Annual report of the county archivist 2015 2016

Annual Report of the County Archivist

Adroddiad Blynyddol Archifydd y Sir

2015-2016 A joint Service for the Councils of the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Gwasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Dinas a Sir Abertawe a Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot

West Glamorgan Archive Service West Glamorgan Archive Service collects documents, maps, photographs, film and sound recordings relating to all aspects of the history of West Glamorgan. It is a joint service for the Councils of the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough.

Our mission is the preservation and development of our archive collections, to safeguard our documentary heritage and to enable research in order to further our collective knowledge. We are committed to providing information and the opportunity to engage with archives to everybody.

West Glamorgan Archive Service Civic Centre Oystermouth Road Swansea SA1 3SN

Front cover: Boxer Cliff Curvis at the Steel Company of Wales field, Port Talbot, 1953 (from the Arthur Rees collection)

01792 636589 westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk

www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives

Connecting People and History

Two senior executives from the US family history website company Ancestry visited West Glamorgan Archives on 22 March at the start of a contract to digitise some of our collections.

Sabrina Petersen, Global Head of Imaging, (left) and Jeff Heaps, Director of Publishing Services, (second from right) are seen here with the County Archivist. Peter Goodwin and Sarah Wheatley from Ancestry UK are centre picture.

The past year 2015/16 has seen a respite before the start of a three-year programme of service transformation which will see West Glamorgan Archive Service take on a different shape, leaner, more focused on its statutory functions and more commercially-minded. The Archive Service is not alone in facing this challenge: local authorities across the UK as they reach their limit for incremental efficiency savings are seeking to innovate and do things differently in the future in ways that demand much less resource.

The Gordian knot presented to our particular service is to combine the search for new models of delivery with planning for a new building to accommodate the archive collections. This search is predicated on the anticipated redevelopment in the medium term of the Swansea Civic Centre site and its associated prime waterfront as part of a concerted plan to help regenerate the city centre. Talks with other prospective partners and planning for a move of the collections are progressing, but at the time of writing it is still too early to be specific about the location of a new archive facility in Swansea or Neath Port Talbot, which is the question most customers ask us.

While these larger talks have been taking place around the future shape of the service, we have, as this section is entitled, remained focused on our primary aim of ‘connecting people with history’. Many of the people who connect with history by engaging with our archive collections

no longer do this in the traditional manner of a visit to the archives as an individual user. They are equally likely to view digital images online, follow us on social media, join a group tour of the archives or visit our stand at a local history event. This trend will be increased as more of our collections are about to go online commercially in 2017 on the websites ‘Findmypast’ and ‘Ancestry’. Meanwhile our use of social media has developed exponentially in the past year and as a result social media forms something of a running theme in this annual report.

In all these activities, we are mirroring what is happening elsewhere in the sector across Wales and the rest of the UK. Sometimes we are able to break new ground. As reported further on, in 2016 we won the all-Wales award for archives marketing excellence for a third time in four years, a sign that through the innovative skills and creativity of our staff we maintain the ability to use ever scarcer resources in new and exciting ways. Our service to schools has continued to expand its offer and our diverse community projects and partnerships help us to address the corporate priorities of both our parent authorities and their desired outcomes for residents.

One of our followers on Twitter is Suzy Davies, regional AM for South West Wales, who is herself a prolific user of social media. Following a request to visit us and tour the archives, we took the opportunity to invite a political cross-section of our local AMs, hosted by Swansea Council Cabinet member for Enterprise, Development and Regeneration, Councillor Robert Francis-Davies. All the AMs were enthralled to see our oldest document, the foundation charter of Neath Abbey dating from c. 1129, not generally available as an original document in the archive searchroom.

Engaging new audiences

We hosted several visits from the Ethnic Youth Support Team in February, focusing our resources for them on the historic and positive contribution of Swansea’s diverse ethnic communities to the city’s culture and economy. Archivist David Morris is seen here with the group.

Collaborative partnership working and work with schools is now ingrained into the DNA of West Glamorgan Archive Service and 2015/16 has seen more examples of this. We have continued to work with other local partners to help engage a wider cross-section of the local community with archives and furthermore we have taken our message out to schools in formats that complement the Wales Curriculum and aim to develop pupils’ self-esteem and pride in our local heritage.

The past year has seen the continuation of three community projects which were described in last year’s annual report, namely ‘Sandfields: A Community Built on Steel’ and ‘Cynefin: Mapping Wales’ Sense of Place’ with its local offshoot sub-project ‘Exploring Gower’s Ancient Woodland’. One joint initiative in which we are currently engaged is a ‘People’s Museum’ in number 104 Community House in Blaenymaes Swansea, encouraging local adults and children alike to develop and share a narrative about some of the hidden history of an area which has seen comprehensive change in the post-war period. We worked amongst others with Blaenymaes and Portmead Schools to produce a series of exhibition panels which can be displayed in the museum, in other public buildings and in schools. The work we carried out here built on similar work with Seaview, Gors and Townhill primary schools creating an exhibition on the history of the Townhill and Mayhill estates in Swansea.

Two of the exhibition panels created by archivist Katie Millien for the ‘Pride in Penderry’ project

Townhill in Swansea is the oldest and largest housing estate in Wales with a population of over 9,000. We were delighted to be invited to participate in the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Phoenix Community Centre and Townhill Library on 3 March with the opportunity to display our exhibition on the history of Townhill and Mayhill in the Library for several weeks afterwards.

We had loads of compliments, reminiscences, discussions and enjoyment with the display and photographs provided. Some people came into the Library after seeing the photos in the Evening Post but many of the visits were due to ‘word of mouth’ recommendations. (comments received from the Townhill Library staff)

WORKING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA For the 2015 ‘Explore Your Archive’ campaign the archives staff decided to engage through the use of social media with an under-represented age range in the archive searchroom.

Around 60% of the UK population nowadays has a Facebook account and world-wide 30% of Facebook users are aged between 25-34. 15 million in the UK use Twitter, two thirds of them under 34 years old.

One of our main successes of the week-long campaign was a set of three short films put on the WGAS Facebook page. One of these films, a 28 second clip of Swansea’s Kingsway during post-war reconstruction, was viewed over 28,000 times.

This has now led us to create a regular #FilmFriday feature on our Facebook page, where every Friday we issue a short clip from our film archive.

The summer of 2015 saw population movements across Europe at a scale unprecedented since the end of the Second World War. Reminders of similar chaos in the immediate years following the end of the war were brought home by an enquiry we received in August.

Eastern Europeans who had been imprisoned or used as slave labour by the Nazis found themselves cut off from their homeland by the creation of the Iron Curtain, unable or unwilling to return home to an uncertain reception from their communist regimes. Many Poles, Yugoslavs, Czechs and Ukrainians came to south Wales to find work in the heavy industries here.

We were emailed by a family in Warsaw to help trace a relative who was last heard of in Swansea before contact was lost several decades ago. Although our searches in alien registration records produced some basic evidence, it was through our use of Facebook that we were able to reunite the two branches of the family.

Other memories we heard from members of the public following the story were of camps for Displaced Persons in the area around Swansea in the late 1940s. One DP settlement at Penllergaer provided labour for conifer planting carried out by the Forestry Commission on the former Penllergare estate. Local churches and chapels played a significant role in welcoming the refugees and a Polish Centre was opened in Morriston.

“Thanks again for your help.

It is just amazing how you managed to find our relatives.

It is just great!”

Our Education Service 2015/16 ARCHIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS Total number of teachers and pupils attending archive education sessions

1,517

comprising

Sessions held in the Archives Sessions held in schools Pictures below from sessions with Gors, Townhill and Cefn Hengoed Schools, Swansea

5 24

Marketing Innovation Awards 2016 Archives throughout Wales run innovative activities designed to attract new audiences, often in the face of little resource to do this. To recognise their achievement and encourage good practice, in 2013 Welsh Government extended its set of awards for libraries to the archives sector. The awards give archives staff at all levels the chance to win national recognition for their work in promoting their service. West Glamorgan Archive Service won the Archives award in 2016 for the third time in four years for its CD resource ‘Swansea in 1852’ (described in last year’s report).

Archivist Katie Millien is seen here receiving the award from competition judge Jonathan Deacon.

Where do I start – they have to think and act creatively – they use the successes of a past activity to develop an income stream and ‘just do it’.

Excellent! (from the judge’s comments)

The project ‘Cynefin: Mapping Wales’ Sense of Place’, with which WGAS has been heavily involved from its initial concept, won the joint marketing project of the year award in the archives category.

Seen here are all the archives category winners, including Cynefin project manager Einion Gruffudd. .

How we performed in 2015/16 The number of visits by individuals and groups recorded by West Glamorgan Archive Service at its Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot service points in 2015/16 was 7,110, which was a reduction of just under 5% on the previous year’s figure of 7,452.

Total members of the public visiting the Archive Service during 2015-2016: 7,110

2015/16 IN NUMBERS 202 reader’s tickets issued to new users 225 family history starter sessions given 489 people visited our stalls at external events 1,517 school pupils attended our learning sessions 6,782 individual visits to the archives 9,507 people reached during the year on and off-site 10,041 documents issued in our Swansea searchroom 204,539 records in our online catalogue 5,000,000 estimated incidences of names in our records to be digitised by Ancestry in 2016

Including: Swansea Neath Port Talbot Group visits

4,427 2,279 76 328

Figures for usage of the service are submitted annually to CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. The figures which are published annually by CIPFA relate to the use of local authority archives in the UK in the previous year, in this case 2014/15.

Analysis of these statistics shows that, based on the number of individual visits to use the searchroom, West Glamorgan Archive Service was the 15th busiest local authority archive service in the UK in that year (down from 12th in the previous year). Using this measure, which excludes school and group visits, we ranked between Hampshire and Derbyshire in the table.

Within Wales, we were still by far the busiest service in terms of individual visits, with figures 51% higher than Gwynedd Archives in second place. Our figure of 7,010 individual visits in 2014/15 accounted for just under a third of the individual visitor figures for Welsh local authority archives in the CIPFA table.

One conclusion to be drawn from this is that, although the number of individual visits to West Glamorgan Archives is falling, this is broadly in line with national trends.

