Swansea Vale Railway nineteenth century, when land transport was limited to what pack animals could carry on their backs. At that time the extraction of copper in Cornwall became an important industry, and as a great deal of coal is required to smelt copper, it became the practice to bring the copper to Swansea by ship and smelt it there. This specific sector of the metal industry became so dominant that Swansea was given the nickname "Copperopolis". The works engaged in this industry were located on the banks of the River Tawe at first, but the construction of the Swansea Canal, opened in
Swansea Urban Area Swansea Urban Area The Swansea Urban Area or Swansea Built-up Area is an area of land in south Wales, defined by the Office for National Statistics for population monitoring purposes. It is an urban conurbation and is not coterminous with the City and County of Swansea. It consists of the urban area centred on Swansea city centre; the Swansea Valley including Clydach, Ystradgynlais and Pontardawe; and includes Neath and Port Talbot which lay outside the county boundaries, but excludes the urban area of Gorseinon within the county boundaries. The total population of the area in 2011 was 300,352 making it