Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea , Wales , which are immediately south-east of Swansea city centre . In the mid-19th century, the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe Valley . The working docks area today is owned and operated by Associated British Ports as the Port of Swansea , and the northern part around the Prince of Wales Dock is undergoing re-development into a new urban area branded as the SA1 Swansea Waterfront .
21-477: Docks which have existed or still exist in the complex include: The North Dock was created to fulfil the increasing shipping demands from the nearby metals industry, and was created by diverting the River Tawe by cutting a new direct course within a meander section near the estuary. The old course of the river became the new dock and work was completed in 1852. Secluded and poorly lit, the area around North Dock
42-545: A platform and sometimes a small crane to allow easier loading and unloading of wagons. Some goods sheds had more than one track. If one were not adjacent to the unloading platform then the method of working the second siding would be to first empty the wagons adjacent to the platform, and then open the doors on their far side to access those on the second track. Planks or portable bridges were normally provided for this purpose. When no longer required for goods traffic goods sheds have often been converted for other uses, such as
63-490: A roll-on/roll-off berth . It offers warehouses and facilities for handling dry bulks, minerals , ores , forest products and general cargo . There is a roll-on/roll-off ferry terminal in the western part of the docks. Between 1987 and 2006, Swansea Cork Ferries operated a regular passenger and car ferry to Ringaskiddy in County Cork , Ireland. The service was suspended from 2007. A website and online campaign
84-406: A number of initiatives to better connect the urban areas on the west of the river with the more rural areas of Kilvey Hill and Crymlyn Bog beyond to the east. 51°37′N 3°56′W / 51.617°N 3.933°W / 51.617; -3.933 Goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before, after, and during loading to and unloading from
105-416: A train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door. There will also be a door to move goods to or from road wagons and vans, this sometimes is parallel to the rail track, or sometimes on the side opposite the rail track. Inside the shed will generally be
126-696: Is a 30 miles (48 km) long river in South Wales . Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains , the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National Park , before the river turns south and then southwest to its estuary at Swansea . Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach Rivers and the Afon Twrch . The total area of
147-460: Is extended as far as requiring permission and payment for bridges which are built over it. This was last exercised in 2008 when Swansea Council was required to pay £281,431 to the estate, as revealed by a Freedom of Information request. The lower part of the valley was intensely industrialised in the 18th and 19th centuries and was especially impacted by metal refining and working and to a much lesser extent by porcelain manufacture. Large areas of
168-460: Is now used for mussel farming . Due to increases in industrial output and in trade in copper, zinc, iron and tinplate combined with the developments in shipping (big steamships were replacing smaller sailing vessels) by the late 19th century, Swansea's harbour was in desperate need of expansion. The Swansea Harbour Trust (SHT) commissioned the construction of the Prince of Wales Dock , the first on
189-599: The Prince of Wales Dock in 1879 on Fabian's Bay to the east of the River Tawe. When construction was completed, the Prince of Wales dock was opened on 18 October 1881 by Edward, Prince of Wales , and extended in 1898 to its present size of 27 acres (11 ha). Usage of the dock declined throughout the latter half of the 20th century. The Prince of Wales Dock is now being redeveloped as the Prince of Wales Marina with 500 berths. A new channel with sea lock and holding basin
210-536: The Prince of Wales on the south side of the Prince of Wales Dock and covers some 72 acres (29 ha). Construction was complete by 1909. The King's Dock is the principal dock in the Port of Swansea which is still in use today for cargo operations. At the same time as the King's Dock was being built, a breakwater was constructed further south which enclosed a large body of water, some 151 acres (61 ha). This body of water
