The event celebrated the completion of the first phase of regeneration works at the historic site, which now includes new trails, interpretation panels and a digital audio trail.

Visitors were able to walk the site’s new heritage trails and enjoy the artwork that has just been installed. This includes a miniature version of the dozens of chimneys that dominated the Lower Swansea Valley in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

‌Picture:  a family at one of the interactive exhibits

The site now also has audio technology, which tells the stories of people who would have worked at the site in its heyday in the 1850s.

A wide range of performers, community groups and schools provided entertainment on the day.  

•    Talks on the Welsh copper industry, and the copper-beer connection.
•    Children’s creative copper-themed workshops, puppet making and story-telling
•    Music from Stu’s Gastric Band, Andy Tamlyn Jones, Bear Bones Folk
•    Dance from Tipyn o Bopeth, Welsh traditional dance group and Morriston Indian Dance group.
•    Performance from schools: Maesydderwen, Ysgol Bryn Tawe, Hafod Primary, Pentrehafod, Mount Zion Chapel group
•    Community films
•    Innovative interactive sound exhibit developed by Swansea University.
•    A brass band on the new Swansea Community Boat, Copper Jack.

There was also a chance to watch copper being made on the site and strike your own commemorative coins.

The CU@Swansea project to preserve and regenerate the site is being led by Swansea University and Swansea Council.

The project has been funded by a grant of £540,000 Cadw's Heritage Tourism Project with funds from Welsh Government, the European Regional Development Fund, and the City and County of Swansea.  In the last two years, an additional £500,000 has been allocated by the Regeneration Area programme to fund a range of projects on site.

Picture:  participants in nineteenth-century period dress

‌

Professor Huw Bowen, who’s leading the project team on behalf of Swansea University, said:

“The Festival was a great success and far exceeded our expectations.   We anticipated a few hundred visitors so to attract a crowd of over 7,000 is both remarkable and immensely satisfying.  This outcome bears striking testimony to the passion that people in local communities have for their unique and very proud industrial heritage".

Picture:  Original plaque in the works marking the completion of building in 1862: V and S stands for Vivian and Sons.

"The events held across the site generated a tremendous energy and there was a great buzz as visitors, young and old alike, celebrated the work and lives of the men and women who put the Lower Swansea Valley at the very heart of the global industrial revolution of the nineteenth century."

"I pay tribute especially to the small army of enthusiastic volunteers, including many of our students, who gave up their time and made the Festival so enjoyable for both participants and visitors."

"I take great heart from the public response to the first on-site Festival of its type, and the Cu @ Swansea project team is greatly encouraged as we begin the process of ensuring that Swansea becomes a World Heritage Site by 2025.”

More information www.welshcopper.org.uk

Twitter @copperhistories

Facebook