| Swansea has always had an association
with trade, even in Elizabethan times the banks of the River Tawe were lined
with loading stages and quays. Links were established with London, Bristol
and Cornwall and as Swansea developed its industrial hinterland so the links
went further afield. Copper barques and Cape Horners took Welsh coal out
and returned with copper-ore from South America. Swansea’s first canal,
built in 1784, underwent a radical change in scale with industrialisation
when a decade later the construction of the seventeen-mile Swansea Canal
became the largest engineering task undertaken in eighteenth century Swansea.
The railway network too expanded to meet the demands of industry with input
from Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 1852 saw the construction of the North Dock,
the first floating dock in Swansea followed by four more docks constructed
over a period of sixty-eight years. Such a high density of industry required
a large supply of labour all needing accommodation. Copper-masters like
the Grenfells built terraced homes for their workforce, expanding Swansea
in the direction of St.Thomas, while John Morris pioneered high-rise accommodation
in the design of Morris Castle. |
