My walk this week is along the western riverbank of the Tawe. The starting point is under the bridge at Morfa where the heart of Copperopolis used to be back in the 18th and 19th centuries.
There wouldn’t have been a concrete bridge in those days of course, but I like the patterns and colours to be seen there and I enjoyed them along the riverbank and on the water’s surface as well.Continue reading
The rusty old engines I found as I turned a corner at the end of my walk this week around the old industrial buildings of Copperopolis in Swansea, brought a big smile to my face. The colours, textures and patterns of the old wheels and screws, cables and rails are wonderful.
The boat trips up the River Tawe pass by this old historic area of Swansea but I had a much better view of abandoned machinery than those on the Copper Jack. If you look back atContinue reading
Moving from the abandoned windows of old Copperopolis to holes in the walls of this historical aspect of Swansea, I found it difficult to understand the confusing perspective of some of the multi-layered gaps in the facades of the buildings.
I have photographed this building before but only from the other side of the River Tawe and it was good to get a closer look at its abandoned state. Those holes in the wall appear decorativeContinue reading
My walk this week completes my exploration of Copperopolis and today I am focusing on the empty abandoned windows of the old buildings of the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks which closed in 1980.
As I walked through the nature that has grown up around and in the old buildings since 1980, I found myself fascinated by the range of empty windows.Continue reading
Ending my observations on this first part of my walk around one of the old industrial sites of Swansea’s Copperopolis history, you only get a glimpse of that industrial past. The abandoned metal swizzle below is not necessarily a part of that past but it was there and made me think of some of the natural forms to be seen in the nature that is gradually taking over here.
The natural twizzles had in fact almost completed unfurled themselves in the new growth of yellow broom or green ferns growingContinue reading
Exploring one of Swansea’s old industrial areas on my walk this week, I am focused on how nature continues to take over Copperopolis. The old Hafod-Morfa Copperworks has plants growing out of its walls now – it closed down in 1980 and nature seems to be doing a fairly efficient job of reclamation as 1980 doesn’t seem all that long ago to me (I must be getting old!).
But the wall plants weren’t the only things of interest as the shapes, patterns and textures of the old walls were also caught my eye. From theContinue reading
My walk this week is the first stage of my visual exploration of local nature and an old and world renown aspect of Swansea’s history – Copperopolis. Click the link if you would like to know more about that history. In the past I have only photographed elements of this industrial history and the nature overtaking it from across the River Tawe and it was good to take the opportunity to look a bit closer at how nature takes over all that we leave behind.
It is good to see how little impact we have on the the natural world, at least in the longer term of our lifespans – even multiple generations of our lives are only a snippet of time in the life of the planet or universe. It is also excitingContinue reading
The beach at Llanelli is not all patterns in the sand (see yesterday), there are also many patterns in the stones.
Stones? I don’t think that is quite the correct description! Bricks, metal, clinker, copper and parts of walls would be a more accurate description.
Swansea, on the far side of the Gower Peninsula, used to be known as Copperopolis. In the early 1800s 90% of all the copper-smelting capacity of Britain was based within twenty miles of the city, and it seems there is still evidence of this on the beach in the Millennium Park at Llanelli.
There are more photos of these fascinating objects on the StillWalks Flickr Photostream – all taken on my iPhone.
You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. Click the image below to watch the video.
