61 Facts About Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales.

Swansea was designated chief town of the lordship and received a borough charter at some point between 1158 and 1184.

Port of Swansea initially traded in wine, hides, wool, cloth and later in coal.

Swansea became the ideal place to smelt the Cornish copper ores, being close to the coalfields of South Wales and having an excellent port to receive ships carrying Cornish copper ore.

The Swansea smelters became so adept at recovering gold and silver from complex ores that in the 1800s they received ore concentrates from the United States, for example from Arizona in the 1850s, and Colorado in the 1860s.

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Swansea's population was later overtaken by Merthyr in 1821 and by Cardiff in 1881, although in the latter year Swansea surpassed Merthyr.

Much of Swansea's growth was due to migration from within and beyond Wales—in 1881 more than a third of the borough's population had been born outside Swansea and Glamorgan, and just under a quarter outside Wales.

Copper smelting at Swansea declined in the late 1800s for a number of reasons.

In 1969 Swansea was granted city status to mark Prince Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.

Swansea obtained the further right to have a Lord Mayor in 1982.

The Urban Subdivision of Swansea covers all urbanised areas within the city boundary, with a population of 179, 485, it is considerably smaller than the unitary authority.

In 1887, Swansea was a township at the mouth of the river Tawe, covering 4, 562 acres in the county of Glamorgan.

In 1889, Swansea attained county borough status, and it was granted city status in 1969, which was inherited by the Swansea district when it was formed by the merger of the borough and Gower Rural District in 1974.

In 1996, Swansea became one of 22 unitary authorities with the addition of part of the former Lliw Valley Borough.

Swansea was once a staunch stronghold of the Labour Party which, until 2004, had overall control of the council for 24 years.

About three-quarters of Swansea is on the coast—the Loughor Estuary, Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel.

Much of Swansea is hilly with the main area of upland being located in the council ward of Mawr.

Wider urban area, including most of Swansea Bay, has a total population of 300, 352, making it the third largest urban area in Wales and the 27th largest urban area in the United Kingdom.

Swansea is part of the Anglican Diocese of Swansea and Brecon and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Menevia.

In 1904, Evan Roberts, a miner from Loughor, just outside Swansea, was the leader of what has been called one of the world's greatest Protestant religious revivals.

Swansea is represented in Buddhism with the Dharmavajra Kadampa Buddhist Centre, Pulpung Changchub Dargyeling and a branch of the international Dzogchen Community (Nyingma Tradition).

Fluellen Theatre Company is a professional theatre company based in Swansea who perform at the Grand Theatre and the Dylan Thomas Centre.

In 2018 Singleton Park, Swansea was the home-city for BBC Music's 'Biggest Weekend' featuring Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Florence + The Machine and others.

Swansea hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1863, 1891, 1907, 1926, 1964, 1982 and 2006.

In 2009 Swansea Council launched Wales's only week long St David's Week festival in venues throughout the city.

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Swansea is known for its celebration of Beaujolais Day with people booking tables in restaurants and bars for the day up to a year in advance to ensure they can sample the year's newly released Beaujolais wine.

Swansea Castle was an impressive building occupying a strategic position above the River Tawe.

Swansea was born in the town and grew up at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands, where he lived for 23 years and produced two-thirds of his published work from his tiny bedroom which has been faithfully recreated as it may have been in 1934 and is open for house tours, events, Edwardian dinner parties and overnight stays.

Swansea was educated at the state-sector Dynevor School, Swansea before reading theology at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Swansea is the home town of Non Stanford, the 2013 ITU Triathlon World Champion.

Swansea has four association football clubs that play in the Welsh football league system: Swansea University F C, Garden Village, South Gower and West End.

Swansea is home to Swansea Rugby Football Club, a founder member of the Welsh Rugby Union and one of the most important teams in the early history of Welsh rugby union.

Swansea originally developed as centre for metals and mining, especially the copper industry, from the beginning of the 18th century.

However, by the end of the Second World War these heavy industries were in decline, and over the post-war decades Swansea shared in the general trend towards a post-industrial, service sector economy.

Economic activity and employment rates in Swansea were slightly above the Welsh average in October 2008, but lower than the UK average.

Median full-time earnings in Swansea were £21, 577 in 2007, almost identical to the Welsh average.

Swansea is home to the DVLA headquarters in Morriston, which employs around 6, 000 people in the city.

Virgin Atlantic maintains its largest worldwide contact centre in Swansea; including reservations, sales, baggage claims, and customer relations.

Swansea University has a campus in Singleton Park overlooking Swansea Bay.

In 2015 Swansea University opened a new Bay Campus situated in the Jersey Marine area of Swansea.

Independent schools in Swansea include Ffynone House School and Oakleigh House School.

The Swansea Herald of Wales was a free newspaper which was distributed every week to residential addresses until 2011 when the paper ceased to be in print.

Swansea Life is a monthly lifestyle magazine published and distributed in Swansea.

Swansea has hosted the annual Swansea Bay Film Festival, where past-winning directors have included Gareth Evans, Anthony James, Alun D Pughe and Andrew Jones.

Swansea has been used as a location for films such as Only Two Can Play, Submarine and Twin Town, the TV series Mine All Mine and in episodes of Doctor Who.

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Swansea was the first city in Wales to feature in its own version of the board game Monopoly.

Swansea was featured in a television documentary titled Swansea Love Story as part of the Rule Britannia series on VBS.

Swansea was featured in several Yes Minister series as an undesirable civil service posting, in particular the vehicle licensing centre.

Swansea is the hometown of Edward Kenway, the main protagonist of the video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

Swansea Airport is one of the country's three Wales Air Ambulance bases, the others being Welshpool and Caernarfon.

Reservoirs which supply Swansea include the Cray reservoir and the Lliw Reservoirs, which are operated by Welsh Water.

Football violence that Swansea experienced during the 1970s–1990s has considerably reduced, the only major clashes occurring between Swansea City supporters and Cardiff City supporters.

The A4067 connecting Mumbles with the city centre and continuing up the Swansea Valley towards Brecon is a dual carriageway for much of its route through Swansea.

Services calling at Swansea operate to Llanelli, Carmarthen, Haverfordwest, Milford Haven, Tenby, Pembroke Dock and Fishguard Harbour to the west, Shrewsbury to the northeast via the Heart of Wales Line with four trains each way, Monday–Saturday, and Cardiff Central, Newport, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading and London Paddington to the east run by Great Western Railway.

Swansea Airport is a minor aerodrome situated in the Gower providing recreational flights only.

Swansea is served by Cardiff Airport, 44 miles east, in the Vale of Glamorgan, which provides scheduled domestic and international flights.

Bus routes within Swansea are operated predominantly by First Cymru, while smaller bus and coach operators such as NAT Group, South Wales Transport, Lewis Coaches, First Call Travel and DANSA operate some routes in the city, most of which serve Swansea bus station.

Swansea has a range of activities including sailing, water skiing, surfing, and other watersports, walking and cycling.

Part of the Celtic Trail and the National Cycle Network, Swansea Bay provides a range of traffic-free cycle routes including along the seafront and through Clyne Valley Country Park.

Swansea has a number of pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and a casino.

Swansea had two casinos until 30 August 2012 when Aspers closed.