Swansea, Glamorgan

In 1872, John Marius Wilson wrote:

SWANSEA, a town, a parish, a district, and a hundred, in Glamorgan. The town stands on S. bay, and on S. canal, at the mouth of the river Tawe, and on the South Wales railway, at the terminus of the S. Va1e railway, 45¾ miles WNW of Cardiff; is called by the Welsh Abertawy.

The smelting of copper-ores is the staple trade; draws its supplies of ores from Cornwalland the colonies; is carried on in 15 establishments; and turns out copper to the value of about £3,500,000 a year. Iron-working, patent-metal-working, patent-fuel-making, pottery manufacture, and ship-building also are carried on. Only insignificant wharves existed prior to 1791; two piers, 1,340 and 580 feet long, and 215 feet apart at the mouth, were then constructed; a new harbour-channel for the river was cut in 1840-4, at a cost of £23,000; docks were formed in 1849-51, and 1856-61, at a cost of £95,688; a floating dock to the S, with embankment to exclude the sea, was formed mainly in 1857-9, at a cost of £169,073; and hydraulic machinery for all the docks was constructed on such a scale as to cost nearly £23 a-week for engine-power.

From Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales by John Marius Wilson, 1872.

Reproduced on "A Vision of Britain Through Time"
(www.visionofbritain.org.uk)

South Wales
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Counties of South Wales