Who is using our service?

The pie chart to the left shows the distribution by postcode of those of our service users who have obtained an Archives Wales reader ticket from us since the scheme started.

Only users of original documents need a ticket and hence the figures under-represent people using the Neath service point for family history only without needing to register for a ticket.

Increasingly, people have already registered at one of the other participating offices, which also undercounts users at Swansea and Neath who are from the rest of Wales.

In February we put on an exhibition in Swansea Civic Centre foyer to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Swansea’s Three Nights Blitz of February 1941. A new book by Dr Dinah Evans on the post-war reconstruction of Swansea will be published by WGAS in the coming year.

Building and preserving our collections

The Archive Service was awarded a grant of ÂŁ16,600 in December by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (with match-funding support from the Welsh Government) for the repair of mine engineering plans in the Neath Abbey Ironworks collection. The work is currently being carried out by Gwynedd Archives Conservation Unit.

The primary role of the Archive Service is to preserve our documentary heritage for the benefit of future generations, receiving additional gifts and deposits of archive material while maintaining and developing the greatest degree of access to the collections in our care. This necessitates continuous repair of items in our collections which are often received in poor condition through exposure to damp and other adverse storage conditions prior to their deposit.

It is a reflection of the times we live in that much of the archival material we have received in 2015/16 is due to the decline of institutions which once played a prominent part in their local community. To the continuing stream of records brought to us as a result of an everdecreasing number of chapels, we are now adding records from deconsecrated churches and

from closed village schools. Swansea churches in the suburbs of Mount Pleasant and Cwmbwrla, schools in Neath Port Talbot affected by local authority spending cuts, these are some of the institutions who have deposited their records with us over the past year as they closed their doors for the final time.

Working together with the Richard Burton Archives and Swansea University Department of History and Classics, West Glamorgan Archive Service is actively seeking to extend its collections relating to the iron and steel industry in West Glamorgan. Compared to the history of coal, that of the Welsh iron and steel industry is sparsely documented in local archives and consequently relatively unresearched by historians. At the time of writing, the future of the UK steel industry itself is in jeopardy and its fate is much in the consciousness of everyone in Wales.

A major new accession this year has been a substantial addition to the deposited archive collection of Mr Arthur Rees of Port Talbot, former Coke Oven Manager at the Abbey Works and prominent figure in the Port Talbot Historical Society. Professor Louise Miskell has written below an article about some of the treasures to be found in this collection, and both front and back covers of this report depict some of the fascinating pictures of Port Talbot life which Mr Rees collected both in his personal capacity and while acting as Photographic Secretary to the Port Talbot Historical Society. There are articles in several previous reports on this outstanding collection which will repay much further research when it is fully listed and available.

Continuing the theme of iron and steel, a new accession was received this year of records of the Briton Ferry Ironworks. Unknown to local historians and other researchers till now, they came to the Archives after a considerable period being stored out-of-county. These exciting newly-discovered records are described in an article by Andrew Dulley below.

During the year, we have continued our programme of boxing all loose volumes and other items such as small rolled maps in acid-free packaging, with the aim of having no loose unboxed or unwrapped items within our strongrooms by the time we are required to move out.

This packaging both provides support to the items and protects against the build-up of dust and surface dirt. Thanks to a recent Welsh Government grant, we are now able to barcode all our packaged material and it is envisaged that this barcoding will be integral to future repository management, offering increased intellectual control in an environment where our collections may be stored alongside those of partner institutions.

Remedial and preventive conservation work carried out in 2015/16 • • •

36 volumes 3 plans 1,751 volumes individually boxed

Staff changes

Liza Osborne (centre) with Anne-Marie Gay at the Swansea Local History Book Fair, October Although the change has occurred in the first months of 2016/17, it cannot go unmentioned in this report that two long-standing and popular members of archive staff are leaving the Service on voluntary severance as a result of budget cuts. Between them, Michael Phelps and Liza Osborne have contributed 44 years of dedicated service to West Glamorgan Archives and each has been much loved and appreciated by customers in both Neath and Swansea across the past two decades. From 1 August 2016, our Neath service point will have WGAS staff present on two days per week only (Monday and Tuesday), with the continuing assistance of the Neath Antiquarian Society in order to provide a full service on the Tuesday. I would like to thank Liza and Michael wholeheartedly for their enthusiastic contribution to the work of the Service over the past years. Visitors to our stands at external events will still get to see Liza, as she will continue selling our books on these occasions and few customers escape our stand without her clinching a sale of at least one item!

I would like to thank the Neath Antiquarian Society’s volunteers, with whose regular contribution we have been able to continue to provide a four day a week service in Neath in 2015/16: Christine Davies, Robert Davies, Martyn Griffiths, Philip Havard, Josie Henrywood, Annette Jones, David and Olive Newton, Hywel Rogers, Gloria Rowles, Irene Thomas and Janet Watkins.

Volunteers at Swansea during the year have included Jane Atzori, John Curtis, Alan Gardiner, Lauren Heath, Caroline Hobson, Stuart Martinson, Laura Stowe-Evans, Jamie Veale and Charlotte Watts, to all of whom we owe a debt of gratitude for their hard work.

The Archive Trainee for 2015/16 is Robert Hillman who holds a BA in Economics from Swansea University. Robert has secured a place at Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies for the academic year 2016/17.

Acknowledgements Professor Louise Miskell of Swansea University has very kindly contributed an article to this report on an aspect of the history of the steel industry in Port Talbot.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the chair and members of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee for their interest and support during the year. Particular thanks are due to Mrs Charlotte Hodgson, who is stepping down from the Committee in 2016/17 as representative for the Diocese of Llandaff. …………………………………………..

Kim Collis West Glamorgan County Archivist June 2016 …………………………………………..

West Glamorgan Archives Committee As at 31 March 2016 Chairman HM Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan D. Byron Lewis Esq. CStJ, FCA Vice-Chairmen City and County of Swansea Councillor R. V. Smith County Borough of Neath Port Talbot Councillor D. W. Davies Representing the City and County of Swansea Councillor E. J. King Councillor K. E. Marsh Councillor P. M. Meara Councillor C. Thomas JP

Representing the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot Councillor J. Dudley Councillor M. L. James Councillor P. A. Rees Councillor A. Wingrave Representing the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon A. Dulley MA, MSc Representing the Diocese of Llandaff Mrs C. Hodgson BA, DAA Representing Swansea University Prof. L. Miskell FRHistS Representing the Neath Antiquarian Society Mrs J. L. Watkins City and County of Swansea Head of Cultural Services Ms T. McNulty MA Neath Port Talbot County Borough Director of Finance and Corporate Services H. Jenkins IPFA

West Glamorgan Archive Service

STAFF As at 31 March 2016 West Glamorgan Archives Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea SA1 3SN Tel. (01792) 636589 Fax (01792) 637130 Email: westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk Website: www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives

County Archivist ...........................................................................................Kim Collis MA, DAS Assistant County Archivist ....................................................... Andrew Dulley MA, MSc (Econ) Archivist....................................................................................... David Morris PhD, MSc (Econ) Archivist.......................................................................................... Katie Millien BA, MSc (Econ) Archive Trainee ............................................................................................... Robert Hillman BA Production Assistant .............................................................. Anne-Marie Gay MA, MSc (Econ) Family History Centre Supervisor .......................................................................... Lorna Crook Archives Reception Assistant ....................................................................Rebecca Shields BA Office Manager ......................................................................................Don Rodgers MA, PGCE

Neath Antiquarian Society Archives Neath Mechanics Institute, 4 Church Place, Neath SA11 3LL Tel. (01639) 620139

Archivist.............................................................................................. Michael Phelps BA, DPAA Supervisor ............................................................................................................... Liza Osborne

Records Management Service (City & County of Swansea) Records Officer ................................................................................. Andrew Brown MSc (Econ) Records Assistant .................................................................................................... Linda Jones

The Brangwyn Hall in wartime

Piano recital by the Ukrainian émigré pianist Leff Nicholas Pouishnoff in the Brangwyn Hall Swansea, 23 November 1943. Note the absence of the Brangwyn Panels.

On the 75th anniversary of the Swansea Blitz, our thoughts once again return to the terrible suffering that the people of Swansea endured during the Second World War. West Glamorgan Archive Service has a number of collections relating to this fateful period of Swansea’s history, including the Swansea Blitz photographic collection (P/PR 95) and the Swansea Borough Civilian Casualty Register (TC 201). These and many other documents record the destructive effects of conflict, but comparatively little has survived relating to the cultural and artistic life of the town during this period. Therefore, not surprisingly, one of the most exciting deposits received during 2016 was a photograph album containing images of some of the performances that were held at the Brangwyn Hall during the war years, 1939-1945 (D/D Z 1001).

The prevailing view of life in wartime Britain is one of blackouts, rationing and wartime restrictions. It is also sometimes supposed that during the war public gatherings at places of mass entertainment were forbidden in the interests of public safety. However, across the UK, attendances at cinemas and theatres actually rose during the war years. Indeed, the Brangwyn Hall photograph album provides plenty of evidence to support the view that the cultural and artistic life of Swansea was flourishing during the period 1939-1945.

Amongst the famous orchestras, composers and artists depicted in the album are the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult; the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Basil Cameron and the National Symphony Orchestra playing alongside the Ukrainian émigré pianist, Leff Nicholas Pouishnoff. There are also images of performances by the Band of the Welsh Guards; the Municipal Choir conducted by Ivor Owen; Irwyn Waters and

the Swansea Festival Orchestra, and the combined Swansea and District Royal Mail and Morriston United Choirs.

Whilst the photographs contained in the album are rather grainy and generic in nature, they still reveal much that is interesting. For instance, although the famous Brangwyn panels are clearly on show in July 1939, only empty boards remain by January 1940: a wise precaution given the extent of the Swansea Blitz in February 1941. Another interesting feature of many of the images is the presence of a large Union Jack draped across the Brangwyn organ pipes, clear evidence of war-time patriotism and the determination to carry on regardless of the threat posed by enemy air raids. Indeed, the fact that audiences continued to attend performances at the Hall during the war years was in itself an act of defiance on the part of the people of the town.