231-484: The SHT, further engines were provided by Powlesland and Mason from 1903 onwards. The Port of Swansea is an Atlantic shipping port operated by Associated British Ports which comprises the King's Dock, Queen's Dock, two dry docks and a roll-on/roll-off ferry terminal in the River Tawe. The port has three transit sheds with 25,000 m (270,000 sq ft) of storage space, 12 quayside cranes , two drydocks ,
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#1732802318576252-657: The South Dock was begun in 1852 by a private company. It was built on a site west of the River Tawe, just south of the North Dock and was not completed until 1859. The South Dock was closed in 1971 and was redeveloped in the 1980s. The dock itself became the Swansea Marina and the land around the dock was developed as the Maritime Quarter residential area. The Swansea Harbour Trust began constructing
273-468: The booking office at Paignton railway station , or as housing. When many rural branch lines in New Zealand were closed, goods sheds along the closed branches often formed integral parts of the depots of road freight companies that replaced the railway. Transfer sheds, sometimes called transshipment sheds, were provided to transfer goods between two different railways of different gauges, such as
294-647: The catchment is some 246 km (95 sq mi). The Tawe passes through a number of towns and villages including Ystradgynlais , Ystalyfera , Pontardawe , and Clydach and meets the sea at Swansea Bay below Swansea. The Tawe Valley ( Cwm Tawe in Welsh ) is more commonly known as the Swansea Valley . Ownership of the riverbed was granted to the Duke of Beaufort in the 17th century by Charles II resulting in exclusive mineral and fishing rights, which
315-684: The east side of the river. Opened in 1881 by the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Queen Alexandra ), it was completed in 1882 and expanded in 1898. The North Quay frontage was let to the Great Western Railway , the Neath and Brecon Railway and the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway , which linked the Dulais Valley and Rhondda Valley coalfields directly with the docks. In addition to shunting locomotives operated by
336-465: The lower valley remain contaminated by industrial spoil containing copper , lead , nickel and zinc . The only significant extant relic of those times is a major nickel refinery at Clydach which is part of the Canadian company Vale Inco . The quality of the river has now greatly improved. Large salmon swim up the river to spawn , whilst trout are in abundance. In 1992, a barrage was built at
357-606: The mouth of the river. National Cycle Route 43 follows this river for much of its course. Bridges over the River Tawe within the City and County of Swansea , from north to south: There are plans for further housing developments on both east and west banks of the River Tawe and a proposal to operate river taxis along the river. A report was commissioned by Natural Resources Wales in 2015 as part of its 'Tawe Trial' initiative - completed by regeneration consultants Trilein Ltd. it recommended
378-409: Was built to link the marina directly with the River Tawe . A cable-operated wakeboarding facility opened in the Prince of Wales Dock in 2010, but was short-lived. The dock is the site of the swim section of the annual Swansea Triathlon. Work began on the King's Dock in 1905 to meet the growing demand of tinplate exports from the local area. The King's Dock was constructed as a much larger dock than
399-494: Was opened in 1920 as the Queen's Dock after oil handling facilities were built to handle imports for the nearby BP oil refinery at Llandarcy and petrochemical plant at Baglan Bay . Usage of the Queen's Dock reached its peak in the 1950s when oil imports and exports were around 8 million tonnes per year. Since the closure of the plants at Baglan Bay and Llandarcy, the Queen's Dock was rendered obsolete as an oil handling facility and
420-456: Was popular with prostitutes and their clients, until lighting was improved following the drowning of Selina Rushbrook in the lock in 1907. The North Dock closed in 1930 after the development of new larger docks on the east side of the River Tawe made it obsolete. The north dock has since been filled in and the Parc Tawe retail complex was built on the site in the late 1980s. Construction of
441-786: Was started in an attempt to highlight the effect that the loss of the ferry was having on Swansea and the South-West of Ireland. In April 2009, a newly formed co-operative using the Fastnet Line brand purchased MV Julia to provide a service between Swansea and County Cork. Sailings commenced on 10 March 2010 but ceased as unviable in November 2011, in part owing to increased fuel costs. 51°36′58″N 3°55′05″W / 51.616°N 3.918°W / 51.616; -3.918 River Tawe The River Tawe ( / ˈ t aʊ i / ; Welsh : Afon Tawe [ˈtau.ɛ] )
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