Wales
Things you probably didn't know about Swansea
Copper, poetry and the world’s first passenger railway.
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1807 — fact 1 of 4
The world rode trains here first
The Mumbles Railway, carrying fare-paying passengers from 1807 along Swansea Bay, was the world’s first such service.
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1850 — fact 2 of 4
Copperopolis
In the 19th century, the Lower Swansea Valley smelted most of the world’s copper — ore in, metal out, river running red.
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1914 — fact 3 of 4
Dylan Thomas was born here
The poet of Under Milk Wood was born in Swansea in 1914 and wrote for the local paper as a young man.
See what 1914 was like → -
Fact 4 of 4
A bay of five names
Swansea Bay runs five miles from the maritime quarter to the old fishing village of Mumbles.
Our Swansea collection is part of a growing local-history library — more cities and facts are being added.