This said, the album contains no photographs of performances from 1941 and presumably this was a direct consequence of the Three Nights’ Blitz, which claimed the lives of several hundred civilians. Nevertheless, life returned to normal on 4 April 1942 when the bass baritone Bruce Dargavel, the Municipal Choir and the Brangwyn Hall Orchestra were once again photographed performing before a large audience.

The Brangwyn Hall did not only serve as a cultural centre during this period: it was also a venue for political meetings and rallies. In 1936, Oswald Mosley had originally been granted permission to hold a British Union of Fascists’ rally in the Hall, before the decision was reversed because of concerns about the safety of the Brangwyn Panels. Nevertheless, other rallies and conferences were permitted and there are photographs in the album of the Swansea Conservative and Unionist Association meeting in January 1939 as well as of preparations for the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain conference in July 1939. Perhaps most interesting of all is a photograph of a Communist Party meeting which was attended by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the UK Communist Party, in March 1942. This time, alongside the perennial Union Jack, the Soviet and American flags are given equal prominence, as are giant photographs of Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek; an unlikely coalition in peacetime but entirely understandable during 1942, when the rest of Europe had either fallen to, or allied itself with, Nazi Germany.

Other poignant images in the album are those which depict members of the US Army (28th Infantry Division) Band at an Easter Communion Service on 9th April 1944 (see picture below).

Just two months later the Division took part in the Normandy landings and in January 1945 it suffered terrible casualties during the Battle of the Bulge.

Who took the photographs included in the album is not known, however the fact that many of the images appear to have been taken from a raised position at the rear of the hall (probably the film projectionist’s loft) suggests they were taken in an official capacity. What is certain is that the photographs contained in this album provide a glimpse into an almost forgotten chapter of Swansea’s wartime history. …………………………………………..

David Morris Archivist West Glamorgan Archive Service …………………………………………..

Steelmaking, war, and planning for the future

Professor Louise Miskell from the Department of History and Classics at Swansea University here draws attention to some exciting documents to be found in recent additions to the Arthur Rees collection, which have just arrived and are awaiting listing by the archivists.

The Margam and Port Talbot steelmaking operations of Guest Keen and Baldwins [GKB] were crucial to Britain’s war effort in the 1940s. Heavy rail and plate production became concentrated there and the firm turned their attention to making products with specific wartime uses, including bomb shelters. Morale-boosting wartime visits to the Port Talbot works by Field Marshal Montgomery and by members of the royal family in the 1940s, underlined the importance of the town’s steel production to national interests.

But it was a difficult time to make steel. Limited access to foreign supplies of iron ore meant reliance on inferior domestic sources. Coal was often in short supply and blackout restrictions impacted on some aspects of the production process. Production of steel in Britain during the war years totalled some 76 million tons, but this was generally lower than pre-1939 levels. It is easy to conclude from this that the war had a disruptive effect on the industry, curtailing modernisation and imposing stifling controls. But some papers in the recently deposited Arthur Rees collection offer a different slant on the industry in Port Talbot in the early 1940s.

Most accounts of GKB’s planning for the post-war period, such as those written by David Brinn in the 1970s, and Stephen Parry’s excellent PhD thesis on steelmaking in Port Talbot, commence in the late 1940s with details of two development schemes, ‘J’ and ‘K’, which outlined proposals for a new hot strip mill at Margam. Wide strip mills were already in operation at steelworks in Shotton and Ebbw Vale by the end of the 1930s, but GKB was keen to meet the anticipated increase in demand for sheet steel after the war with a bigger and better facility of its own. Amongst the deposit of Arthur Rees papers, however, are also details of earlier development plans prepared at GKB: schemes ‘E’ and ‘F’. Both were ambitious projects

which help reveal how the firm made the transition from its wartime role as a producer of heavy plate products, to the post war sheet steel operation at the new Abbey Works in the 1950s.

Scheme ‘E’, dated December 1941, proposed a total spend of some £2.2 million on new equipment for installation at Margam. GKB’s engineering manager, Fred Cartwright, received a quotation for the supply of this machinery from the Sheffield firm of Davy and United Engineering Company. About half of the cost was for new heavy plate rolling plant, reflecting GKB’s concentration on this production during the war. In addition, there was hot and cold sheet finishing equipment listed in the quotation, which represented a significant upgrade to facilities at their existing mills. Just a year later, however, in December 1942, a new plan, entitled ‘Scheme F’, outlined a proposal for a semi-continuous sheet and plate mill designed to roll 9,500 ingots per week at a cost of £4.5 million. The aim of this was, ‘to roll hot strip in coil form suitable for cold rolling into tinplate or full finished sheets…at a low cost and with a finish equal to the existing strip mills.’ Built into the plans was capacity for further expansion in the future if needed.

This forward-looking proposal can be seen as a stepping stone towards equipping plant to provide for the post-war demand for sheet steel. In Britain, tinplate production had traditionally provided the main market for sheet steel, but new customers were emerging, particularly with the growth of car manufacturing. American steel companies led the way in the development of wide strip mill technology in the 1920s to meet these new demands. The fact that GKB was already engaged in planning for this type of production at Port Talbot, well before the end of the war, must have helped secure its choice as the location for the new sheet steel plant which was central to the British Iron and Steel Federation’s post-war recovery plan, backed by the government in 1945.

The significance of these papers is that they provide a reminder that there were elements of continuity linking the wartime and post-war steel sectors in south Wales. Although the industry underwent a far-reaching re-organisation after 1945, with GKB merging with three other companies to form the Steel Company of Wales [SCOW], aspects of the modernisation programme it implemented had been developing during the war years. Moreover, some of the same individuals moved seamlessly from their pre-1945 roles to lead the post-war planning and development phase for SCOW. In its early days especially, the new company relied heavily on the accumulated expertise of staff from its constituent firms, including Fred Cartwright, who was at the centre of the planning and construction of the Abbey Works at Port Talbot from 1947 onwards.

The Arthur Rees papers represent only a small proportion of the wealth of historical documentation relating to the Welsh steel industry in its transformative years, during and after the Second World War. Much of this material is in private hands and thus difficult for researchers to access but, as this small collection demonstrates, once catalogued and publicly accessible, it has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of one of the key economic pillars of twentieth-century Wales. …………………………………………..

Louise Miskell Professor of History Swansea University …………………………………………..

Nelson Terrace Nursery: educate every child as if he were your own

The Foundation Phase (statutory curriculum for all 3-7 year olds in Wales) aims to encourage children to be ‘creative, imaginative and make learning more enjoyable.’ Children are given opportunities to explore the world around them and understand how things work by taking part in practical activities relevant to their developmental stage. The framework was introduced in September 2010 but the theory behind it is not a new one. Open Air Nursery education had been pioneered by the McMillan sisters (Margaret and Rachel) back in 1914 when they opened the first Open Air Nursery School and Training Centre in Deptford, under the maxim: ‘Educate every child as if he were your own.’ By 1937, there were 96 Open Air Day Schools across Britain.

During 2016, West Glamorgan Archive Service received a deposit of a bundle of pages, originally from a scrap book, containing press cuttings and photographs in connection with the setting up of Nelson Terrace Nursery School, Swansea, and the running of the school during the time in office of Miss Winifred Mary Brown, its first Superintendent. The photographs show the children engaged in various activities, and the newspaper cuttings reflect interest in the school as the first of its kind provided by a Welsh Education Authority (E/S 21/3/2).

Swansea built and opened its Open Air Nursery at Nelson Terrace in 1936. The need for specialist teachers meant that, for the first time, teachers were sourced from outside the area. Miss Winifred Mary Brown of Merthyr Tydfil (born 6 August 1909) was appointed as Superintendent. Miss Brown had trained for 3 years at the Rachel McMillan Teacher Training College, Deptford, and worked briefly at Dowlais before coming to Swansea. The Nelson Terrace Nursery was officially opened on 7 May 1936 by Mrs Katharine Bruce Glasier, a personal friend of the McMillan sisters.

The school was located on the former site of the Training College on Nelson Terrace (now lost under the Quadrant Shopping Centre). Designed by Mr Ernest E. Morgan (Swansea Borough Architect), it was the third largest in the country and built to take a maximum of 160 children aged between 2 and 5 years old. The school was surrounded by a stone boundary wall with a large tarmac playground, three good-sized grass plots and a sand pit.

The entrance was at the end of Nelson Terrace and opened out onto a quadrangle with a garage for prams.

At the entrance there was a receiving room, staff room, Superintendent’s room and Doctor’s room. The west wing included a large dining and playroom; a kitchen and larder; a large classroom with cloakroom; and sanitary rooms which included toilets, wash basins, baths, a shower and a small paddling pool. The east wing contained three classrooms, each with storerooms and cloakrooms.

The school was primarily concerned with health and not with education. Some of the pupils came from overcrowded homes and would, it was thought, benefit from the fresh air and hours spent in rest. Others were children from single child families who it was intended to make more sociable by mixing with other children and sharing their toys with them. Another important aspect of the Nursery was to get to know the mothers as well as the children; to understand their home conditions. A Mothers’ Club was established which had a membership of over 100. They met weekly for talks, sewing and a keep-fit class. Miss Brown also introduced the Children’s Guild, a club where former pupils were encouraged to visit once a week after they had left to attend Elementary School, so that their progress could be checked.

All the furniture including sanitary appliances were miniature to suit children aged between 2 and 5 years. The beds were small, lightweight and foldable so that children could move them themselves. They had colourful blankets and each child was given an animal peg to hang their hat and coat on. While they were at Nursery, the children were also given brightly-coloured overalls to wear. A typical day at the Nursery looked like this: Daily Timetable 08.30-09.30 Arrival, bathe and brush teeth 09.30 Breakfast (fresh fruit or bread with butter and honey and a spoonful of cod liver oil - “fish lemonade”) 10.00-11.30 Activities (washing dolls’ clothes, make cakes and bread, have speech, sense and colour training, and eurhythmics) 12.00-13.00 Lunch (stew and rusks) 13.00-15.00 Rest and sleep 15.00-16.00 Play on the slide, in the sand tray, and with wheelbarrows, dolls’ houses and other toys 16.00 Cup of milk 16.00-17.00 Home The aim was that ‘the daily provision of a pint of milk and a dose of cod liver oil, the opportunity for rest and play in the open air, and for suitable foods, should make sickly children well and healthy children healthier.’

