SWANSEA, Welsh Abertawe, a seaport of Glamorganshire, South Wales. Pop. (1931) 164,825. The population of the old borough in 18or was 6,099.
The Via Julia from Nidum (Neath) to Loughor probably passed through the north of the borough, where Roman coins were found in 1835. The name Swansea stands for Sweyn's "ey" or inlet, and may have been derived from Sweyn Forkbeard, who cer tainly visited the Bristol Channel. The earliest known form of the name is Sweynesse, which occurs in a charter granted by William earl of Warwick some time previous to 1184; in King John's charter (1215) it appears as Sweyneshe, and in the town seal, of mediaeval origin, it is given as "Sweyse." The Welsh name, Aber Tawy, first appears in Welsh poems of the beginning of the 13th century. The town grew up round the castle which Henry de Beauchamp (or Beaumont) on his conquest of Gower about 1099, built on the west bank of the river. The castle even tually came by marriage to the Somersets and is still held by the dukes of Beaufort. It was finally destroyed by Owain Glyn Dwr. In the Civil War the town was royalist till the autumn of 5645 when Colonel Philip Jones was made its governor. The older part of the town, being the whole of the municipal borough previous to 1836, occupies the west bank of the Tawe near its mouth and is now wholly given up to business. Stretching inland to the north along the river for some 3 m. through Landore to Morriston, and also eastwards along the sea margin towards Neath, is the industrial quarter, while the residential part occupies the sea front and the slopes of the Town Hill (58o ft. high) to the west, stretch ing out to Sketty. The Mumbles or Oystermouth and a large part of the Swansea rural district were included in the bor ough in 1918. The east side of the river is known as St. Thomas's and Port Tennant.
The castle, first built by Henry de Newburgh about 1 o99, has entirely disappeared; but of the new castle, which was probably intended only as a fortified house, there remain the great and lesser halls, a tower and a so-called keep with the curtain wall connecting them, its chief architectural feature being a fine embattled parapet with an arcade of pointed arches in a style similar to that of the episcopal palaces of St. David's and Lamphey built by Henry
Gower (d. 1347), bishop of St. David's, to whom the building of the new "castle" is also ascribed. Possibly some traces of St. David's Hospital, built by the same prelate in 1331, are still to be seen at Cross Keys Inn. The parish church of St. Mary was en tirely rebuilt in 1895-98. Of the earlier work there remains the door of the rood loft (built into a wall), and a few private memorials. Within the parish of St. Mary was St. John's, a church once owned by the Knights Hospitallers. This church, which was entirely rebuilt in 182o, was renamed St. Matthew in 188o, when a new St. John's was built within its own parish. The Royal Institution of South Wales, founded in 1835, pos sesses a museum in which the geology, mineralogy, botany, pre historic and later antiquities of the district are well represented. Its library is rich in historical and scientific works relating to Wales and Welsh industries. The free library and art gallery contains exhibits of local and general Welsh interest. The Glynn Vivian art gallery was opened in 1915.
The grammar school was founded in 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613-1691), bishop of Waterford. A college was added to the University of Wales in 192o, with a si ,e in Singleton Park (3oo acres). The town possesses the Llewelyn Park of 42 acres and other public grounds. De Braose's charter of 5305 gave the bur gesses the right to take from the lord's woods sufficient timber to make four great ships at a time and as many small vessels as they wished. Coal was even then worked in the district. Cromwell in his charter of 1655 recognized Swansea as "convenient for ship ping and resisting foreign invasions." Its status was only that of a "creek" in the port of Cardiff till 1685, when it was made independent.