Discovering Swansea's Industrial Heritage #1

The fun part of holidaying with three generations is that you get to do lots of different types of activity. It's easier if the youngest is a teenager and not subject to the tyranny of naps, and that he is amenable to tagging along to things he might not be initially interested in.

Gower is full of history, and the Swansea area in particular, has an amazing industrial past. The Waterfront Museum at the Marina will have your eyes on stalks at the sheer quantity and variety of industry that has existed in Wales. Did you know, for example, that Swansea was known as 'Copperopolis'? It was the heart of the world copper industry in the nineteenth century.

Copper ore was mined in Cornwall and shipped to Swansea, a prime location because of its harbour and easy access to local sources of cheap, suitable coal. You need three to four tons of coal to smelt one ton of copper ore so it made sense to transport the ore by ship up the River Tawe to the copper smelting works in the Swansea valley. The copper was then transported to the factories in the Midlands.

If you take a boat ride from the Marina on the 'Copper Jack', you can see some of the remnants and ruins of this industrial powerhouse.

Take a boat ride on the 'Copper Jack', Swansea Marina

We floated slowly up the River Tawe along with a full boat-load of passengers ranging from pushchair young to wheelchair-bound old. Once out of the Marina, a DVD started on a screen at the front of the boat and described in real time what we were seeing and why.

Notch at far end enabled ships to berth right up to the quay

We learned a lot about the industrial history of Swansea, and the damage done to the environment because of the success of the factories.

Chimneys and remnants of Hafod-Morfa copperworks

Separating copper from copper ore produced mountains of furnace ash and slag, and clouds of smoke laced with arsenic and sulphur. Workers were consumptive and the countryside all around was a desert. My mother was among the people on the boat who were locals and remembered what it was like, where absolutely nothing would grow.

Red brick former ice house

They marveled at the transformation of the banks which are now a verdant green and abundantly covered with bushes and trees. The pollution ended only with the decline and extinction of the copper industry. Good for Nature, bad for business.

However, the Hafod-Morfa copperworks is being regenerated. It's on a twelve-and-a-half acre site that contains twelve significant industrial heritage buildings and structures. Wales has woken up to the importance of its history, and there is funding to make the most of what remains.

The Swansea project was started back in 2010 by the council in conjunction with Swansea University, lead by Professor Huw Bowen, and plans include the creation of a centre for tourism, business, education and work. They are creating interpretation trails and a living history laboratory where visitors can learn about Swansea's leading role in the Industrial Revolution and development of the global economy.

Nice Yachts and More Boats

I don't often do posts with lots of photos in them, but the other weekend I spent a lot of time (it seemed) on the port of Nice, and so I got snapping with my non-professional camera.

We arrived early evening in time for an apero at the Hotel Negresco in the wood-panelled bar that resembled a pub but somehow didn't, with its soaring ceiling and glorious listed design.

The aperos were a shocking price - €18 for a cocktail, but hey, we don't do this often, so I had a Negroni (Campari, Martini and gin). It must be decades since I had Campari, probably 2 at least. It came with a nifty selection of nibbles that were very original, including a special Niçoise tapenade made with special olives.

The next morning, while my TWDB was doing his usual Sunday lie-in thing, I got up and went out in search of breakfast. I bought a couple of very average croissants and a litre of fruit juice, and went to sit on the port in the sun with my Kindle.

View over breakfast

After being recalled to base, I went back to the port for a nice walk, this time with my TWDB. We saw big yachts with a mini-me,

the large one so big it dwarfed the buildings opposite.

On the other side of the port was a colourful collection of fishing boats.

complete with old sea dog at work.

Some of the little boats had little masts

and some didn't

and thus gave an uninterrupted view across the port to the middle-sized yachts and mega yachts beyond.

Some boats looked like they worked very hard

while others looked like they never left port.

My TWDB told me many of these super yachts are bought as floating capital. If things get sticky, instructions are sent to the crew to make for international waters where the yacht cannot be seized. Worth tens of millions of euros, the yachts are a smart way of safe-guarding capital when the tax man comes knocking to avoid those awkward questions...

Lady and Miss Christine

Does that say Creek or Greek...?

If you've got the the smart yacht, you've got to have the smart car too, how about a Bentley with smart red leather interior?

While I was strolling along admiring the views, I was not concentrating on the ground. Unfortunately some bloody mutt had done a poo and its even bloodier owner had not cleared it up, so I ended up treading in it. Cue much swearing and bad temper, all aimed at irresponsible dog owners and their sodding mutts. I then had to find a way to clean up. I dragged my shoe along the ground, I dipped it into the water, and even went so far as to wipe my shoe on a handy mat...

Note handy mat

Thank you kindly Shandor owner for the handy mat. Sorry if it's a bit pongy now...


From the port, we went up in the lift to the castle grounds at the top of the cliff and looked out over the higgledy piggledy old Niçois rooftops

Rooftops of old Nice

and the glorious curve of the bay busy with people enjoying the unseasonally fine weather. Just look at that blue!

We left on Sunday afternoon after soaking up the sun and lunch on the port. Amazingly we had glorious weather. This is completely normal because my TWDB has sold his flat in Nice. When he had it, our weekends were invariably ruined by 'exceptional' dodgy weather.

In the sunshine, it's just stunning.