History of Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales

Swansea, Welsh Abertawe, city, Swansea county, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southwestern Wales. It lies along the Bristol Channel at the mouth of the River Tawe. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales (after Cardiff).

In the early 12th century the Norman Henry de Newburgh built a castle there, which was later destroyed by the Welsh rebel Owain Glyn Dŵr. Up to the early 18th century Swansea was a small market town and a coal port. Thereafter it grew steadily as an industrial centre. Local outcrops of coal were used in the smelting of imported copper after 1717, and the industry prospered so much that by the mid-19th century Swansea’s Metal Exchange was the centre of world trade in copper... Swansea also prospered as a port for the anthracite mines of the western coalfield in South Wales. A canal built along the Swansea valley in 1798 and railways constructed during the 19th century linked Swansea’s port with the coalfield, and new docks built after 1852 increased the port’s capacity... Production of other nonferrous metals developed in and around Swansea, including lead, zinc, nickel, and especially tinplate production, but these sectors declined dramatically during the 20th century.

Aluminum production and metal fabrication developed after World War II. Other late 20th-century additions to the city’s industrial structure include the manufacture of automotive components, engineering products, plastics, and packaging. An oil refinery at Llandarcy on the eastern edge of Swansea processes oil that arrives through a pipeline from Milford Haven, and it supplies a petrochemical plant at Baglan, near Neath...