From Fabian’s Bay to Fabian Way

Description

The past of the town of Swansea has been quite well documented, but sixty years ago, Norman Lewis Thomas correctly identified the crucial importance of its “districts and villages”. These have been less well served. Interesting publications exist, but this is the first fully-fledged history of any one of the communities which ringed the town and were crucial to its growth. It is not surprising that it is the story of the Eastside.

The growth of copper smelting in the lower Swansea Valley was the source of Swansea’s prosperity. with at least nine large and moderate-sized smelters in Hafod, Landore, Morriston, and east of the river. It led to the conversion of the Town Reach of the Tawe into the North Dock, often called ‘The Float’ which opened in 1852. This necessitated a “New Cut” to take the river water, and this put an end to the Tirlandwr farmland on the edge of the Eastside. In 1881 the first of Swansea’s modern docks was opened seaward of St. Thomas, and by 1920 two more had followed.

This is an account of a very significant area, the people of which have shown a great interest in their past. It takes you back to the 12^th Century and explores a great mass of themes across the centuries.

Foreword by Gerald Gabb.

Click here to read a sample