South Prospect of Langavellach Copper Works
Theme : Industry

Llangyfelach Copper Works was established at Landore in 1717. This watercolour image of the site was created by Robert Jacob Hamerton. The copper works were owned and managed by John Lane, a physician from Bristol and his partner, John Pollard, a copper mine owner from Cornwall. The works consisted of, "..two double houses, a round house, twenty furnaces for smelting the ores, a refinery house, accounting house, a smith's forge, laboratory, test house, rod mill, blast house and two other refining houses" (Steve Lavender New Land for Old). Their decision to site in Swansea was based on the premise that the ships which brought the ore from Cornwall could return with coal which would be used to raise steam in the pumping engines which removed water from the copper mines. If based in Cornwall, the ships bringing coal in would have had to return empty to Wales. [It took four tons of coal to smelt one ton of copper ore]. In 1726, Dr. Lane and his partner went bankrupt, the works at Llangyfelach was taken over by the Morris family, who were to become one of the major industrial dynasties in Swansea. Ironically, Robert Morris had been brought to Swansea by Dr.Lane to work at Llangyfelach.

This Item is located at Swansea Museum in the Library