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Swansea, Glamorgan

Historical Description

Swansea (called by the Welsh Abertawe), the metropolis of Wales, and in variety of products the metallurgical centre of the United Kingdom, is situated at the mouth of the Tawe in Glamorgan, and is the most westerly seaport in the Bristol Channel. Built on the neck of The peninsula of Gower, which stretches itself into the sea 25 miles, it faces the famous Swansea Bay, which Southey and Walter Savage Landor considered rivalled the Bay of Naples. Its climate is soft and pleasant, being sheltered from the northeast and north-west, the south-westerly winds being moderated by the vast, expanse of sea they blow over. On the authority of the Registrar-General it is one of the healthiest towns in the United Kingdom, the death-rate being on an average from 12 to 15 in the thousand. It is in Ion. 4º W and in lat. 51-36º N, being 200 miles from the metropolis and about the same distance from Manchester and Liverpool. It is 40 miles W of Cardiff. At the census of 1891 the municipal borough contained 90,349 inhabitants, and the Swansea Parliamentary district, which includes Loughor, Kenfig, Neath, and Aberavon, 117,367.

The commercial part of the town. is centred in the Strand, and around its docks and wharves, its copper yards and smelting houses, its tin mills and iron works, its collieries and patent fuel depots, &c., which line the banks of its river for some miles, and present a sight during the night which recalls Dante's "Inferno," on account of the dense smoke issuing from a forest of chimney stacks and a thousand tongues of fire from the works. " Out of the thick darkness below into the darkness above come fierce consuming fires and belching smoke, and the roar of the blasts and the metallic clang of steam hammers, and the deafening din of gigantic machinery. The tapping a smelting furnace is as the making of a pseudo sun, a fountain of liquid fire; and a sheet of glowing copper at the mills is a softer moon; and the rush of a white-hot steel bar through the works an erratic comet, and the scintillations of the spelter make a galaxy of twinkling stars." This pandemonium is however forgotten by turning round to gaze upon residential Swansea, upon its new and palatial buildings, its fine business streets, its boulevards and mansions, and its many terraces, which rise tier above tier, and which are built on the slopes of two hills-Kilvey, on the east, rising to a height of 630 feet, and Town Hill on the west, to one of 550 feet. From the summits of the two hills can be seen one of the most magnificent views in Britain.

Swansea Bay, whose waters cover a submerged forest, is enclosed within a demilune of hills, here gently sloping, there rising into bold rotundity, whose undulating ridges are fringed with trees that shiver against the sky-line, and whose grassy declivities and dales are dotted with mansion and cottage villa and farmstead. The western horn of these crescentic hills loses its verdure just beyond the fashionable village of Oystermouth, popularly known as the Mumbles, behind which is a ridge of limestone rock terminating in three cones or mammels. On the outermost, which is known as the Mumbles Head, is a battery of five 68-pounders, and a tapering lighthouse, whose powerful dioptric lantern sends out its rays 15 miles into the darkness of the stormy channel's mouth. The other horn of the crescent is Nash Point, and is 21 miles distant as the crow flies across the water, or 30 miles round the yellow sand-banked margin, where the all-brightening sun and the gently lipping wavelets and little children come to play together in the summer months. On a fine summer day the spectator from the same height may see the coastline and blue hills of Devonshire and Somersetshire with Ilfracombe nestling under its tors, the Bristol Channel from Lundy Island to Weston-super-Mare and the Steep Holme ("steep" or "precipitous island"); to the east and north-east the red vans of Breconshire and the vale of Glamorgan; to the west the whole of the peninsula of Gower, and the Black Mountain ranges of Carmarthenshire, forming a panorama of unsurpassable beauty.

