Swansea Docks

Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located 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 the SA1 Swansea Waterfront.

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. The North Dock 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 was popular with prostitutes and their clients, until lighting was improved following the drowning of Selina Rushbrook in the lock gate in 1907.The North Dock closed in 1930 after the development of new larger docks on the east side of the River Tawe made the North Dock 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 began on the South Dock 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 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 Prince of Wales 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 is currently under construction to link the Prince of Wales Dock directly with the River Tawe. A new wakeboarding facility opened in the Prince of Wales Dock in 2010.

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Wikipedia