ON a beautiful sunny day the sweep of Swansea Bay could rival some of the great coastal views in the world.
The immaculate five mile stretch of sand running from the docks, now a thriving leisure, housing and business centre, all the way to Knab Rock near the pretty village of Mumbles, is truly an awesome sight.
Beyond Knab Rock is the stunning Gower peninsula, the UK’s first location to be declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the views here are simply jaw-dropping.
But the people of Swansea are happy not to keep all this to themselves – every year they welcome 3.8 million tourists who come here to enjoy the beaches, watersports and walking, among other pursuits.
The city and county of Swansea now has a population of around 225,000.
And people have been living here for a very long time – with evidence of settlements dating back to the stone age.
The Romans and the Vikings also came here, but Swansea rose in importance under the Normans when it was named the chief town of a marcher lordship called Gower, and received one of the earliest borough charters in Wales.
The name Swansea is thought to come from "Sweyn" (a corruption of the Viking name "Sven") and "sey" (an old Norse word that can mean "inlet"). It is thought to have originated in the period when the Vikings settled along the South Wales coast. The Welsh name first appears in Welsh poems from the beginning of the 13th Century, as "Aber Tawy".
The founder of Swansea is believed to be the Viking king of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard who, in 1013, conquered the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex and Mercia, and who controlled a vast empire including southern England, Denmark and Norway. The earliest known form of the modern name is Sweynesse used in Swansea's first charter which was granted sometime between 1158–1184 by William de Newburgh, 3rd Earl of Warwick. A second charter was granted in 1215 by King John. In this charter, the name appears as Sweyneshe. The town seal which is believed to date from this period names the town as Sweyse. Swansea was granted city status in 1969 to mark Prince Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.
Its location next to the sea meant shipping was hugely important for Swansea in its past, with coal and limestone (for fertiliser) the main exports by the 16th Century. Later, the city became home to major copper smelting and tinplate works, which earnt it the nickname Copperopolis.
This industrial boom saw the population explode by 500 per cent to just over 6,000 by the mid 19th Century. At that stage, Swansea was bigger than Cardiff and second only in Wales to Merthyr Tydfil in size. Much of this population was migratory, from other parts of Wales (around a third) and beyond (a quarter).
But the industrial bubble was soon to burst. During the last century, traditional industries such as coal mining declined heavily, leaving thousands out of work and ugly scars on the landscape.
Many of these scars have now healed, replaced with business and housing, but subsequent generations, particularly in valley communities, are still suffering the consequences of ill health and unemployment.
However, Swansea has enjoyed a boom in development over the last decade or more.
Much of the city was razed to the ground during the Three Nights Blitz on February 19, 20 and 21, 1941. One of the victims was St Mary’s Church in the city centre, which was subsequently rebuilt along with the rest of the city centre. Swansea Market was also destroyed. There had been a market on the same site since the middle ages and a huge indoor one continues to thrive there now.
The timing of the rebuilds has left a rather dated-looking city centre in terms of its buildings, but this is now changing with new shopping centre developments and major changes on the fringes.
SA1, the old docks area, is a gleaming example of this. What was previously empty space dotted with crumbling, ugly buildings, is now a thriving metropolis with hi-tech companies, hundreds of apartments, plus restaurants and cafes. In the nearby Marina development has been taking place for the past three decades. Most recently, Swansea’s tallest ever building, one of the tallest in Wales, has sprung up, offering the occupants of its apartments stunning views over Swansea Bay.
The Marina is also home to the new National Waterfront Museum, a focus on Wales’s industrial past and future, and the LC, a leisure pool and sports complex which replaced an ageing leisure centre.
And there is more to come. Plans have been unveiled by Swansea’s unitary authority for major new developments in several key locations, including large chunks of the city centre. The intention is to reunite the city centre with the sea, creating a European-style boulevard which would be the envy of any major centre of population.
But if old, rather than new, is your cup of tea, there are still remnants of Swansea’s pre-war city centre to be seen. A stroll around parts of the Marina will take you past historic buildings which survived the German bombers. One of the most impressive, the old Associated British Ports building is now a five-star hotel.
Across the road from there is Wind Street, which survived the blitz pretty much intact. Swansea’s financial heart was once based here, and the pubs were a favourite haunt of a young Dylan Thomas, the poet who went on to achieve international renown for his work.
The banks have now all gone, but the buildings remain and so do the pubs, although there are many more of them now, along with restaurants and nightclubs. Wind Street is now the city’s main drinking quarter and is packed on Friday and Saturday nights with revellers from Swansea and surrounding areas.
Swansea has given birth to a number of notable people, one of the best known being poet Dylan Thomas, author of works such as Under Milk Wood and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.
Legendary footballer, the late John Charles also hailed from the city, as does one-time Conservative MP Michael Heseltine, Have I got News for You panellist Ian Hislop, Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, former Goon, the late Harry Secombe, and Hollywood actress Catherine Zeta Jones.
But many will tell you it is the ordinary everyday people of Swansea that make the city what it is.
Dylan Thomas once called Swansea "the graveyard of ambition" in reference to the fact that once you come here, you may never wish to leave.
