History Of Swansea
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History Of Swansea
The history of Swansea covers a period of continuous occupation stretching back a thousand years, while there is archaeological evidence of prehistoric human occupation of the surrounding area for thousands of years before that. Swansea () occupies a position at the mouth of the River Tawe adjacent to an extensive bay at the western end of the Bristol Channel. It was founded as a town in the early 12th century, centred around its Norman castle. Part of the Lordship of Gower, established after the Norman invasion of Wales, it suffered episodes of destructive attack by forces of the displaced Welsh princes before developing into a prosperous market town and as a port with trading links across the Bristol Channel, as well as to France and Ireland. By the 18th century it was well established as a civic and cultural entity and as a fashionable tourist resort. With the expansion of the coal mining and copper smelting industries in the Swansea Valley in the 18th and early 19th centu ...
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Swansea
Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea (). The city is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, twenty-eighth largest in the United Kingdom. Located along Swansea Bay in south-west Wales, with the principal area covering the Gower Peninsula, it is part of the Swansea Bay (region), Swansea Bay region and part of the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Glamorgan and the ancient Welsh commote of Gŵyr. The principal area is the second most List of Welsh principal areas by population, populous local authority area in Wales, with an estimated population of in . Swansea, along with Neath and Port Talbot, forms the Swansea urban area, with a population of 300,352 in 2011. It is also part of the Swansea Bay City Region. During the 19th-century industrial heyday, ...
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Maredudd Ap Owain
Maredudd ab Owain (died ) was a Welsh monarch, ruling in Gwynedd, Deheubarth and Powys. A member of the House of Dinefwr, his patrimony was the kingdom of Deheubarth comprising the southern realms of Dyfed and Seisyllwg. Upon the death of his father King Owain ap Hywel Dda around 988, he also inherited the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, which he had conquered for his father. He was counted among the Kings of the Britons by the Chronicle of the Princes. Maredudd was the younger son of King Owain ap Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and the grandson of King Hywel Dda. Owain had inherited the kingdom through the early death of his brothers and Maredudd, too, came to the throne through the death of his elder brother Einion around 984. Around 986, Maredudd captured Gwynedd from its king Cadwallon ab Ieuaf. He may have controlled all Wales apart from Gwent and Morgannwg. Maredudd is recorded as raiding Mercian settlements on the borders of Radnor and as paying a ransom of a silver penn ...
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St Mary's Church, Swansea
Swansea Minster (), or formally the Minster Church of St. Mary Swansea with Holy Trinity, and formerly St Mary's Church, is an Anglican Minster church in the centre of Swansea, Wales. It is considered the civic church of Swansea. It was designated as Wales' first minster church by the Church in Wales in 2024. There was a church on the site of St Mary's since ''circa'' 1328, erected by Henry de Gower, Bishop of Saint David's. One Sunday morning, in 1739, the roof of the nave collapsed into the church while the congregation was waiting to enter the building. The whole structure was re-built apart from the tower. 1822 saw the church being lit by gas for the first time with thirty six lamps. The church underwent complete renovation between 1879 and 1882 by Vicar Dr Morgan. In 1896, the church was flattened and rebuilt again under the designs of Arthur Blomfield by Dean Allan Smith, though some parts of the old church survived the re-development. In February 1941 the church was ...
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Oystermouth Castle
Oystermouth Castle () is a Norman stone castle in Wales, overlooking Swansea Bay on the east side of the Gower Peninsula near the village of Mumbles. The early castle A number of Antiquarians state that the Norman castle was built on the site of a former native fortification. Nineteenth century works by Samuel Lewis and Nicholas Carlisle both name this fortification as the "Caer Tawy" of Medieval Welsh literature. The name indicates that a Welsh fort (a Caer) was built here to guard the river Tawe long before Oystermouth or Swansea Castle were built by the Normans. The first Norman castle was founded by Michael Jones of Ogmore Castle soon after 1106 following the capture of Gower by the Normans. In 1116 the Welsh of Deheubarth retook the Gower Peninsula and forced Michael to flee his castle which was put to the torch. The castle was rebuilt soon afterwards, but was probably destroyed again in 1137 when Gower was once more retaken by the Princes of Deheubarth. The Londr ...
