Students could begin a local investigation into Swansea and its contribution to the economic landscape of Wales, considering the causes and consequences of the industrial revolution. Swansea was better known for its copper and ports, so students could consider the positive and negative impact this may have had on the city. They could also consider the lower Swansea valley and investigate the industry within this region.
Distinguishing cause and effect between population dynamics and technological developments was eased by using contemporary narratives, secondary sources, and GIS analysis. A flourishing and respectable port town set in a beautiful bay became an upper-class leisure destination, yet its status as a seaside resort was relatively short-lived. Vacationing families and travelers could no longer ignore EITHER neither the bustle of activity along the docks OR nor the acrid fumes of the copper works.
It seems to have lost currency as a desirable watering-place around mid-century, when industry — chiefly coal, copper, and iron — won out. GIS analysis helped to explain patterns of increasing population density and varying in-migration in the Swansea Registration District. On a regional level, the flows of migrants were related to the expansion and transformation of the steam-powered rail system throughout South Wales.
Especially of interest was the soon-resolved conflict between the standard-gauge rails from the coal valleys and the broad-gauge rails of the main line which led to sea access. Combined with dock and quay expansion in Swansea , shifting flows in- and out-migration were to some extent clarified. Comparing Swansea and South Wales to the national level allowed discovery of larger patterns, but also of regional abnormalities due to special circumstances. Lastly, GIS analysis was revealed to be exceedingly helpful but not a cure-all.
More importantly, scholars of environmental history should use this example to illustrate what may go awry if a mechanistic view of the environment, wherein it is bent to the uses of man, combines with a love of headlong progress at any cost to humans or the natural world they inhabit.
It seems that Swansea can be, and has been, both ugly and lovely at the same time — ugly in terms of physical environment, lovely in terms of human opportunity. Yet human opportunity is bound up more closely with our environment more than most would like to admit.
Donovan, Lonely Planet Wales. Victoria , Australia : Lonely Planet Publications, Borrow, G. Bradley, A. Highways and Byways in South Wales. In the March and Borderland of Wales. Cliffe, Charles Frederick. The Book of South Wales. London : Hamilton, Adams, Dickens, Charles. In Clayre, Course Packet I.
Donovan, E. Volume II. London : Rivingtons. Lawton , Richard and Colin Pooley. Britain An Historical Geography.
London : Edward Arnold, Lycett, Andrew. Dylan Thomas: A New Life. Morris, Bernard and John O. Thomas Baxter: the Swansea Years Llandysul, Wales : Gomer Press, Morris, J. The South Wales Coal Industry Cardiff : University of Wales Press, Oxford : Oxford University Press, Pooley, Colin and Jane Turnbull.
London : UCL Press, Simmons, Jack. The Railway in Town and Country Swansea Heritage Net. Williams, D. Pamphlet No. Swansea : University of Wales Press Board, Winter, James. Berkeley : University of California Press, This mostly affects the vs. The total percentage change in population dropped from to If it were corrected for the boundary inconsistencies, it is likely that this drop would not be as large.
GOOD Detangling what portion of this was due to migration and which to natural increase is seems impossible given the limitations of the data. Heidi Fuchs History Prof. WS My aim is to comprehend how superior technology altered not only the human and physical environment of this corner of Great Britain , but the attitudes toward that change. Body A. A contemporary remarked in This place is the residence of a number of Welsh families; and since the custom of sea bathing has become fashionable, the influx of strangers in the summer time is considerable; a circumstance that has occasioned much improvement in the town of late years.
To be sure, the city of Swansea functioned as a port for an exceedingly rich hinterland: Nature had provided potentialities of rich agricultural and industrial developments, reasonably good soils in certain lowland areas and river valleys, rocks rich in coal, limestone, and iron, a climate that made possible outdoor activity throughout the year, a natural vegetation of meadow-land, forested hill and mountain slopes with upland moors and heathlands, and a port ideally located for both coastwise and foreign trade.
In came another angry description of the ruins of Neath Abbey in the Lower Swansea Valley : Somewhat to the south rose immense stacks of chimneys surrounded by grimy diabolical-looking buildings, in the neighbourhood of which were huge heaps of cinders and black rubbish.
A scene in which the river Tawe, and its contiguous canal, crowded with ships, coasting vessels, and the numerous craft, employed in the coal trade, engross the chief attention…Still further to the north, are the coal works, and in the farthest distance between the hills, another range of works appear half involved in the smoke arising from their own furnaces.
Steel covered in tin. By the late 19th century the tinplate industry was booming. The port of Swansea also boomed during the 19th century. It was helped by the Swansea Canal, which made it easier to transport heavy raw materials to and from the port. In a group of men called the Harbour Commissioners was formed with responsibility for the harbor. North Dock was built in It was followed by South Dock in In Prince of Wales Dock was built on the east bank of the Tawe.
Meanwhile, there was still a shipbuilding industry in Swansea in the 19th century but it less important than the metalworking trades. The population of Swansea grew rapidly during the 19th century.
In it was 6, but by it was over 16, Like all 19th-century towns, Swansea was overcrowded, dirty, and unsanitary. There were epidemics of cholera in Swansea in and Nevertheless, there were some improvements in Swansea in the 19th century. In a dispensary opened where the poor could obtain free medicines.
In an Act of Parliament formed a body of men called the Paving Commissioners with responsibility for paving, cleaning, and lighting the streets.
In Assembly Rooms were built where the well to do could play cards and hold balls. In Swansea obtained gas street lighting. Swansea was made a borough with a mayor. Swansea museum was founded in A general hospital was built in The first public library in Swansea opened in and Victoria Park opened in By Swansea had a population of , and it continued to grow rapidly during the 20th century. Glynn Vivian Art Gallery opened in Meanwhile, in the first council houses were built in Swansea.
More were built in the s and s as the council demolished slums. Many more were built after as well as a large number of private houses. A new Guildhall was built in Swansea in However, Swansea suffered severely in the bombing raids of the Second World War.
In all people were killed in Swansea and the heart of the city was destroyed. It was rebuilt in the s. In the early 20th century the port of Swansea continued to flourish. Kings Dock was built in Queens Dock followed in At the beginning of the 20th century, the tinplate industry was booming. So were the steel and copper industries. However, they suffered severely in the depression of the s and there was horrifically high unemployment in Swansea. The economy of Swansea boomed again during the Second World War but after it ended the traditional metalworking industries nosedived.
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