Swansea was created a borough in 1210 by King John's charter, and between that year and 1720 it received from successive monarchs nine charters, which contained civic and mercantile privileges of great commercial importance; two were granted by Lord Marchers and two from Oliver Cromwell. De Brea's charter, dated 1305, granted " dead wood for fuel" and oak wood for repairing their houses and ships. The burgesses might have " four great ships and as many boats as they will, able to carry twenty casks of wine, paying us and our heirs for every new built ship or boat 12d." They might also cut " turves " and " dig pit coal in Byllywasta," &c. This is believed to be the earliest mention of coalmining in South Wales. It was reconstituted a county borough under the powers of the Local Government Act of 1888, and for municipal purposes was divided into ten wards, represented by ten aldermen and three common councillors for each ward, from which body a mayor is chosen annually. The police force consists of 1 chief, 1 superintendent, 5 inspectors, 10 sergeants, and 82 constables, the total length of the streets being nearly 70 miles. The peace and good order of the town are under a stipendiary magistrate and a number of local justices. The summer assizes for the six counties of South Wales are held alternately at Swansea and Cardiff. The ancient Court Leets are still held annually at Swansea and at the several manors of Gower.

The town is well supplied with water, the corporation having constructed five reservoirs during the last fifty years. The two oldest-the Brynmill, opened in 1848, and the Cwm-donken in 1852-cost £25,000. The Velindra, with water mains, was constructed in 1860-63, the Blaen-nant-ddu in 1874-78, and the Upper Lliw (just 10 miles from the town) in 1890-94; these have a combined capacity of 530,000,000 gallons, and cost £400,000. The corporation purchased the Cray watershed, and under the Act have power to construct a new reservoir, which will cost £270,000. The rateable value of Swansea in 1885 was £245,000, whilst its debt stood at £666,454. In 1894 the rateable value had risen to £335,000, and the debt had increased to £941,682. The capital value of the land and estates belonging to the corporation is upwards of £650,000, and it is estimated that within thirty-eight years, by reason of existing leases falling in, the capital value will be upwards of £1,250,000. The acreage of the borough is 6399. The Guildhall, the seat of justice and the rendezvous of civic life, is in Somerset Place. It is a fine building in the Classic style, with balus-traded parapet and window balconies, erected in 1841 from the designs of Thomas Taylor, London. In the yard is a bronze statue of Mr John Henry Vivian, M.P. for the borough 1833-52, and two cannon presented by the Government as trophies of the Crimean War. There are two county prisons, one at Cardiff and the other at Swansea; the latter was built in 1829 and has since been enlarged. It has an imposing front. There are several police stations in the borough. The railway service is excellent, the Great Western, the Midland, the London and North-Western, and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay railway companies having each large stations, yards, sidings, and warehouses to accommodate the ever-increasing passenger, merchandise, and mineral traffic. The 25 miles of tramways which intersect the town and terminate at the Mumbles, are worked by two rival companies. The Mumbles line was opened in 1804. Two canals terminate in the town-the Swansea Canal, 16 miles long, with seven aqueducts and thirty-six locks, and commencing in Brecknockshire at an elevation of 372 feet; and the Tenants' Canal, 8 miles long, from Aberdulais to St Thomas. Both are used by colliery barges to carry the coal from the neighbouring collieries to the ships in the several docks.