It was hoped that this would ultimately teach the young children cleanliness, ‘proper breathing and teeth cleaning’ and therefore save money spent on medical services in the elementary schools.

Miss Brown left her position in 1939 on the occasion of her marriage on 6 May 1939 at St Andrew’s Church, Cardiff to John D. L. Jones (Curate in Charge at St Agnes, Port Talbot from 1939 to 1946, and later Vicar of Baglan from 1946 to 1961). Her notice was received 11 March 1939 and was effective from 31 March 1939, just 6 months before the start of the Second World War. During the Second World War, the school suffered bomb damage and part of the school was requisitioned for an Air Raid Shelter. The school closed its doors at the Nelson Terrace site in 1969 and moved to Dyfatty.

In 1975 Dyfatty Nursery ceased to exist as a separate school and became a unit within Dyfatty Infants School. The Nursery only survived for 39 years but 41 years later the ethos of the McMillan sisters lives on in the Foundation Phase.

The collection of photographs and newspaper cuttings can be viewed in the archive searchroom during our normal opening hours. There are a number of other records in the Archives relating to Nelson Terrace Nursery: E/S 21/1/1 Log book, 1955-1969 E/S 21/2/1-2 Admission registers, 1944-1969 E/S 21/3/1 Statistical returns for the Ministry of Education, 1951-1962 E/S/20/9/2 Dyfatty School Order book (includes entries for Nelson Terrace), 1968-1974 P/PR/17vi Photographs BE 1/2/43 Public Air Raid Shelters in Swansea: Nelson Terrace Nursery School, 1940-1942 B/S E 50 Building plans of Nelson Terrace Nursery, 1936 BA 3/11 Building plans of Nelson Terrace Nursery, 1936 BE 30/16271 Planning file for Nelson Terrace Nursery, 1934 B/S E 55-56 Building plans of Nelson Terrace Nursery, 1943 …………………………………………..

Katie Millien Archivist West Glamorgan Archive Service …………………………………………..

Briton Ferry: the Iron Company and the town

Briton Ferry in 1870 (D/D T 2251) Recent events in the news have served to underline the importance to the region of steel and, by analogy, other metallurgical industries too. Iron, steel, copper and tinplate, not forgetting nickel, have shaped the growth of many of our towns and industrial villages. The economic prosperity these and other heavy industries brought funded – either directly or indirectly – an infrastructure of docks, railways, canals and public buildings, including chapels, libraries and schools, and it gave us a whole spectrum of housing, from the secluded villas of the industrialists to the terraced houses of their workers.

As time passed, independent enterprises came and went. Some works closed down, while others were taken over by competitors. Heavy industry saw many changes after the Second World War and, as the nature of manufacturing changed, so the older works were closed.

Buildings were demolished, spoil tips landscaped and greened, so that today there are no indications for the visitor to Pontardawe Leisure Centre or the Liberty Stadium that these are locations where, some decades earlier, the noise of industry would have taken the place of the sounds of sporting endeavour. Much work has been done to reverse the visible signs of industrial dereliction but our task as archivists is to ensure that the records of industry are preserved, along with the accounts of the lives of the people who worked there and of the communities in which they lived.

Accordingly, we were gratified this year to receive a collection of records of the Briton Ferry Iron Company. The collection consists in the main of technical drawings of the works, machinery and fittings, with other incidental records relating particularly to the Roberts family who were associated with the works and its daughter companies from its origins in the 1840s down to the final closure in the 1970s. This collection represents an important addition to our holdings. It complements the records we hold from Taylor & Sons Ltd, another Briton Ferry firm, and forms, so to speak, the final piece in a jigsaw of sources that, taken together, tell the story of the development of Briton Ferry. Today, we can by-pass Briton Ferry in seconds, thundering over the motorway bridge. It is easy to overlook it, but the story of the town, told through the records of the Briton Ferry estate, the Local Board and Urban District Council, of its churches, chapels and schools, and now its ironworks, echoes in microcosm the wider story of industrial Wales.

Briton Ferry before industry: an early 19th century pencil sketch by George Delamotte (PIC 13) Early nineteenth-century Briton Ferry was a quiet place. The river was crossed by the ferry, as it had been since time immemorial. Lord Vernon’s great mansion stood next to the picturesque church, and a succession of artists visited the place on their way through the Neath Valley in their quest for the perfect dramatic scene for their sketchbook. This all changed with the coming of industry. The success of the Neath Abbey Ironworks upstream on the river led to further industrial enterprises down at the river mouth, the development of the docks and the growth of Briton Ferry into a small town. The Briton Ferry Iron Company played a large part in this process. Although a comparatively modest enterprise, it nonetheless had an association with the town that lasted for 132 years, and typifies the effect a works could have on an industrial town.

The ironworks began with a lease from the Earl of Jersey to Charles Lean, George Davey, James Davey and Edward Willett, of premises in the shadow of Warren Hill, with the right to demolish the existing buildings and to build there1. The lease was drafted in 1846 (when tradition says that the foundation stone was laid) and was signed in the following January. The planning had clearly started some time before, since as early as 1845 the Neath Abbey Ironworks was starting work on some of the machinery2. The capital costs of setting up even a modest-sized works could be large, and the total cost of plant installed at the new Briton Ferry Works over the next seven years was £49,406. The company operated at a loss, reforming its partnership in 1850, and in 1854 the works was sold, a victim of the boom-and-bust cycle that dogged the Victorian economy. The original directors maintained a financial interest in the company, but its new owners set about making improvements, and by 1863 it was making a reasonable profit.

This was not to last indefinitely. During the 1880s a deep depression hit the iron market, and its effect on Briton Ferry Ironworks is told in this cutting from the Weekly Mail of 27 January 1883: ‘The manager and clerks received notice to leave in a fortnight. Through this stoppage upwards of 1,000 hands will be thrown out of employ. This, taken in consideration with the stoppage of the Vernon Tin-plate Works, which occurred five weeks ago, has cast a sad gloom over the whole of the neighbourhood, as the population, which is about 6,000, depend entirely upon those two works.’

As the market improved in the late 1880s, the ironworks was restructured and new works were built. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1897 shows the steelworks, along with the Earlswood, Victoria, Gwalia and Vernon Tinplate works, and the Cambrian Coke Works nearby, while to the south of the dock stood the Albion Steelworks.

Briton Ferry in 1899, from the Ordnance Survey map, showing the works, railways and docks to the south and west of the town On the other side of the River Neath stood the Cape Copper Works, Red Jacket Copper Works and Briton Ferry Chemical Works. Transport links had proliferated, taking advantage of Briton Ferry’s favourable position. The docks, designed by Brunel, had been opened in 1861; the GWR mainline was joined by the South Wales Mineral Railway and Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway, facilitating the transport of coal and ore. Within one person’s lifetime, Briton Ferry had been transformed from a rural river crossing into a hub of industry.

Records suggest that the town was anything but salubrious. Too little thought had been given at the outset to sanitation and drainage, and the earliest workers’ cottages at Briton Ferry were noisome and unpleasant. In 1849, a cholera outbreak accounted for 38 burials at the parish church, while another in 1866 occasioned a further 41. The very evident problems resulted in the establishment of the Briton Ferry Local Board of Health in 1864. Theirs was an uphill task, as we can see from a report of 1877: ‘Slops and sullage are led by leaky box-drains into these open ditches, which in some places pass under the floors of dwelling-houses, in culverts which are occasionally choked up to the very crown, and all this seething filth regurgitates at every high tide …

Besides having water at their foundations, a large number of the poorer class of cottages have no provision for carrying off the roof water, which therefore bathes the walls and adds to the general dampness of the dwellings. Many of the old rows belonging to the Iron Works are built back to back and are not properly ventilated.’3

The efforts to ensure proper planning and drainage are documented in the records of the Local Board of Health, later the Urban District Council. Today there are no back-to-back houses, and most of the earliest streets have been demolished.

A chance find during the year shows that the ironworks had another impact on local life – by providing a library. Among some records from Carmel Chapel, Gwaun Cae Gurwen we found an 1879 edition of a novel by the Irish writer Charles Lever, bearing the bookplate of Briton Ferry Ironworks Lending Library. This was the first library of its kind in the town, and very little is known about it. When the Urban District Council built its new offices in 1902, part of the building was to be the town library. This was finished in 1902, evidently taking over the stock from the works library. At the informal opening in July, the council chairman, D. Davies, as we are told in the newspaper report, ‘trusted the young men and women would take advantage of this opportunity to cultivate and improve themselves.’4 Neath Borough was enlarged in 1922, absorbing Briton Ferry and causing the abolition of its Urban District Council. Little by little the local shops closed, unable to compete with Neath’s shopping centre to the north, and the identity of what had once been a thriving little town gradually merged with that of Neath. After the Second World War, Briton Ferry’s industrial fortunes began too to decline. The formation of the Steel Company of Wales and the construction of the Abbey Works in Margam brought about many efficiencies and centralised much of the production, which put paid to many of the smaller works. In Briton Ferry, the Gwalia and Victoria tinplate works and the Whitworth Steel, Sheet and Galvanising Works closed in 1951, the Baglan Bay Tinplate Works in 1956 and the Briton Ferry Ironworks in 1958.

The Vernon Tinplate Works and Baglan Engineering Works were demolished in the 1950s to Briton Ferry Steelworks, with the ironworks beyond, c. 1920 (P/PR/81v/1/1). The motorway bridge crosses at this point today.

make way for the A48 dual carriageway. The Albion Works, the last remaining daughter company of the original Briton Ferry Iron Company, continued in production until 1978.

The story of Briton Ferry is in many ways typical of what happened in so many communities across South Wales as industry made its mark. What makes it such a fascinating study is that so many resources are available, and the records of the company that helped bring about the growth of the town have been a particularly welcome addition to the available archives. …………………………………………..

Andrew Dulley Assistant County Archivist West Glamorgan Archive Service …………………………………………..

