Swansea’s history would have been totally different witthout it. Coal is now part of Britain’s past history although across the planet coal use is now larger than at any time in the past. Led by China and Australia, coal burning will exceed 8.7 billion tonnes this year resulting in the climate change we now experience.
Swansea has a unique place in the history of coal. Kilvey Hill and Townhill were both places where early geologists first learned about the relationships of coal seams and sandstones that eventually led to understanding the coal resources across the whole of the Glamorgan coalfield. Engineers like Edward Martin, and geologists like Henry de la Beche and William Logan learned about coal by exploring the coal veins of Swansea.
I’ll be talking about the history of Swansea coal at a lecture for the Oysterrmouth Historical Association on Thursday 16 January at Tabernacle Church, Newton Road, at 7.30pm.
Above is a lump of Kilvey coal from the Swansea Rotten Vein above White Rock. You can see the layers of hard, glassy carbon and the duller layers of carbonised charcoal that made this coal incredibly polluting when burned in massive quantities in the Lower Swansea Valley.
Nigel Robins 