Swansea is still the greatest metallurgical centre in the world. Within a radius of 4 miles there are 150 works of thirty-six varieties, employing 30,000 persons. The smelting of copper began in 1564 under a charter of Queen Elizabeth. The annual total of copper-ore shipments recently reached 193,815 tons. Though all kinds of ores are treated, choice is chiefly made of those sulphides of copper which are comparatively poor in sulphur but rich in copper, and these are smelted by what is technically called the " dry process," which consists of a series of calcinations, meltings, roastings, and refinings until the copper of commerce is produced. The extent and importance of the smelting operations carried on in the Tawy Valley may be best gauged by looking at the great hills of black " slag" and scorias which disfigure the landscape in the neighbourhood of the works. A recent return of the value of the copper made in the mills was £1,631,250 sterling, gold, silver, yellow metal, and lead being £240,000; steel, 500,000 tons, was valued at £2,500,000; spelter and zinc at £500,000, being 19-20ths of the whole production of the world. The chief centre of the tin-plate trade is also at Swansea, where the administrative offices alike of employer and employed are located. The iron, formerly paddled and rolled into thin sheets of various sizes, next coated with tin, packed in boxes, and exported to the ends of the earth, is now by Siemens process made into steel plates and tinned. Tin and terne plates were of the value of £5,000,000 sterling, and within a radius of 12 miles about 6,000,000 of boxes are manufactured yearly. Within a radius of 15 miles of the town there are 240 collieries, 31 iron works, 31 tin mills, 4 steel works, 6 spelter works, 19 copper works, 7 patent fuel works, and 40 miscellaneous. The flour mills have a capacity of 3000 bags weekly, but the present demand only reaches one-third of that amount. A large amount of timber is imported, and thousands of barrels of beer come from Burton to meet the demand. The Cambrian Pottery, formerly of considerable repute on account of the choice china manufactured there, and known as Dillwyn's Etruscan ware, as well as Dillwyn's silver works, have both ceased to exist, and recent legislation in the United States has given a serious blow to the tin-plate manufacture, a number of mills having been closed for a time. The yards for shipbuilding are now devoted to repairing vessels.

The present entrance to the harbour is between two fine piers, the western pier running seaward half a mile, the eastern arm about one-third of a mile, and being built within a framework of great Memel baulks filled in with stonework; whilst they prevent any silting at the mouth of the river, they afford fine, broad, smooth promenades, and are the resort of visitors and inhabitants alike. The harbour trust as a corporate body was constituted in 1791. It has a borrowed capital of £1,500,000, and is under the management of a chairman and twelve proprietory and ten corporation trustees; the former class being elected for six years, the latter appointed annually by the corporation. The port was brought into prominence during the Commonwealth, the troops under Cromwell embarking here for Ireland, and was then considered the western key to the kingdom. The jurisdiction of the port formerly extended from Worm's Head to Chepstow, a distance of 100 miles. In the year 1768 the number of vessels clearing the port was 694, the tonnage being 30,631. In 1830 the number of vessels had risen to 5089. In 1864 the number cleared was 6061, the registered tonnage being 742,868; the total imports and exports being 1,582,300 tons. From this date the number of sailing vessels steadily declined, giving place to some of the largest steamers afloat. In 1884 the total tonnage entered and cleared was 2,351,710, the number of vessels being 9767. In 1894 the net registered tonnage was 3,223,752, the vessels numbering 8999. The income of the trust in 1890 amounted to £105,199, and in 1894 to £118,399. The gradual increase in the trade of the port is conclusive, and the dock accommodation now provided warrants this expectation. It consists of the North Dock, opened in 1852 (the ancient bed of the river having been converted into a float) 5 the South Dock, opened in 1859; and the Prince of Wales Dock, opened in 1880 by T.R.H. The Prince and Princess of Wales. The Beaufort Dock, devoted to the importation of grain and flour, was opened in 1850. Each is supplied with the most modern hydraulic machinery and appliances for discharging and loading cargoes of every description with despatch, and fitted throughout with the electric light. The total deep water acreage of the four docks is close upon 60 acres. The Prince of Wales Dock, constructed for vessels of the largest burden, possesses one of the largest and deepest locks on the Bristol Channel. The docks are surrounded by more than 20 miles of railway, the property of the trust, connecting the docks with each of the great railway systems-viz., the Great Western, London and North Western, and Midland. The quays, upwards of 3 miles in length, are furnished with fifty hydraulic and steam cranes and twenty-one hydraulic coal tips. The shipments of tin plates in 1893 amounted to 4,705,106 boxes, being the largest on record. Steamers of 2500 tons and upwards net register are regularly engaged in the trade. There are eight graving docks within the harbour. The trustees are prepared to let on lease land upon which to erect patent fuel works, creosote works, saw-mills, &c., and for other commercial purposes. Lines of steamers are already established between Swansea and the following ports-viz., New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Hamburg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Treport, Rouen, Lisbon, Leghorn, Genoa, Batoum, &c. Compulsory pilotage is now abolished. The Mumbles lighthouse signal station, established 1879, is connected with the post office system of telegraphs, and with Lloyd's in London and the Liverpool and Glasgow Exchanges. Vessels calling for orders can communicate with their own owners without lowering a boat. There are twelve pairs of sea-gates and seven opening bridges worked by hydraulic pressure. Ships are supplied with fresh water from the corporation reservoirs, and good and sheltered free anchorage can be found under the Mumbles Head at any state of the tide. The imports are copper, silver, lead, tin, nickel, zinc, iron, with their ores and alloys, steel, pig-iron, castings½ machinery, timber, pitwood, bricks, slates, sulphur ore, pyrites, brimstone, phosphates, flour, grain, vegetables, &c. The exports are coal, coke, patent fuel, copper sheets, silver bars, regulus, zinc, ores, tin, teme, and black plates, alkali, arsenic, &c. Nearly 100 sailing vessels and 40 steamers, including tugs and trawlers, having an aggregate tonnage of 75,000, are registered by Swansea owners.

