Swansea included land around Swansea Bay as far as the River Tawe, the manor of Kilvey beyond the Tawe, and the peninsula itself. Swansea was designated chief town of the lordship and received a borough charter at some point between 1158 and 1184 (and a more elaborate one in 1304). From the early 1700s to the late 1800s, Swansea was the world’s leading copper-smelting area. Numerous smelters along the River Tawe received copper and other metal ores shipped from Cornwall and Devon, as well as from North and South America, Africa, and Australia. The industry declined severely in the late 1800s,
Uplands, Swansea voices of other children playing ball"". Cwmdonkin Park features heavily in the radio broadcasts 'Return Journey' and 'Reminiscences of Childhood' and, most famously, the poem 'The hunchback in the park'. A memorial stone with lines from another of Thomas' poems, 'Fern Hill', was placed in the park in 1963. Uplands, Swansea Uplands is a suburb and community of Swansea, Wales. It lies about a mile (2 km) to the west of Swansea city centre, and falls within the Uplands electoral ward. It is centred on the A4118 road, which links Swansea city centre and Sketty. The main road begins as