Mines in Swansea

Swansea's name belongs to copper — it smelted more of it than anywhere on earth in the 19th century — but the copper works ran on coal, and the hills above the town were sunk for it from the 1840s. The pits are all gone now, and the one most remembered is remembered not for its output but for the chapel its men cut out of the coal face and used every Monday morning for sixty years.

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026