The Post Office, a commodious and handsome structure in the centre of the town, was built in 1856. Within the memory of the living, one Mrs Lemon discharged all the postal delivery of the town; to-day there are 286 persons employed in the head post and telegraph offices at Swansea, of which 75 are town and auxiliary postmen and 46 telegraph messengers. There are 20 town sub-offices and 46 county sub-offices subordinate to Swansea, and in these sub-offices 202 persons are employed on postal and telegraphic duties. The headquarters of the Militia Western Division R.A. is at the Royal Arsenal. The headquarters of the Third Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers is in Singleton Street, the enrolled strength being 805. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, K.G., K.T, &c., is the hon. colonel. The headquarters of the First Glamorgan Artillery Volunteers is in Swansea Castle, the number of enrolled members being 565. The Custom-house of Her Majesty's Customs is in Cambrian Place, the basement of which is occupied by the officials of the county court. The building is lofty and plain, but substantial. The Sailors' Home, under the presidency of Lord Swansea, is in Victoria Road. It is fitted up with seventy beds and dormitories. Almost every commercial nation in Europe and America has a resident consul or vice-consul in Swansea, and a large number of merchants are agents for the various steamboat services trading from Swansea. By order of the Board of Trade Swansea is the centre of the Glamorgan Sea Fisheries District. The number of oysters taken in 1893-94 is reported to have been 1,100,000, worth £3500, and of mussels 24,000 baskets, value £300. The Union Workhouse is situated on Mount Pleasant, and was erected in 1861 at a cost of £15,780. The building was enlarged in 1884 at a cost of £30,000, and will now accommodate 584 inmates. The cottage homes at Cockett were erected in 1877 at a cost of £4200, and will bold 120 children.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Registration districtSwansea1900 - 1974

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Findmypast, in conjunction with the National Library of Wales and the Welsh County Archivists Group, have the following parish records online for Swansea:

ParishBaptismsBannsMarriagesBurials
Swansea1879-1879   
Swansea, Christ Church1872-19121889-19001884-1919 
Swansea, Holy Trinity1856-1912 1910-19271901-1916
Swansea, St Augustine1905-1912   
Swansea, St Gabriel1889-1912 1922-1927 
Swansea, St James1867-19121847-19241801-19271794-1979
Swansea, St John1797-1912 1813-19271797-1829
Swansea, St Jude1896-19121896-19271896-1919 
Swansea, St Luke1886-1912 1890-19271897-1980
Swansea, St Mark1888-19121920-19271888-1927 
Swansea, St Mary1631-19121758-19271631-19201631-1794
Swansea, St Matthew1886-19121924-19271886-1927 
Swansea, St Nicholas1886-19121908-1917  
Swansea, St Peter1856-1912 1860-19271890-1956
Swansea, St Thomas1888-1902 1927-1927 

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

For births, marriages, and deaths in Swansea from 1900 to 1974 you should search for the Swansea Registration District.


Maps

Online maps of Swansea are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online:

CountySwansea
RegionSouth Wales

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