Pamela Morgan of the Botanic Garden’s has written an excellent article on the history of the house for her history blog.
The building currently known as Veranda House stands on the eastern side of the Botanic Gardens, hidden from public view: but it can be spied from the park and the Gardens if you know where to look.
The building, Grade II listed stands on the site of an earlier building, and one larger than the current.
There are a few variations of the fate of the old house, with some variation.
What is certain, is that:
15th April 1847, Henry Hussey Vivian, the eldest son of John Henry Vivian, marries Jessie in Swindon
25th May 1847, John Henry Vivian buys Veranda and 16 acres of land
28th February 1848, Jessie dies 8 days after the birth of her son Ernest Ambrose Vivian (the 2nd Lord Swansea). It was Jessie and Henry Hussey who, it has been said, were to move into Veranda House
The house itself was still standing in 1851 when the estate map of Singleton was drawn up. But the house had been renamed as Wern Eynon, and in the 1851 census was home to one agricultural labourer.
By 1853 Parc Wern mansion had been purchased by John Henry and a number of things started to fall into place. We can see by the 1851 estate map that there are still elements of the old “home farm” at the lacrosse field at the junction of Mumbles Road and Brynmill Lane. Many of the buildings seem to be the same ones on the 1837 tithe map. With the purchase of Parc Wern the Vivians seem to have decided to remove the remainder of the buildings on the lacrosse field and transfer their purpose to both home-farm and the area that would become the Botanic Gardens.
It is at this time that Veranda is demolished to clear the area around it for a large and expansive garden. The house itself is replaced with the current building, and becomes the home of Singleton’s Head Gardener.
I hope to cover the mapping of the gardens and the 3d models of it at a later date.