan Evans did all those years earlier. Much of the remaining buildings have undergone extensive modifications and have been extended to well over double their original size. The Tap Room is now fronted by a glazed �conservatory� and the Coachouse and Assembly Rooms are now bedrooms. Another completely new building containing further bedrooms has recently been erected to the west, which ends within inches of an earlier structure that some visitors may look at with some curiosity.

The three sided edifice was built for the enjoyment of the popular pastime of fives, referred to in Welsh as "chwarae pel" (literally ball playing). This game was originally played against the church wall on Sundays, but was also later played against any convenient blank wall. In its most developed form the game was played in a purpose built court not unlike that for squash, but only having three sides. Purists may argue that the court at Jersey Marine is not a proper fives court, since it does not have all of the constructional elements. The side of the chapel at Eton College, which was supported by buttresses, formed bays in which the boys could play. One bay at the foot of the chapel steps was different: the steps' handrail forming a hazard. A landing between the two flights of steps extended the playing area. This bay is the model on which Eton Fives courts are based. In Rugby Fives the court has four sides whilst a Winchester Fives court is similar but has a bulge in one wall. So, I suppose it best to describe the one at Jersey Marine as a Handball Court or "cwrt chwarae pel". The strange thing is that if racquets were not used at the court then why is there one depicted in bas relief brickwork set in the southern wall? It is surely a great shame that the game has fallen out of fashion in the Principality. One reason for this may be due to the fact that it is a sport that has few spectators. Fives is a players' game and apart from the game itself is most prized for the camaraderie on court and the spirit in which the matches are played.

Although not so elaborately designed there are at least two other examples of fives courts locally. One simple construction is set into a large retaining wall on the Gnoll estate towards the rear of Little Gnoll House in Neath, whilst there is another at Nelson to the north of Pontypridd.

Yet this is not all - the court had a secondary purpose and the clue to this other use can be found by examining the outside of the east wall. Set in stone within the bay of the central blind archway is an emblem. At the centre is a heart with the date 1864 This is surrounded by a belt and buckle with the words"Gwrol Galon Hyd Angau" meaning "Undaunted Heart Till Death". Both are surmounted by an Imperial State Crown. The emblem is that of the 17th Glamorgan Volunteer Rifle Corps. Great concern over the coastal defences of Britain came about in the middle of the 19th century. This had been caused by a general unrest in Europe and in particular by the desires of the Emperor Napoleon III which were seen as so serious that the Government considered that there was a real threat of invasion by France. Since any dispute abroad would leave the defences of the country severely depleted, the Government sought to revive the Volunteer Movement that had existed earlier in the century. The Lord Lieutenant of each county, C.R.M.Talbot of Margam in the case of Glamorgan, was instructed to make an appeal for the formation of volunteer rifle corps for coastal defence. As such local landed gentry and those of wealth involved wit hcivic duty were approached. In the Neath area the Glamorgan Volunteer Corps were inaugurated on 2nd June 1860. Evan Evans was commissioned as Captain with his son-in-law David Bevan as Lieutenant. The corps of 100 men consisted mainly of workers from his brewery. Although not paid for their services, a volunteer was respected by the community and would doubtless be looked upon favourably by his employer. Armaments were supplied by Government, the cost of uniforms and operating this small "army" of men being financed by Evan Evans. The troops would be regularly exercised on manoeuvres at Crymlyn Burrows and it is likely that the fives court was pressed into service as a rifle range for target practice. An engraving in the London Illustrated News shows a review of the troops at the brewery in Cadoxton. The company presented their Captain with an illuminated address, a shako, cross belts and a sword of Damascus steel in a silver scabbard engraved with embossed hilt and guard.

It is indeed sad that there is no apparent alternative use for the court that has any commercial viability. An approach to the Museum of Welsh Life with a view to remove the structure to St. Fagan's was unsuccessful since with the protection of a Grade 2 listing, the court was not seen as being under imminent threat. This is the stalemate position that so many buildings get into, only to further deteriorate and ultimately collapse.