Photography by John Ball - 11:45 am, 23rd February 1998(with Agfa ePhoto-307 digital camera)

Swansea was once the world's greatest copper-making centre. The industryhas now gone, leaving behind a derelict landscape at Hafod on the west bankof the River Tawe, within a mile of the centre of the city.

Image 1:

Two massive chimneys and a few derelict buildings are all that remain of this once-great industry.

Image 2, 3:

The decaying remnants of these industrial buildings havebeen fenced off as they are no longer safe.

Image 4:

This cathedral to the Industrial Age was built in 1860.

Image 5:

One of the few remaining brick-built furnace chimneys.

Image 6:

A massive iron wheel which formed part of the winding gear.

Image 7:

A rusting iron ladder, now reaching only to the sky.

Image 8:

Deserted steam loco sheds, once owned by V & S (Vivian & Sons) Ltd.

Image 9:

Much of Swansea's industrial wasteland has been landscapedinto a riverside public amenity. The work undertaken in the LowerSwansea Valley is said to be one of the greatest land reclamationprojects in Europe.

See the websites of the BBC and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales for further details of the Hafod Copperworks.