Eight months after it was lifted out of Castle Square, Swansea’s Leaf Boat is back on show, and its new berth is the park where Dylan Thomas played as a boy.
The glass and steel sculpture is being installed in the pond area close to Park Drive at Cwmdonkin Park in Uplands, and the council’s first pictures show it already standing on the drained pond bed.
A fixture of the square since 1996, the Leaf Boat was craned out in January along with the old fountain as the site was cleared for its multi-million-pound makeover. The council confirmed the park as its new home in July.
Cllr Elliott King, Swansea Council’s cabinet member for culture, human rights and equalities, said the sculpture had been “the centrepiece of the former Castle Gardens” and a well-known landmark for residents and visitors.
“Now it’s taking pride of place in Cwmdonkin Park,” he said. “In a way it’s a homecoming because it was inspired by Dylan’s work and now it’s in the park that he knew and loved.”
He added: “For the many thousands of Dylan fans who walk in his footsteps in the park every year, the Leaf Boat will resonate with them as a further reason to drop by.”
Thomas was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, directly overlooking the park, and lived there for 23 years. The park became the setting for The Hunchback in the Park, in which he remembered sailing his toy ship on the fountain basin as a child.
The Leaf Boat was created by Swansea artist Amber Hiscott, who won a council competition in the 1990s to design a public artwork for the square, drawing on Thomas’s poetry and the changing light over Swansea Bay. It was made by DAR Design, the firm that took it down again in January.
Swansea Council says Ms Hiscott has been involved throughout the discussions about the sculpture’s future and supports the move, and her work will be recognised on site through new interpretation panels.
The relocation has not been without argument. Cllr Peter May, who represents Uplands, challenged the cost at a scrutiny committee in April. He said the £40,000 he understood was being spent should have gone on toilets at Victoria Park.
The council later said the move was costing £19,000, and that the higher figure had been an early estimate. Cllr May said at the time he welcomed the sculpture’s “fitting location” given the Dylan Thomas links.
The council says the move forms part of wider efforts to strengthen Swansea’s cultural and heritage appeal, while keeping an important public artwork accessible and cared for in the long term.
Cllr King said: “We’re delighted that it’ll be in a highly visible location, in an attractive setting for residents and visitors to enjoy.”
Back in the city centre, the square the Leaf Boat left behind is due to reopen in the second half of 2027 as Castle Square Gardens, with two cafe pavilions, a play fountain and a big screen. There is no sculpture in the council’s published images of the finished gardens.
Once installation is complete the Leaf Boat will be free for anyone to see. It joins a park that relaunched its pavilion cafe as a community venture in July. Cwmdonkin also kept its Green Flag this year.
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