DISCOVERING COPPEROPOLIS Copper Day marks the


200th anniversary of the first copper ingot rolling out of the Hafod Copperworks


Wales has a long history of copper production. Over 4,000 years ago, miners in Wales began to exploit copper ores from deep open casts at sites in central and northern Wales. Innovations that took place in prehistory defined the Bronze Age as early metalworkers learned to smelt copper with tin to make a much stronger and versatile alloy for a wider range of tools such as axe heads, many of which were discovered through archaeology. The copper resources Wales was able to provide from the Bronze Age through to the Roman period were exported far and wide. These resources and expertise laid the foundations for Wales’ first integrated global industry and by 1851 had propelled Wales into becoming the world’s first industrialised nation. Swansea became the global leader in copper mining and processing, smelting half of the world’s copper. Between 1760 and 1890 the Lower Swansea and Neath valleys were the pre-eminent centres for producing the world’s smelted copper, and during the late-18th century up to 40 per cent of this output was exported to overseas markets such as Asia and the Atlantic world. In turn, the growing demand for copper encouraged prospecting overseas and by the mid-19th century new ores were being brought to Wales from as far away as Chile, Cuba and South Australia. This gradual globalising of the Welsh copper industry had a profound impact upon the social, cultural, and urban development of South Wales. Swansea enjoyed a pre-eminent status as a world industrial centre – it is still referred to as Copperopolis today. The Lower Swansea valley area


Below opposite: The copper barque Delta, built in 1865 in Cardiff and registered in Swansea; Below: In Swansea, the moonscape left by the smelting processes has slowly greened


has been described by one historian as hosting the ‘most highly concentrated major British industry in the 18th and 19th centuries’ and the wealth that was created from copperworking made a huge contribution to the cultural heritage of Wales, particularly in the urban centres. But as new coal sources were discovered overseas, particularly in Australia and North America, new smelting centres were set up nearer to the sources of copper being produced. The quantities of ore coming into Wales for processing began to decline from the last decades of the 19th century. Much of the expertise and skilled work needed for this caused a wave of migration from Wales to Australia and the USA. Unlike other industries, the decline in smelting activity was gradual. The last copper company in Swansea, Yorkshire Imperial Metals, finally closed its doors at the Hafod Copperworks site in 1981, but the heritage of the metallurgical industries still remains in South Wales, most notably at Port Talbot’s steelworks. Today, the copper industry has been largely


forgotten in South Wales. In Swansea, the moonscape left by the smelting processes has slowly greened. Now conifer plantations and lush green grass cover the once-parched hills and river banks. The River Tawe is home to fish and aquatic species again, and is no longer the orange slick it once was. Ironically, amongst all this foliage, a few crumbling remains of the old copperworkings in the city can just be seen. But despite the fading physical signs of the copper industry there is renewed interest in its history and the impact it had on Wales and the rest of the world. Professor Huw Bowen of Swansea University is leading the Copper Project. “Swansea was a crucible for the world copper industry and of enormous importance. Copper is what made Swansea great,” he said. “We tend to think that the history of Wales is written in coal dust and iron


SUMMER 2011 SOCIETY NOW 27


▲


© Huw Bowen


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32