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

The draft lease forms part of the Briton Ferry Estate collection at West Glamorgan Archives (WGAS), reference D/D BF 43 Many of the plans appear in the Neath Abbey Ironworks collection, WGAS reference D/D NAI/M 30-31, 295-296 Dr Airy’s Report to the Local Government Board on the sanitary state of the Neath Registration District, WGAS reference DC/N L 1/204 The Cambrian, 4 July 1902.

The Ironmaster’s House: design for a house for Robert Roberts, the works manager, 1904. It was built on Neath Road, Briton Ferry, facing the junction with Alexander Road.

Holding the fort: the 15th Glamorganshire Battalion of the Home Guard, Gower

The Reynoldston Company of the 15th Glamorganshire Battalion, 1941 (P/PR 110/5/4) This year, the Archives received a register of members of a local Home Guard battalion; the 15th Glamorganshire Battalion, Gower. The origin of the Home Guard was as a volunteer defence force in case of German invasion and its recruiting ground was amongst those who were required to continue in their occupation (‘reserved occupations’) or who fell outside the required age brackets for conscription (aged 18 to 41, later raised to 51). The Home Guard was immortalised in the long-running TV series ‘Dad’s Army’.

The volume is divided into the various companies of the battalion (Bishopston, Dunvant, Llangennith, Llanmadoc, Llanrhidian, Mumbles, Oxwich, Parkmill, Penclawdd, Pennard, Port Eynon, Reynoldston, Rhossili, Three Crosses, Upper Killay, the RAF Station, and “H.F.” - the meaning of which we are still trying to uncover). It covers the entire period of the war; beginning in 1940 as members begin to be recruited, with most having left the force by mid-1945. It has a comprehensive index, which makes searching it very straightforward.

The document contains a large amount of information on the individuals. First of all it gives their battalion reference number, and their national registration number. The dates of birth reveal a younger average age than the sitcom portrayed: a large proportion of those registered here were in their 20s and 30s. Next is their address, as well as that of their next-of-kin. Mostly the next-of-kin are individuals living at the same address, but in some cases these reveal the address of a parent or sibling.

Listed next is their occupation. A large number of these men were working in reserved occupations. Some of the most commonly listed in the area are drivers, mineworkers, metalworkers, and various roles pertaining to electrical work and maintenance, engineering and farming. As well as these, tar plant attendants, armature winders and rabbit trappers appear on the list.

Also revealed is previous war service, date of enrolment with the Home Guard, and details of any promotions. A notes section follows, stating when an individual was discharged, transferred to a different battalion, died or went on to join the regular armed forces. In the case of a discharge, a reason is normally given, generally medical grounds, non-attendance, hardship or ‘own request.’ In a few cases, individuals are noted down as having received fines, in one case as much as £10, although the precise reason isn’t stated. Lastly, a column shows a date – in most cases between the end of 1944 and mid-1945 – which presumably is the date on which their service ended.

The document shows how it was possible to rise through the ranks of the Home Guard. Thomas Howells Treharne of Parkmill, having started in 1940 as a Private, worked his way up through Platoon Commander, Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant and Captain right up to Major over the next 5 years. On 11 June 1942, he was awarded a Good Service Certificate by the Commander-In-Chief of the Home Forces, General Sir Bernard Paget.

Mr Treharne wasn’t the only one of his household to join; his wife, Laura Winifred Treharne, was one of a number of women who were employed to assist the Home Guard as cooks, clerks, and - as in Mrs Treharne’s case - drivers. These are listed under “Women employed to assist H.G.” in the register, although women were not officially allowed to join the Home Guard, and women for the most part would have joined separate volunteer groups.

More stories emerge when this register is linked with other records. An example would be that of Sergeant Wilfred Davies and Private Ernest George Rees, who received the British Empire Medal on 1 February 1944, for their rescue of five RAF crew during a storm. The crew had

become stranded off Burry Holm after bailing out of their plane. The Herald Of Wales reported that when Sergeant Davies and Private Rees reached the men, they ‘rendered them first aid and remained with them for two hours until the tide had receded sufficiently for them to be helped to the mainland. Without their assistance, all five men would unquestionably have lost their lives as they were in imminent danger of being washed away in the storm.’ It also mentions that Davies and Rees brought the men hot milk and rum.

West Glamorgan Archives holds a similar register for the 12th Glamorganshire Battalion, which covers part of Swansea and includes the name of the employer alongside the occupation of the individual. Whilst the register for 15th Glamorganshire Battalion is divided into companies, that of the 12th is more simply written as a single alphabetical list of men. It is remarkable that, 70 years on from the end of the war, fresh documents like this are coming to light. This volume allows us a peek into the organisation of the Home Guard in a rural setting and a fresh insight into the history of Gower during the period of the Second World War. …………………………………………..

Robert Hillman Archive Trainee West Glamorgan Archive Service …………………………………………..

Records held at West Glamorgan Archives, Swansea: 15th Glamorganshire Battalion Home Guard register, 1940-1945 (D/D Z 1005/1) 12th Glamorganshire Battalion Home Guard register, 1940-1944 (D/D Z 712/1) Photographs of the 15th Glamorganshire Battalion Home Guard (P/PR 110/5/4-5)

Four men, part of the Reynoldston Company of the 15th Glamorganshire Battalion, 1941 (P/PR 110/5/5)

Swansea’s Constitution Hill tramway

Researchers are occasionally mystified by photographs of Swansea’s Mount Pleasant showing a short-lived tramway on Constitution Hill. The notes reproduced below were found in a recent accession from Swansea Central Library and were presumably made by the Local Studies Librarian in the 1960s or 1970s to help answer enquiries on the subject.

The construction was authorised by the Swansea (Constitution-hill) Tramway Order 1896, and confirmed by the Tramway Orders Confirmation (No.2) Act, 1896.

A report on the Tramway was submitted to the Board of Trade by Lt.Col. Yorke on the 26th April 1898. (Copy with the Swansea Corporation minutes of May 1898). The report stated that the line was not considered suitable for public traffic and recommended that the Board of Trade should not grant a certificate to the Company. (See also The Cambrian, 13th May 1898, page 4 column 8).

A certificate that the tramway had been inspected and was fit for public traffic was issued on the 11th August 1898 (See The Cambrian 19th August 1898).

SWANSEA CONSTITUTION HILL TRAMWAY COPY REPORT OF LIEUT.-COL . YORKE Railway Department, Board of Trade, 8 Richmond Terrace, Whitehall London S.W. 26th April, 1898

Sir, I have the honour to report for the information of the Board of Trade that in compliance with the instructions contained in your minute of the 18th instant, I have inspected the Swansea Constitution Hill Tramway.

The line is of an unusual description, being rather of the nature of a cliff railway than of what is usually regarded as a tramway. It is 1 furlong 4 chains in length, and has gradients varying from 1 in 7.17 to 1 in 3.50.

It has been laid as a single line for a length of 1 furlong 2 chains and has a double line for the length of 2 chains, the double line forming a passing-place half way.

It is worked on by a single cable 1 inch in diameter to each end of which a car is permanently attached, and as one car ascends the other descends. Both cars travel on the same line of rails except at the passing loop, where each car takes its own line.

The points of the passing loop are operated automatically by the wheels of the cars, that is to say, that each car as it passes through the points in the trailing direction pushes over the switch rail into the proper position for the return journey of the same car.

The cars are similar in general design to those in general use on tramways, but they have no top seats. They weigh about 3 tons each and are constructed to carry 18 passengers, besides the driver and conductor. Each car has 4 wheels all of which are fitted with slipper brakes, and there are in addition emergency brakes which grip the top flange of the centre conduit in which the cable runs.

The cable at the top of the incline passes round a horizontal pulley which is connected by bevel gearing and a horizontal shaft with a gas engine, the latter being fixed in a chamber at the side of the street. The cars when empty or equally loaded balance each other and the function of the engine is to give one car preponderance over the other, thus causing one to ascend and the other to descend and to maintain a uniform speed under all conditions of loading. But from tests made in my presence, it became evident that when the lower car was fully loaded and the upper car empty (a state of affairs which might often occur in working), the mechanism was incapable of moving the cars. The horizontal pulley was caused to revolve by the engine, but the friction between the pulley and the cable was insufficient to impart any motion to the latter, which therefore slipped on the perimeter of the pulley as this revolved.

A similar state of affairs might arise if the upper car were fully loaded and the lower car empty. In this case the weight of the upper car might cause the rope to slip on the pulley, and all control over the speed of the cars would be lost.

In such an emergency, and in others of a similar nature, due possibly to the breaking of the cable, the safety of the passengers would depend entirely upon the efficiency of the brakes.

The cars are fitted with slipper brakes on each wheel, which are worked by a lever of the description usually seen on tramcars, and also with two emergency brakes (already described), which are operated by a hand-wheel and endless chain at each end of the car.

From tests made in my presence I do not consider that the slipper brakes can be relied upon to pull up a heavily loaded car, especially when the rails are wet or greasy. On the other hand the grip brake, though powerful enough, is not sufficiently rapid in its application and the speed might increase to a dangerous extent before the brake came into play.

There are other features in this tramway which are open to objection.

The fact that it has been laid as a single line necessitates the use of automatic switches at the crossing-place. These switches must necessarily be uncontrolled and any ignorant or mischievous person or child could push the switches over into the wrong position in the face of an approaching car, and might thus cause an accident.

The central slot in the top of the conduit has to bifurcate at each end of the passing place, and a Y shaped opening is formed which has a maximum width of 2Âź inches and a depth of not less than 18 inches. For such a hole to exist in a public thoroughfare seems to me to be a source of danger. For although vehicular traffic cannot pass up and down this street owing to the gradient children might easily get their feet entangled in the opening, and be unable to get out of the way of an approaching car.

On looking at the order of 1896 I find that the line is to be laid as an interlacing line, and that the consent of the Board of Trade and of the Corporation is required if any alteration in this method of construction were desired (Sections 6 and 13). Had the line been laid as an interlacing line no switches would have been required, and no opening in the conduit such as I have described would have existed.

I am unable to find that the Board of Trade have ever been asked to approve the construction of the Tramway as a single line.

