Event:    Heritage walk to the CopperWorks

Place:    St. Jospeh's Cathedral Primary School

Date:      24 - 10 - 19

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Today was St. Joseph's turn to take the walk down from their school to the remains of the Hafod Copperworks.

We had Gareth Thomas from Swansea University tell us all about the history of this remarkable site.

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The Hafod works was founded in 1810 by the Cornishman John Vivian. During the 19th century, this was the largest copper works in the world, employing over 1,000 people. The rival Morfa works was established in 1835 by Williams, Foster & Co., and the two adjacent sites combined in 1924 under Yorkshire Imperial Metals.

Swansea was core to the global copper industry, and by 1823 10,000 of Swansea’s 15,000 residents were supported by the copper industry. By 1883 there were 124 works including 12 copper works in the Lower Swansea Valley. But as raw geological resources had waned in South Wales, it became more economic to produce copper elsewhere. In 1971 the Lower Swansea Valley Project had started to transform the most derelict industrial landscape in Britain, resulting in the closure of the rolling mills in 1980.

The former rolling mills were converted into the Landore Collection Centre, part of Swansea Museum.