Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
Studies in Welsh History: Intelligent Town - An Urban History of Swansea, 1780-1855
Studies in Welsh History: Intelligent Town - An Urban History of Swansea, 1780-1855
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Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
Astudiaeth swmpus yn cynnwys hanes datblygiad trefol Abertawe o ddiwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif hyd ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg; ceir ynddo olwg ar sut y datblygodd Abertawe yn ganolfan ddylanwadol - a galw ei hun yn 'metropolis Cymru'. Bwrir golwg hefyd ar sut y collodd ei statws wrth i leoedd eraill yng Nghymru drefoli yn yr un modd. Argraffiad newydd.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
A full-length study of Swansea's urban development from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century, giving an account of how Swansea gained an unrivalled position of influence as an urban centre, which led it briefly to claim to be the 'metropolis of Wales' and how it then lost its status in the face of rapid urban development elsewhere in Wales. New edition.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9780708325100
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9780708325100
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- Studies in Welsh History: Intelligent Town - An Urban History of Swansea, 1780-1855
- Awdur / Author
- Miskell, Louise
- Current Price ex VAT
- £24.99
- Current Price inc VAT
- £24.99
- Availability Status (EN)
- Non-Stock Item - Ordered on request
- Availability Status (CY)
- Archebir yn ôl y galw
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2012-01-17
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru / University of Wales Press
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 234 pages
- Size
- 1 × 1 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Hanes, Hanes Lleol, Arferion Gwlad, Llên Gwerin (yn Saesneg) | EN: History, Welsh Life and Customs, Local History, Folk Tales (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Hanes Lleol (yn Saesneg) | EN: Local History (in English)
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
The view from Mount Pleasant over Swansea today is radically different from that depicted on the cover of this book in a painting of around 1850, and we might be forgiven for thinking that all major development in the history of the city has taken place since then. Yet this cover image itself represents the culmination of a formative period in Swansea’s history, the years from 1780 to 1855. It was during these years, the author argues, that the town (as it was then) forged for itself an identity unique in Wales. This identity brought together various functions. Louise Miskell opens her book with the story of an attempted balloon ascent in Swansea in 1802, an event that was designed to attract the interest of those who frequented bathing resorts, but which also reflected a new spirit of scientific enquiry among leading inhabitants of the town. The story of these years is one of combining Swansea’s increasing importance as a centre of copper smelting with its role as a resort and its intellectual development, particularly among the ‘urban elites’. Leading citizens such as the industrialist John Henry Vivian and the naturalist and pottery owner Lewis Weston Dillwyn participated in different aspects of this development, and were among those who attracted the British Association to Swansea in 1848. Their younger contemporary George Grant Francis, one of the principal founders of the Royal Institution of South Wales, was to inherit their mantle. As the author clearly shows, the first half of the nineteenth century was a formative period for Swansea: like many towns and cities in Britain, it was concerned with issues of public health and safety, with urban planning, and with public order at a time of growth in population and rapid industrialisation. Unlike Merthyr, for instance, Swansea did not experience radical unrest. Yet it experienced the birth pangs of a new order of local government following the Municipal Reform Act of 1835, changes in administration, and the slow improvement of urban services and facilities. This very well written and highly readable study was first published in 2006 and is now deservedly reprinted. It is a major contribution to our understanding not only of the history of Swansea but of urban Wales as a whole.
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