For this reason, and because of the objectionable features inseparable from the use of a single line, and also on account of the insufficient control over (1) cars by the engine, (2) by the brakes, which form sources of danger, not only to passengers by the trams but to the public using the thoroughfare, I do not consider the line in its present state as suitable for public traffic, and I am unable to recommend the Board of Trade to grant a certificate to the Company.

(Signed) H. A. Yorke, Lieut.-Col. R.E.

To the Assistant Secretary, Railway Department, Board of Trade.

An advertisement announcing the opening of the tramway appears in The Cambrian 26th August 1898. The opening took place on 27th August.

According to The Cambrian of 2nd September (p8), the line had to be closed on the opening day owing to a fault, and remained closed for almost a week.

The tramway was not a financial success.

The Cambrian 12th June 1903, p4 column 8 states: “Swansea’s ‘white elephant’ – the Cliff Railway – is to be finally torn up and carted away.”

Swansea Corporation made an offer of £150 for it, which the Company thought unreasonable (See Electric Lighting and Tramways Committee minutes, 1st July 1903).

In September 1903, the owner offered the track and two cars to the Corporation for £140. It was stated at the time that the cost of duplicating the track would be £2,200, with £320 in addition for cars. The Corporation refused the offer (See Electric Lighting and Tramways Committee minutes, 2nd September and The Cambrian, 4th September 1903). …………………………………………..

Kim Collis County Archivist West Glamorgan Archive Service …………………………………………..

Appendix 1: Depositors and Donors The Archive Service is grateful to the following individuals and organisations who have placed local and historical records in its care during the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.

Ms G Allen; Ms K Bastable; Mrs A Bastian; Mrs E Belcham; M Bennett; A Blethyn; S Boast; R Bowen; A Bryant; P Bullock; Ms J Butt; Lord Campbell Savours; Ms H Collins; Mrs W Cope; L Couch; P Couch; Dr C David; D Davies; J Davies; Ms M Davies; Ms M Dobbins; A Dulley; Ms J Edwards; Ms S Edwards; Ms S Emmanuel; Mrs B Essex; Ms M Feeney; K Fifield; Ms L Fowler; Ms E Fussell; G Gabb; G Games; Mrs A Griffiths; Mrs K Griffiths; V Griffiths; P Grove; P Hall; E Harris; J Hayman; B Hicks; M Hill; W Holley; Mrs S Horn; W Hyett; G James; Miss E Jarvis; Mrs S Jefford; Mrs J John; M Johnes; Mrs W Johns; D Jones; Ms M Jones; M Kidwell; J King; Revd H Lervy; Miss S Llewellyn; Mrs J Massey; M McCarthy; Ms S McGuire; M Miller; Ms B Morgan; Mrs G Morgan; K Morgan; Dr L Morgan; M Morgan; L Morris; N Morris; Ms P Mumford; M Norman; Ms H Palmer; B Penny; Miss A Phelps; Ms D Phillips; P Phillips; Rt Rev A Pierce; Ms A Powis; I Pritchard; Mrs J Pritchard; A Prys-Williams; Mrs M Punchard; C Reed; A Rees; G Rees; Dr P Rees; Ms R Rendell; A Richards; J Roach; I Roberts; S Roberts; A Robins; Mrs E Rosser; R Rowles; M Rush; C Saddington; Mrs E Savage; Ms J Scully; J Skinner; Dr J Smith; S Smith; Ms C Stevens; A Stewart; Mrs G Suff; A Sutcliffe; Mrs B Taff; D Thomas; Ms G Thomas; K Thomas; Ms S Thomas; Mrs C Wendelken; C Williams; Mr G Williams; J Williams; K Williams; Mrs L Williams; N Williams; The Ven. R Williams Arts Action Three Crosses; Bethel Independent Church, Penclawdd; Birchgrove Comprehensive School; Bryn Primary School; Brynteg Welsh Independent Church; Burlais Primary School; Carmel Welsh Independent Church, Gwaun Cae Gurwen; Ceredigion Archives; Clun Primary School; Cwrt Sart Community Comprehensive School; Dunvant Male Choir; The Gower Society; Hill United Reformed Church, Swansea; Ironbridge Gorge Museum; Llangennith Women’s Institute; Llansamlet Historical Society; Locws International Art Across the City; Merched y Wawr, Rhanbarth Gorllewin Morgannwg; Morriston Council of Churches; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership; Oystermouth Historical Association; Pantygwydr Baptist Church, Swansea; The Penllergare Trust; Pennard Women’s Institute; Pontardawe Town Council; Resolven Community Council; Royal Institution of South Wales; Skewen and District Industrial Heritage Association; Smith Llewellyn, solicitors; Soar Welsh Independent Church, Seven Sisters; South Wales Police; Swansea Central Library; Swansea Festival Patrons’ Association; Swansea Quaker Meeting; Swansea Registrar; Swansea St Nicholas-on-the-Hill with St Jude parish; Swansea Valley History Society; Tonmawr Primary School; Women’s Archive of Wales; Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Cwmgors; Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gwaun cae gurwen; Ystalyfera Heritage Society

Appendix 2: Accessions of Archives, 2015-2016 The archives listed below have been received by gift, deposit, transfer or purchase during the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. Not all items are available for consultation immediately and certain items are held on restricted access.

PUBLIC RECORDS SHRIEVALTY Declaration of Professor Donna Mead as High Sheriff of West Glamorgan, 2016 POLICE South Wales Police: aliens registration cards, 20th cent.

Swansea Constabulary: PC's notebooks, 1940s; Neath Borough Constabulary: notice of applications for position of Chief Constable, 1906, (D/D Con/N 9; D/D Con/S)

RECORDS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND PREDECESSOR AUTHORITIES UNITARY AUTHORITIES City and County of Swansea Register of electors, 2015 (CC/S RE 38-39) Tourism and Marketing: set of slides and negatives, covering views of the Swansea area, produced for marketing purposes, 1970s-2000s GIS Section, Information and Business Change: Plans showing location of retail premises in Swansea, Morriston, Mumbles and other local towns and villages., 1972-2013 (CC/S E/Dev 11/1-2) Brochure for ceremony to mark the honorary Freedom of Swansea to 215 (City of Swansea) Squadron, 12 March 2016 (D/D An 21/1) Neath Port Talbot County Borough Register of Electors, 2016 COUNTY COUNCILS West Glamorgan County Council: County Secretary's Department: Correspondence, 1975-1994 (WGCC/CS 12/283-288) West Glamorgan County Council: photograph album of the late County Councillor Derek H Cox whilst he was Chairman of West Glamorgan County Council, 1987-1988 (D/D Z 995/1)

BOROUGHS AND DISTRICT COUNCILS County Borough of Swansea: plan of Dynevor Grammar School, 1925 (copy); plan of Dynevor Comprehensive School circa 1950 (copy); plan of Clwyd County Primary School n.d. circa 1960, 1925-c.1960s (E/S Pl 17-18) CIVIL PARISH/COMMUNITY COUNCILS Resolven Community Council: annual financial reports, 2008-2014 (P214/22/1-7) Pontardawe Town Council: minutes, 1986-2001 (P/59/21/1-3) OTHER OFFICIAL BODIES Swansea Pilotage Trust: minute book, ledger and financial journal, 1920s-1940s (D/D SPA 1-2)

EDUCATION RECORDS Bryn Primary School: log books, admission register, photographs and ephemera, 1920s-2015 Clun Primary School: admission and attendance registers, log books, punishment books, photographs, plans, centenary booklets, annual returns, staff holiday records, 1896-2015 (E/N 9) Cwmbwrla Primary School: log book, admission registers, stock books, photographs and ephemera, 20th-21st century Cwrt Sart Community Comprehensive School: Cwrt Sart Handicraft log book, 1920-1943; admission registers, 1975-1993; plan of Cwrt Sart Boys & Girls Council School, 1912; policy documents, 1980s; booklet of the unveiling ceremony for the school honours board, 1996; folder of photocopies of photographs of Briton Ferry for a local historical investigation, n.d., 1912-1996 (E/N CS 1-5) Dynevor School: school magazines on CD, 1910-1979 (E/Dyn Sec X 14/1) Gnoll County Secondary School: log book, 1955-1973 (E/Gn Sec 1-3) Llansamlet Council School, Llansamlet Secondary Modern School and Lonlas School/Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Lonlas: log books, admission registers, photographs and miscellaneous records, 1870s-1990s Manselton Primary School: admission registers and counterfoils of transfer forms, 20th century; history of the school 1902-2012, with CD entitled ‘A Day in the Life of Manselton Primary School,’ 2012 (E/S 12/2/5-6; E/S 12/3/1-2) Nelson Terrace Nursery School: bundle of photographs and press cuttings relating to the establishment, opening and running of Nelson Terrace Nursery School, under its headmistress, Miss Brown, 1926-1939 (E/S 25/3/2); photographs of the outside play area, 1935-1936 (D/D Z 998) Old Glanmorians' Association: newsletters , 1981-1998

Pontrhydyfen Primary School: log book, punishment books, teachers' attendance registers, and pictures of pupils and school activities, 1908-2014 (E/PT 11/1/4; E/PT 11/2/1-2; E/PT 11/3/1-7) Rhyd-hir County Secondary School: log book, 1953-1973 (E/Rh Sec 1-2) St Helen's Infant School: photograph of a class, 1909 (E/S 25/5/3) Swansea Girls High School: magazines, 1946-1949 (E/Ll B Sec 12/16-17) Tonmawr Primary School: log books and admission register, 1930s-2015 Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Cwmgors: log books, admission registers, photographs and ephemera, 19th-21st century (E/W 46/1-7) Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gwaun cae gurwen: school records including admission and attendance registers and ephemeral material, 20th-21st century

ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH RECORDS Swansea, St Mary: programmes and orders of service for events taking place at St Mary's; orders of service relating to commemorations of the Three Nights' Blitz of Swansea, 2009-2016 (P/123/CW/1375) Swansea, St Jude: parish magazines, PCC and Easter Vestry minutes, photographs, baptisms, marriages, banns and confirmations registers, faculties and plans of St Jude's Church, Digital images of St Jude's Church, interior and exterior, taken before the closure of the church, 19th cent.-2015 (P/320/CW/77-133) Anglican churches in Gower: Gower Church Magazine, 1906-2014 (D/D Z 991) Cwmtawe Uchaf (Abercraf, Coelbren and Callwen): baptism, marriage, burial and cremation records, 2000s

