Swansea Valley yr Ogof Caves, claimed to be the largest show cave complex in Western Europe. South of Abercrave, the valley was formerly a region of heavy industry including coal mining and iron-making and there is plenty of the industrial heritage surviving; the Swansea Canal was built along the valley in the late 18th century to serve the nascent local industries. In 1878 opera singer Adelina Patti made her home at Craig-y-Nos Castle. Swansea Valley The Swansea Valley (), one of the South Wales Valleys, is the name often given to the valley of the River Tawe area in southern Wales, United
Swansea in 1969, which was inherited by the Swansea district when it was formed by the merger of the borough and Gower Rural District in 1974. In 1996, Swansea became one of 22 unitary authorities with the addition of part of the former Lliw Valley Borough. The new authority received the name 'City and County of Swansea' (). Swansea was once a staunch stronghold of the Labour Party which, until 2004, had overall control of the council for 24 years. The Liberal Democrats were the largest group in the administration that took control of Swansea Council in the 2004 local elections