- published: 15 Oct 2015
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Llandarcy is a village near Neath in Neath Port Talbot county borough, southwest Wales, and formerly the site of the UK's first oil refinery. The village, which lies near the Junction 43 of the M4 Motorway, was originally designed as a garden village to house the workers for the refinery, built by BP Oil between 1918-22.
Llandarcy was chosen as a site for a refinery because of its proximity to Swansea docks, where crude oil could be transported by sea from the Middle East. The site was damaged by Luftwaffe bombing in 1940. At its peak the refinery was a major employer in South West Wales, with over 2600 workers. However, it was also responsible for industrial pollution at nearby Crymlyn Bog, an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Operations at the refinery were gradually been scaled back in the late 20th century, and the site closed in 1998.
The village, named after William Knox D'Arcy (founding director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, forerunner of BP) comprised approximately 250 houses constructed of stone with a community centre and local shop. The village was the site of the murders of school girls Pauline Floyd, Geraldine Hughes and Sandra Newton in 1973. Their killer's identity remained a mystery until 29 years later in 2002 when DNA evidence was taken by South Wales Police from the grave of Joe Kappen, who worked as a doorman, lorry and bus driver. Kappen died of lung cancer on 17 June 1990, at the age of 49, and took his secret with him to the grave.
Juan says she's a funny kind of girl
Who sits on rooftops to escape the world
She smokes her cigarettes and keeps a journal
Dreaming of the day she'll fly to Londres
She lives with her folks in East L.A.
She goes up to Hollywood to hear bands play
She listens to Smiths cassettes and
Robos with her friends on Friday nights
Killin' time 'til the big flight
And she'll leave all the smog behind
As the 747 starts to climb away
In the big sky
And the Virgin Atlantic life
Will banish all the fear and all the strife
As it takes her to Londres
Some cholos shot Flaco yesterday
His wife has a little baby on the way
Last night she heard helicopters
It seems she hears them
Every other day