NONCONFORMIST RECORDS Baptist Bethesda, High Street, Swansea: membership register, 1865-1878 (D/D W Bap 19/42) Dinas Noddfa, Swansea: photographs of the chapel, and the extant gravestones in the chapel cemetery, 2 Dec. 2015 (D/D Z 992/1) Noddfa, Garnswllt; (D/D W/Bap 39/1/1-5) Paraclete Congregational Church, Newton , (D/D E/Cong 3/4) Mount Calvary, Danygraig, Swansea: minute books and financial records, 20th cent. (D/D Bap 67/10-16) Pantygwydr, Swansea: roll of honour recording Sunday School members serving in the forces during the First World War, 1914-1918 (D/D Bap 50/127) Sketty Baptist Church: marriage registers, 1994-2012 (D/D Bap 60/2-10)

Calvinistic Methodist Crug-Glas, Swansea: funeral and service sheets, 1921-1963 (D/D Z 968/1-5) Salem, 'Capel-y-cwm', Llansamlet: membership list and contributions register, 1905-1920 (D/D CM 13/97) English Congregational and United Reformed Hill United Reformed Church, Swansea: photographs and other documents relating to the church, including orders of service, centenary items, and compilation of information relating to the church, 1901-2009 (D/D E/Cong 10/4-19) Free Church and Gospel Halls Gospel Hall, Armine Road, Fforestfach, Swansea: Marriage register, 1992-2004 (D/D FC 7/1) Society of Friends (Quakers) Swansea Quaker Meeting: box file containing articles regarding the history of the Quakers in Neath and Swansea, 20th century (D/D SF 1/1-2) Unitarian Gellionen and Graig Chapels: sisterhood account book, 1958-1970 (D/D Z 962/3) Welsh Independent Bethel, Penclawdd: photographs and ephemera relating to the chapel, 20th cent. (D/D Ind 46/8/5; D/D Ind 46/11/1-46/13/3) Brynteg, Gorseinon: deacons’ minutes, correspondence, plans and annual reports; also typed church history, 1980-2014 (D/D Ind 35/76-79) Carmel, Gwaun Cae Gurwen: minute books, 1905-1970; Sunday School Registers, 1950s; Sunday School accounts, 1897-1904; account books, 1880-1926; annual reports, 1893-1967; Cymanfa Ganu programmes and other records., 1880s-1970s; contribution record books; various leaflets and letters, 1930s-1990s various photographs, books and Sunday School material, 19th - 20th cent (D/D Ind 39) Salem, Port Talbot: history of the chapel, 2015 (D/D Ind 48) Siloh Newydd, Landore: order of service for the closure of the chapel, 10 Jan. 2016 (D/D Ind 21/6/4) Soar, Blaendulais and Ebenezer, Nant-y-cafn: accounts, minutes and ephemera, 19th and 20th cent. (D/D Ind 26/201-217; D/D Ind 49/1/1-2/1) Ebenezer Welsh Independent Church, Gorseinon: orders of service, church magazines and photographs, 1910-2009 (D/D Z 982/1-7 and D/D Ind 25/167-175) Other records Morriston Council of Churches: minutes, 1987-2015; Treasurer's records, 2008-2015 (D/D MCC 4-6)

Annual reports of various churches and chapels in the Swansea area, 1916-1966 (SL 60/10-22)

LEGAL, ESTATE AND FAMILY RECORDS Gilbertson Family Papers: Gilbertson Family photograph album, c.1904; photograph of a visit by Moore and Lloyd family members to Neath Abbey, 1893; copies of miscellaneous photographs relating to Charles Geoffrey Gilbertson and his wife etc.; manuscript signed by Arthur Gilbertson, 1886, 1886-1904 (D/D Gil 3/1-4) Pre-registration title deeds of no. 19, Highmead Avenue, Newton, Swansea, 1960-1971 (D/D Z 95/127) Miscellaneous Briton Ferry deeds, 19th-20th centuries Title deeds for various Swansea properties, 20th century Smith Llewelyn, solicitors: bundle of original grants of probate and letters of administration; also transcripts and copies, 20th cent.

Huw Morgan Collection: papers relating to the Vivian Family, mostly legal papers including wills and estate papers. Also including papers of Heneage William, 20th century Llewellyn family records: photograph album showing the Queen's visit to County Hall, Swansea and Margam Park, 1989; letters from members of the Llewellyn family of Baglan Hall and Cwrt Colman; estate papers from Nash, near Cowbridge; letters from Lydia Williams (nee Pritchard, of Pwll-y-wrach) to her husband, 19th-20th centuries Deeds relating to properties in Swansea, 1793-1943 (D/D Z 985/1-21)

BUSINESS, MARITIME AND INDUSTRIAL RECORDS Copy of a letter about the Killan Colliery, Dunvant disaster from Gurnos Jones of Penclawdd., 1924 (D/D An 19/1) Plan entitled GWR Swansea Harbour and Docks showing Swansea Harbour and the docks, railway line and the town centre, 1930 (D/D Z 967/1) Documents relating to Lewis Bros. Mineral Waters, Pontardawe; Specifications for the Rink, Pontardawe, 1909; Eaglesbush brickworks accounts, 1885-1886 and invoice, 1889; Letter from Mr Paddison relating to repairs at Main Colliery, 1936; recipe book, 1950s (grandmother's) ; photograph of Clyne ValleyWWII pill box; two five inch tape recordings (part of Swansea Canal Society project), 1988, 20th cent Briton Ferry Ironworks: plans of the ironworks and furnaces, plans of machinery, records relating to workers' housing in Briton Ferry, reports and production records, and a book on the Briton Ferry Ironworks, 1860s-1930s Booklet entitled ‘Save the Welsh Tinplate Area’, 1941 Deed of apprenticeship for Fred Beck to train as a plumber, 1947 (D/D Z 804/7) Souvenir of the opening of the new branch of Boots in Swansea, 15 Nov. 1952

Copy of 'English Illustrated Magazine' including an article on iron and steel-making in South Wales (pp. 223-231), 1884-1885 (D/D Z 994/1) Richard Thomas & Baldwins Ltd. press photographs relating to Swansea and neighbouring works, c1960s (D/D Z 993/1/1-7) Nine OS maps showing the anthracite coalfield between the Dulais Valley and the Twrch Valley, 1918 (Add to Clive Reed collection) Geological survey report on the site of Killay brick pit by Victor M Hitchings., 1974 (D/D Z 46/6) Records relating to steel works at Port Talbot and Margam; papers relating to the English Copper Company, Cwmavon, 19th-20th centuries Rees and Kirby Limited: brochure, 1969; ‘Team Spirit’ monthly news sheet including an article on the Science Block at Swansea College of Technology and flats at Dyfatty, 1962, 1962-1969 (D/D Z 967/2-3)

WOMEN’S ARCHIVE OF WALES Swansea Women's Centre: annual reports, circulars and newsletters relating to the activities of Swansea Women's Centre, 1979-2001 (WAW 15/11/1b, WAW 15/11/3b, WAW 15/17/9) Merched y Wawr Rhanbarth Gorllewin Morgannwg: programmes and tickets for various activities, 1971-2000 (WAW 28/4)

SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS AND THE ARTS Loyal Prince of Wales Lodge (Friendly Society): sickness register, 1876-1897 (D/D Z 671/11/1) Records from the project 'Swans 100: celebrating and recording the history of Swansea City FC 1912-2012', 2012 (D/D S100/A-G) Gower Society newsletters, programmes, leaflets, press cuttings, pamphlets, publications and miscellaneous material, 1998-2014 (Added to D56/5/37; D56/7/77; D56/12/19; D56/16/1-2; D56/4a; D56/3a; D56/2) Records relating to Oddfellows Societies, 1859-1868, 1859-1868 (D/D Z 975) Miscellaneous papers relating to the Grand and Empire Theatre and to Swansea Operatic Society; postcard albums, 20th century (D/D Z 978/1-5) Penllergare Trust: additional papers, 20th-21st centuries (D/D PT 43-60) Dunvant Male Choir: programmes for Christmas carol concerts and annual concerts/patrons' concerts, and copies of the choir magazine, 1968-2014 (D/D DMC 1-4) Locws International Art Across the City: commission by the artist Colin Priest, miscellaneous material relating to the Slip Bridge, 2015 Arts Action Three Crosses: minutes, posters, correspondence and ephemera relating to the activities of the organisation, 1990s-2000s Additional records of the Swansea Valley History Society, 20th century (D/D HSV 111-162)

Friends of the Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts: Committee minutes, 2006-2013; Chair's correspondence, 2005-2013; Festival arrangements, 2005-2012; Special events and photographs, 2005-2013, 2005-2013 (D/D SFPA) Pennard Women's Institute: Photograph album, 2010-2012; Meeting record book, 2007-2009, 2007-2012 (D/D Xno 29/26-29) Swansea Library Collection: Swansea LEA cuttings 1907-1959; Association of Bookmen press cuttings book, 1940s; Swansea library correspondence, 1872-1878; National Eisteddfod in Swansea, 1926 press cuttings; miscellaneous ephemera 19th-20th centuries, 19th -20th century (SL 60/3-9; SL 30/3; SL 5/4-12; SL 13/20; SL Lib 4/15; SL AB 18/2) Llangennith Women's Institute: Minutes, annual reports, financial records and photographs, 1906-2015 (D/D WI/Llg 1-8) Trebannos brass bands record book, 1915-1949 (D/D Z 962/2)

FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS First World War: permit book of Mrs Elizabeth Thomas of 120 Aberdyberthi Street, Swansea, 1917 (D/D Z 972/1) Copies of photographs of members of the ARP and Ambulance drivers in Swansea during the Second World War; copies of photographs of members of the National Telephone Company, Swansea; copies of leaflets relating to Civil Nursing Reserve, ‘ARP for pets’ and what to do if there is an invasion; copies of letters relating to the ARP Ambulance Service, 1920s-1940s (D/D Z 877/7-8) A short account of the twelve former members of Alltwen Congregational Chapel who perished during the 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 World Wars, by W. H. Hyett, 2015; and A short account of the seventeen former pupils of Alltwen and Cilybebyll Schools who fell in the 1914-1918 World War, by W. H. Hyett, 2015, 2015 (D/D Z 628/89) Transcripts of the Penllergaer and Briton Ferry war memorials, 2015 (D/D Z 368/50-51) Original account of enemy attacks on Swansea in the early part of the Second World War by Muriel Wheeler, n.d. (D/D Z 996/1)

