Swansea
Swansea - Overview
Swansea is the second largest city in Wales, and is located on the south coast. In the late tenth century the area was part of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth, but Swansea is thought to have been founded in 1013 as a Viking settlement, established by the Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard who had led a number of raiding parties in the area. Following the Norman Conquest, Swansea was integrated into the marcher lordship of Gower, and the first castle built in 1106.
Initially a port for the export of wool, hides and cloth, by the mid-sixteenth century coal and limestone was being shipped from here. Owing to its favourable location on the coast and its trading links with other towns and cities, Swansea’s industrial production began to flourish in the early eighteenth century. Copper smelting and processing became central industries in Swansea and earned it the nickname ‘Copperopolis’. The Hafod Copper works, founded in 1810, were the largest in the world, but other metallurgical industries and coal mining prospered as well. Rapid expansion of the town took place to provide housing, schools and places of worship for the industrial workers and their families. Included in these were the Tabernacle Chapel, the so-called ‘Cathedral of Welsh Nonconformity’, and Morris Castle, one of the earliest multi-storey residential blocks in Europe. As a result, Swansea’s population was only overtaken by Cardiff in 1881.
In the late eighteenth century when seaside resorts developed around the Welsh coast, Swansea attempted for a time to follow along. However, as the heavy industries had adverse effects on the quality of the environment, the bathing establishments soon relocated east to nearby Mumbles. Despite this, tourists were lured by the spectacle of large machinery and the roaring furnaces. Numerous visitors from continental Europe marvelled at the international flotillas moored in Swansea harbour or developed a morbid fascination for the ragged street urchins and impoverished workers. As part of her relief efforts for the industrial workers of Swansea, the international opera star Adelina Patti gave annual concerts in the town’s former Prince Albert Hall. Born in Spain to Italian parents, Patti had set up her home on the nearby Craig-y-Nos estate.
Accounts of Travel
"Oxford, und die Englischen Fabrikdistricte, im Februar 1829", 1829
Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782 – 1859)
D. 27sten Februar. Ein warmer Frühlingstag. Die Lage der freundlichen Stadt am Fuße der Berge und dicht am Meere ist angenehm. Ein geräumiger Hafen ist neuerlich angelegt, da wo der Svansea Fluß sich in das Meer ergießt. In der Nähe ist ein erstaunlicher Kupferverkehr. Die Kupfererze kommen zu Schiff von Cornwall, und werden in den dortigen großen Kupferhütten verschmolzen. Ich hatte an den Besitzer des größten und besten Werkes, Mr. Vivian, eine Empfehlung, traf ihn aber leider nicht. Indessen wurde ich von dem Aufseher des Werkes freundlich aufgenommen, und meine Wünsche, das Werk nach allen Theilen kennen zu lernen, wurden vollkommen, mit großer Bereitwilligkeit befriedigt, welches mir um so schätzbarer war, indem die dortigen Processe von den unsrigen gänzlich abweichen.
27 February. A warm spring day. The friendly town is situated at the foot of the mountains and close to the sea. A spacious harbour has been constructed recently in the spot where the river of Swansea flows into the sea. Nearby there is an astounding amount of traffic associated with the copper trade. The copper ore arrives from Cornwall by ship, and is smelted here in the great copper works. I carried a letter of recommendation for the owner of the largest and best plant, Mr Vivian, but was not fortunate enough to meet him. Instead I was affectionately welcomed by the foreman, and my personal wish, to become acquainted with all the sections of the works, was fulfilled with much readiness. This I found invaluable as their processes differ entirely from ours.
Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika, 1840
Joseph Russegger (1802 – 1863)
Man hat Kohlen im Ueberflusse und auf eine unabsehbare Zeit; man besitzt in einzelnen Oertlichkeiten das erforderliche Kraftwasser und Gefälle der Maschinen; gute Strassen durchziehen das Land; Eisenbahnen überall, wo es nur der Vortheil erheischt; die Hüttenwerke liegen theils an der Meeresküste, theils ziehen sich grosse Kanäle weit ins Land hinein und Schiffe von bedeutender Grösse laden unmittelbar an den Hütten und Erzplätzen ein und aus; zwischen den Schornsteinen der grossartigen Etablissements ragen die Masten der Briggs empor in den Rauchwolken der Oefen schwellen die Segel, wehen die Flaggen; kurz, der Continentbewohner erhält Eindrücke, von denen er sich in seinem Lande kaum träumen liess. So ist es der Fall mit den Kupferhütten bei Swansea, deren grösste, das Etablissement des Mr. Vivian, allein jährlich eine Million Zentner Kupfererze aus den verschiedensten Theilen der alten und neuen Welt verschmilzt. Hier sieht man neben den Kupfererzen von Cornwall, Devonshire und Cumberland, jene von Valparaiso, aus Australien, von Cuba, von Nordamerika, Norwegen, Italien etc. Es ist eine Welthütte, die im Stande ist von allen Küstenländern der Erde Erze zu übernehmen und kostenlohnend zu Gute zu bringen, die im Stande ist ihre Produkte sehr häufig wohlfeiler in viele Länder zu senden, als diese sie in loco erzeugen; – wie schwer ist es daher mit einem solchen Rivalen Conkurrenz zu halten!
Coal is available in overabundance and for an unforeseeable future; various locations come with the required water power and incline for the machines; roads of good quality cross the land; trains run wherever the benefits demand. The metallurgical plants are partly located near the coast, and partly along canals which extend far into the land. Ships of enormous size load and unload in direct proximity of the plants and ore-mining sites; in between the smokestacks of the grand establishments, the masts and brigs rise up, sails billow and burgees flutter beneath the smoke clouds of the furnaces. In short, the continental visitor gains impressions of which he did not dare dream in his home land. It is the same with the copper works near Swansea, the largest of them, owned by Mr Vivian, annually processing a million hundredweight of copper ore from all the corners of the old and new world. Here, next to the copper ore from Cornwall, Devonshire and Cumberland, is that from Valparaiso, from Australia, from Cuba, from North America, Norway, Italy etc. This is a world-class plant which is able to receive ore from each coastal nation of the world and refine it cost-efficiently; this is a plant that frequently exports and trades its goods at a much lower cost to many countries than they are able to produce the same goods locally. How difficult it is to compete against such a rival!