The immaculate five mile stretch of sand running from the docks, now a thriving leisure, housing and business centre, all the way to Knab Rock near the pretty village of Mumbles, is truly an awesome sight.
Beyond Knab Rock is the stunning Gower peninsula, the UK’s first location to be declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the views here are simply jaw-dropping.
But the people of Swansea are happy not to keep all this to themselves – every year they welcome 3.8 million tourists who come here to enjoy the beaches, watersports and walking, among other pursuits.
The city and county of Swansea now has a population of around 225,000.
And people have been living here for a very long time – with evidence of settlements dating back to the stone age.
The Romans and the Vikings also came here, but Swansea rose in importance under the Normans when it was named the chief town of a marcher lordship called Gower, and received one of the earliest borough charters in Wales.
The name Swansea is thought to come from "Sweyn" (a corruption of the Viking name "Sven") and "sey" (an old Norse word that can mean "inlet"). It is thought to have originated in the period when the Vikings settled along the South Wales coast. The Welsh name first appears in Welsh poems from the beginning of the 13th Century, as "Aber Tawy".
The founder of Swansea is believed to be the Viking king of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard who, in 1013, conquered the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex and Mercia, and who controlled a vast empire including southern England, Denmark and Norway. The earliest known form of the modern name is Sweynesse used in Swansea's first charter which was granted sometime between 1158–1184 by William de Newburgh, 3rd Earl of Warwick. A second charter was granted in 1215 by King John. In this charter, the name appears as Sweyneshe. The town seal which is believed to date from this period names the town as Sweyse. Swansea was granted city status in 1969 to mark Prince Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.
Its location next to the sea meant shipping was hugely important for Swansea in its past, with coal and limestone (for fertiliser) the main exports by the 16th Century. Later, the city became home to major copper smelting and tinplate works, which earnt it the nickname Copperopolis.
This industrial boom saw the population explode by 500 per cent to just over 6,000 by the mid 19th Century. At that stage, Swansea was bigger than Cardiff and second only in Wales to Merthyr Tydfil in size. Much of this population was migratory, from other parts of Wales (around a third) and beyond (a quarter).
But the industrial bubble was soon to burst. During the last century, traditional industries such as coal mining declined heavily, leaving thousands out of work and ugly scars on the landscape.
Many of these scars have now healed, replaced with business and housing, but subsequent generations, particularly in valley communities, are still suffering the consequences of ill health and unemployment.
However, Swansea has enjoyed a boom in development over the last decade or more.
Much of the city was razed to the ground during the Three Nights Blitz on February 19, 20 and 21, 1941. One of the victims was St Mary’s Church in the city centre, which was subsequently rebuilt along with the rest of the city centre. Swansea Market was also destroyed. There had been a market on the same site since the middle ages and a huge indoor one continues to thrive there now.
The timing of the rebuilds has left a rather dated-looking city centre in terms of its buildings, but this is now changing with new shopping centre developments and major changes on the fringes.
SA1, the old docks area, is a gleaming example of this. What was previously empty space dotted with crumbling, ugly buildings, is now a thriving metropolis with hi-tech companies, hundreds of apartments, plus restaurants and cafes. In the nearby Marina development has been taking place for the past three decades. Most recently, Swansea’s tallest ever building, one of the tallest in Wales, has sprung up, offering the occupants of its apartments stunning views over Swansea Bay.
The Marina is also home to the new National Waterfront Museum, a focus on Wales’s industrial past and future, and the LC, a leisure pool and sports complex which replaced an ageing leisure centre.
And there is more to come. Plans have been unveiled by Swansea’s unitary authority for major new developments in several key locations, including large chunks of the city centre. The intention is to reunite the city centre with the sea, creating a European-style boulevard which would be the envy of any major centre of population.
But if old, rather than new, is your cup of tea, there are still remnants of Swansea’s pre-war city centre to be seen. A stroll around parts of the Marina will take you past historic buildings which survived the German bombers. One of the most impressive, the old Associated British Ports building is now a five-star hotel.
Across the road from there is Wind Street, which survived the blitz pretty much intact. Swansea’s financial heart was once based here, and the pubs were a favourite haunt of a young Dylan Thomas, the poet who went on to achieve international renown for his work.
The banks have now all gone, but the buildings remain and so do the pubs, although there are many more of them now, along with restaurants and nightclubs. Wind Street is now the city’s main drinking quarter and is packed on Friday and Saturday nights with revellers from Swansea and surrounding areas.
Swansea has given birth to a number of notable people, one of the best known being poet Dylan Thomas, author of works such as Under Milk Wood and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.
Legendary footballer, the late John Charles also hailed from the city, as does one-time Conservative MP Michael Heseltine, Have I got News for You panellist Ian Hislop, Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, former Goon, the late Harry Secombe, and Hollywood actress Catherine Zeta Jones.
But many will tell you it is the ordinary everyday people of Swansea that make the city what it is.
Dylan Thomas once called Swansea "the graveyard of ambition" in reference to the fact that once you come here, you may never wish to leave.
Swansea, the city by the sea.
Mumbles train in 1912.
Swansea, Wales
