History of Swansea facts for kids

Swansea is a city in South Wales with a long and interesting past. People have lived here for thousands of years! Located by the River Tawe and Swansea Bay, it was an important town in the Middle Ages. Later, it became famous during the Industrial Revolution because of its factories. Swansea grew a lot in the 1800s. Even though industries changed, the city kept growing. Swansea officially became a city in 1969.

Early History of Swansea

The Gower Peninsula near Swansea has very old human remains. The oldest are bones from about 22,000 BC, known as the Red Lady of Paviland. People from the Bronze Age and Iron Age also lived here. They left behind burial mounds and hill forts. Even a Roman villa was found on Gower.

Around the 900s to 1100s, Vikings visited the Swansea Bay area. They might have given the area its name, "Swansea." This name comes from their language. At the same time, the Welsh called the area Aper Tywi.

Medieval Swansea and the Castle

After the Normans took over England, they also moved into Wales. The Gower area became a special Norman territory. Swansea was made its capital. The Normans encouraged English people to move here.

A motte and bailey castle was built in Swansea in 1106. This was a simple castle made of earth and wood. The local Welsh people attacked it many times. Later, the castle was rebuilt using stone. The Braose family owned Gower in the 1200s. They lived at Oystermouth Castle instead of Swansea Castle.

Swansea's Port and Industry

Swansea is located near the South Wales Coalfield. This meant coal was easy to find. By 1550, coal was being shipped out from Swansea. Limestone from Mumbles was also exported. Swansea was already a busy port. Even though it was small, it had one of the first town charters in Wales. Many people moved to Swansea from the Welsh countryside.

In the 1700s, some people wanted Swansea to become a tourist spot. But industry quickly took over. Building factories near coal was smart. It was cheaper to bring copper ore to the coal than to ship coal to the ore. Swansea had coal, a river for ships, and limestone. It also had trade routes across the Bristol Channel to Cornwall, where copper ore was found.

As the Industrial Revolution began, many factories were built along the River Tawe. These factories mostly smelted copper. Coal came by special tracks called waggonways. Copper ore arrived by ship. The finished copper was then shipped out. Swansea became known as "Copperopolis." The lower Tawe valley became full of factories.

More docks were built along the river. Tracks for trains and wagons connected the factories and coal mines. Villages like Vivianstown (now Hafod) grew around the factories. Morriston was founded around 1790 by the Morris family, who owned factories. By 1750, the Swansea area made half of Britain's copper.

Some copper smelters closed but reopened as pottery factories. Pottery also needs a lot of coal, which was available locally. Clay and flint came from the West Country by water. The Glamorgan Pottery opened in 1813, competing with the Cambrian Pottery. You can see examples of Swansea pottery at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Swansea Museum.

The Swansea and Mumbles Railway started in the early 1800s. It was first used to carry coal from mines. It was a horse-drawn tramway. Later, it began carrying passengers regularly in the 1860s.

Challenges and Changes in the 1800s

As Swansea grew, toll gates that were once outside town ended up in the middle of it. People had to pay to travel around their own town. This made people angry. In 1843, Swansea residents joined the Rebecca Riots. They burned the Ty Coch gate in St Thomas. In the same year, copper workers went on strike because their wages were cut. They returned to work five weeks later without getting their wages back.

The 1840s were a time of unrest in Swansea. There were protests and riots. Soldiers were stationed in Swansea to keep order. The city needed a strong military presence. This was to handle angry workers and people from the countryside.

In the early 1800s, factory owners lived in large estates away from the factories. These areas are now Brynmill, Sketty, and the Uplands. Workers lived in crowded, poor conditions near the Tawe river. The smoke from the copper works blew east, making the air bad in St Thomas and Kilvey. One doctor described the Swansea Valley as "literally burnt." Few plants could grow there. George Borrow, a writer, called Swansea a "large, bustling, dirty, gloomy place."

Swansea's population grew from 6,000 in 1801 to 17,000 in 1851. By 1881, it was over 65,000. Many people moved to Swansea from other parts of Wales and beyond.

Victorian Slums and Reforms

To help ships dock, a new dock called the "Float" was built in 1859. The River Tawe was moved to create it. Swansea faced serious health problems. There was no proper sewage system until 1857. Clean water was hard to find. Cholera outbreaks happened in 1832, 1849, and 1866.

In 1865, Swansea had a rare outbreak of yellow fever. It came from infected mosquitoes on a ship from Cuba. Twenty-seven people got sick, and 15 died.

The local government had to act because of these health issues. They decided to clear out some crowded, unhealthy areas, like Greenhill. This area had many Irish immigrants who had fled the Irish Potato Famine. Landlords, including important local figures, made a lot of money from these crowded homes.

Pollution also caused the decline of the oyster trade in Mumbles. What was once a busy industry almost completely disappeared within five years.

Industrial Decline and Modern Swansea

In the late 1800s, Cardiff became the main coal port in South Wales. Swansea's copper smelters faced competition from other countries. Some factories started making other metals. The demand for tinplate grew, especially in the USA. This helped Swansea's economy for a while.

During the Second World War, Swansea was heavily bombed by Nazi Germany. The town centre was flattened in February 1941 during the "Three Nights' Blitz." Many homes were also destroyed. After the war, the town centre was rebuilt. It moved slightly from its original location.

The Mumbles Railway closed in 1960. By then, industry in the valley was declining. The land was left with abandoned factories and waste. The Lower Swansea Valley Scheme began to clean up the polluted land. Today, areas like the Enterprise Zone at Llansamlet are built on this reclaimed land. The old dock areas have been redeveloped into places like the Leisure Centre and Marina.