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House Of Braose
The House of Braose (''alias'' Breuse, Brewes, Brehuse,Richardson ''Magna Carta Ancestry'' pp. 136–137 Briouze, Brewose etc., List of Latinised names, Latinised to de Braiosa) was a prominent family of Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman nobility, nobles originating in Briouze, near Argentan, Orne, Normandy. Members of this family played a significant part in the Norman conquest of England and subsequent power struggles in England, Wales and Ireland in the 11th to 14th centuries. Lands held The first English land-holding by the family was the English feudal barony, feudal barony of Bramber in Sussex, granted by King William the Conqueror to William de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber, William I de Braose (died 1093/1096) between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Domesday Book of 1086 in which he is shown as the holder of Bramber. Philip I made personal conquests in the Welsh Marches of Old Radnor, Radnor and Builth. A Moiety title, moiety of the feudal barony of Barnstaple was inherited ...
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Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified house, fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted ...
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Motte And Bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to build with unskilled labour, but still militarily formidable, these castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Low Countries it controlled, in the 11th century, when these castles were popularized in the area that became the Netherlands. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries. Architecture Structures A motte-and-bailey castle was ...
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South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England consists of the counties of Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and large towns in the region include Bath, Somerset, Bath, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and Swindon. It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England with a land area of , but the third-least populous, with an estimated residents in . The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. It includes two entire national parks of England and Wales, national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor (a small part of the New Forest is also within the region); and four List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom, World Heritage Sites: Ston ...
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River Tawe
The River Tawe (; ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Glasfynydd Forest, Moel Feity in the Black Mountain (range), Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National Park, before the river turns south and then southwest to its estuary at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper Clydach River, Upper and Lower Clydach Rivers and the Afon Twrch, with Nant-y-fendrod joining on the left bank. The total area of the catchment is some . The Tawe passes through a number of towns and villages including Ystradgynlais, Ystalyfera, Pontardawe, and Clydach, Swansea, Clydach and meets the sea at Swansea Bay below Swansea. The Tawe Valley ( in Welsh language, Welsh) is more commonly known as the Swansea Valley. Ownership of the riverbed was granted to the Duke of Beaufort in the 17th century by Charles II of England, Charles II resulting in exclusive mineral and fishing rights, ...
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River Amman
The River Amman () is a river of south Wales, which joins the River Loughor at Pantyffynnon. The source of the Amman is on the Black Mountain. The river name is said to derived from the Welsh word ' "pig, piglet", reflecting the way in which it roots through the land like a pig. It gives its name to the town of Ammanford and the villages of Pontamman, Glanamman, Brynamman and Rhosamman. Garnant and Betws also lie in the Amman Valley - Garnant and Glanamman were formerly known as Cwmamman and it is now the name of their combined urban council. Garnant railway station was originally known as Amman Valley, the English version of Cwmamman. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the valley was a booming coal-mining area, but the mines have now closed. References Amman Amman Amman Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman i ...
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Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches () is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ''Marchia Walliae'') was originally used in the Middle Ages to denote the marches between England and the Principality of Wales, in which Marcher lords had specific rights, exercised to some extent independently of the king of England. In modern usage, "the Marches" is often used to describe those English counties which lie along the border with Wales, particularly Shropshire and Herefordshire, and sometimes adjoining areas of Wales. However, at one time the Marches included all of the historic counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Etymology The term ''March'' is from the 13th-century Middle English ''marche'' ("border region, frontier"). The term was borrowed from Old French ''marche'' ("limit, bo ...
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Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqueror. William's claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor, who may have encouraged William's hopes for the throne. Edward died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson. The Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in September 1066 and was victorious at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September, but Godwinson's army defeated and killed Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Three days later on 28 September, William's invasion force of thousands of men and hundreds of ships landed at Pevensey in Sussex in southern England. Harold marched south to oppose ...
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