LIBRARY AND MUSEUM RECORDS Agreement between University College Swansea, Royal Institution of South Wales (RISW) and the City of Swansea relating to the Swansea Museum; second schedule of the collections held at the University College, Swansea, 1973-1991 (RISW X 4/1-6) Swansea Library Collection: List of artworks in the Deffett Francis Fine Art Collection, and catalogue of the Swansea Library Collection by A. F. Peplow, 1957, 1880s-1957 (SL Lib 7/9d and SL Lib 7/14)

PERSONAL PAPERS Biographical notes relating to David Jenkins 1846-1912: Defender of Rorke's Drift, 1879-2015 (D/D Z 816/3) Printout of a scanned copy of a letter by N. V. Pope to Albert Einstein regarding the clock paradoxon, 1954 (D/D NVP 17a) Alistair Stewart collection: "Port Talbot RNLI: a personal record of the early years" by A. D. Stewart OBE JP; Neath Port Talbot Magistrates diaries and newsletters; brochures for the opening of schools and colleges in West Glamorgan, 1960-2015 (D/D Z 653/1/4, D/D Z 653/4/23; D/D Z 653/5/2-3; D/D Z 653/6/3-9/5) Funeral cards, letters and photographs relating to the Edwards and Williams families of Gorseinon, 1880s-1950s (D/D Z 983/1-6) Presentation plaque given to Owen John by members of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Swansea District, 1887 (D/D Z 984/1) Copy of wedding photograph showing Henry and Rosina Hill, 1893; copy of marriage certificate; testimony describing the evangelistic work carried out by Miss Mary Grenfell of Maesteg House, 1893-mid 20th century (D/D Z 989/1-3) Oystermouth Historical Association: further papers of the Owen Family of Newhill Farm, Newton, 1920s-1980s (D/D Z 95/107-126; E/Dyn Sec X 13/1-8) Photographs, ephemera and correspondence relating to the life and career of Bert Sutcliffe of Neath, 1930s-2000s (D/D Z 997/1-9) Documents relating to the appointment of Frederick Arthur Rees as Vice Consul to the Republic of Latvia in 1929, 1929 (D/D Z 988/1-2) Papers of the Right Revd Anthony Pierce, Bishop of Swansea and Brecon: diocesan conference addresses and records relating to the church and housing, 1960s-2000s (D/D AEP) Research papers of Bernard Morris, including photographs and notes on local history and archaeology of Swansea and Gower, 20th-21st centuries Papers relating to the Williams family of Morriston, c. 1900-2015 (D/D Z 576/150-151) Leaflet for HMS Glamorgan, enclosing a 2015 obituary for John Mackenzie, second in command of HMS Glamorgan, who fostered links between the ship and West Glamorgan County Council, 1966, 1986-2015 (D/D X 46/153)

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS Plasmarl Community Newsletter Issue 1-37, 2003-2015 (N/Plas 1) South Walian Magazine, 1897-1903; Swansea Library Collection: parish magazines; school magazines; nonconformist chapel magazines; and other records, 1891-1961 Swansea Boy magazine, 1880

SOUND, FILM AND DVD

Videos of: Penyrheol School fire and its effect on the local community, 2006; the building of Meridian Quays, Swansea, c. 2009; 'Making Swansea Proud', an initiative to rebuild houses in Capetown, South Africa, 2000s (D/D Z 717/36) Digitised versions of Swansea civic films on video held by WGAS as P/Vid 1/1-13 and P/Vid 2/1-12, 20th cent.

Digitised versions of miscellaneous films relating to Swansea on video held by WGAS as P/Vid 3/1-13, 20th cent Copies of oral history interviews broadcast on Mumbles Community Radio, 1962-2014 (T 38/114) Llansamlet Historical Society: DVDs containing digital copies of the Llansamlet Historical Society's archive of photographs, maps and documents, and a bilingual education resource pack on Llansamlet's heritage; 2 audio CDs containing oral history interviews with Llansamlet residents, in English and Welsh, 2014-2015 (D/D LHS 1-4) DVD of Swansea Air Show 2015 showing Vulcan Bomber, Eurofighter and Delphine L29 Jet, 2015 (D/D Z 717/35) DVD entitled 'Images of the Past with Angharad Thomas' by Viv Griffiths, 2015 (D/D SIH) Interview with Frank Sullivan-Tovey, 2015 (D/D Z 717/34) Digital recordings of the memories of three steel workers from Port Talbot, 2013 (T 37/1-3)

PICTORIAL AND MAPS Copy of watercolour painting of Neath Abbey Woollen Mills, c. 1850 (originally Neath Abbey Foundry, 2015 Postcard album showing views of Gower c. 1900s; an account of a visit to Tir John Power Station, 1946; draft copy of an article written about an autograph album, 1900s - 2011 (D/D X 973) Photographs of the Swansea Brickworks (operating from near Brickworks Row, Fforestfach), including premises, clay quarry and employees; also souvenir booklet of Swansea produced c.

1910, c. 1910 and c. 1950s (D/D Z 970/1-10) Bundle of photographs of James Roberts of the Industrial Christian Fellowship and Llandarcy Mission Church, 1940s-1980s (D/D Z 974/1-17) Aerial photographs of the Swansea Valley, 1970s (D/D HSV 109/1-41) Photographs of Ystalyfera and area, 1890s-1980s (D/D YHS 2/1-214) Photographs of locations in Swansea taken as part of the City of Swansea Heritage Year, 1975 (D/D Z 979/1-6)

Photographs of Skewen and district, 19th-20th centuries (D/D SIH 4/34-52; 7/2; 8/1-2; E/N 10/2/1-4; E/N 20/5/1; E/N G Sec 7/1) Calendar of old Loughor, photographs of Archie Griffiths, artist; photographs of Gorseinon and Loughor, 20th century (P/PR/79iv/1/1; 4/2-4; 5/66; P/PR/79vii/4/2-3) Photographs of Northern Division, 1916; empolyees of Munition Works, 1916; group photograph with shield, 1916; Royal visit to Swansea, 1920, 1916-1920 (D/D Z 986/1-4) Edwardian postcards of Swansea, early 20th century (P/PR various) Photograph of German submarines at Swansea South Dock, 1919 (P/PR/87iv/3/13) Panoramic view eastwards across Morriston, c. 1975 Album of photographs and cartes de visite formerly owned and collected by William Mansel of Swansea, c. 1880 (SL WM 3/72-73) Painting showing the main road under Blackpill railway bridge; Copy of painting showing Dall "The Builders Pal" Balloon, 20th century (D/D Z 999/1-2) Postcard view of Tymaen, Cwmavon, n.d.

Photographs of housing estates and schools in Swansea, 1950s-1960s (D/D Z 1000) Brangwyn Hall photograph album showing wartime orchestral performances, c. 1939 -1944 Photographs of BP National Oil Refinery, 20th century (D/D SIH) Photographs of Nelson Terrace Nursery and Peter John Bullock as a child and in 2016, 1930s2016 (D/D Z 998) Miscellaneous photographs including images of Ebenezer Chapel and Penllergare Lodge, 20th century (D/D Z 800/3-8) Ordnance Survey maps (National Grid 1:2500 scale), 1960s-1980s

LOCAL HISTORY AND MISCELLANEA Copies of 18th century plans; aerial photos of Gower; notebooks, photographs of Swansea streets, 1950 and miscellaneous papers, 20th century Various papers, photographs and documents relating to Pontardawe and surrounding area, 1860-2006 Book about Ystalyfera; documents relating to Eaglesbush Brick and Tile Works, Briton Ferry Chemical Works and Briton Ferry Copperworks; local history leaflets; newspaper cuttings; video entitled ‘The Devolution Trail’, 1885-2015 Clive Reed collection: ‘A Boyhood in Trebanos’ by Mr Lewis, c. 1960 and ‘Hanes Ysgol Trebannws’, 1984, 1960, 1984 Photograph of St Mary's Church, Swansea, n.d.; Photograph of Oystermouth Station during the Mumbles Railway 150th anniversary celebrations, 1954; Ministry of Health: Session 1920

Swansea, Neath and Aberavon Extensions Local Enquiry minutes of proceedings., 1950s (TC 131/33; P/PR) Copies of ‘Worms Eye’ Gowerton School magazine, 1980s; council development plans for the Gower area including Penmaen car park and Nicholaston Sewerage scheme, 1980s; notebook of Parkmill’s Coronation celebrations, 1937; Parkmill Local Defence Volunteers attendance notebook; Glamorgan WI agricultural sub-committee minute book, 1950s; Gower pageant and general ephemera, 20th century Proclamation for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and for the preventing, and punishing of vice, profaneness, and immorality, 1861 (D/D An 20/1)

Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg Mae Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg yn casglu dogfennau, mapiau, ffotograffau, recordiadau ffilm a sain sy'n ymwneud â phob agwedd ar hanes Gorllewin Morgannwg.Mae’n wasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Dinas a Sir Abertawe a Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot.

Ein cenhadaeth yw cadw a datblygu ein casgliadau o archifau, diogelu ein treftadaeth ddogfennol a chaniatáu ymchwil er mwyn datblygu ein casgliad. Rydym yn ymroddedig i ddarparu gwybodaeth a’r cyfle i gyflwyno’r archifau i bawb.

Gwasanaeth Archifau Gorllewin Morgannwg Canolfan Ddinesig Heol Ystumllwynarth Abertawe SA1 3SN 01792 636589 westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk

Back cover Navvies during their dinner break, presumed constructing a railway in the Port Talbot area (from the Arthur Rees collection)

@westglamarchive

www.abertawe.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives

A joint Service for the Councils of the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Gwasanaeth ar y cyd ar gyfer Cynghorau Dinas a Sir Abertawe a Bwrdeistref Sirol Castell-nedd Port Talbot