"Swansea, Wales" a Swansea Travel Page by OiKnow

In a way my journey to Swansea started in 1884, when Mary Louise Broadhurst was born in the St. Thomas district of Swansea on the south coast of Wales. She was my great grandmother, my father’s, mother’s, mother. She lived with my grandparents around the corner from my childhood home in Michigan from the mid 1960’s until her death in the mid 1970’s. She was one of my best friends when I was an adolescent and teenager.

Her journey in life took her to London, where she married, had four children, and moved with my great grandfather George Wood to North America where my Great Grandfather worked building water and subway tunnels. When I was planning a trip to England in 2003, my mother gave me copies of my great grandmother’s birth certificate and marriage license. This was the first time that I understood that my great grandmother had been born in Wales. I had time, and a reason, and I felt compelled to go learn about the city that she had been born and raised in.

Swansea is a small city, on the south coast of Wales. We took the train from Bath with a change in Cardiff and arrived at the Swansea station that is largely unchanged in the last 100 years. Changing trains in Cardiff was the first time that I had seen the Welsh language. I have vague memories of my great grandmother saying phrases in her native Celtic tongue, but only she knew what she was saying.
We started our search for my great grandmother’s birthplace at the tourist information center. The lady at the counter knew where the St. Thomas district was, but could not locate the street so she called in an older volunteer out of the back room. She explained that the neighborhood was heavily bombed in World War II and had been rebuilt in the 1950’s. Where the street was at that my great grandmother had been born on, there was now a retirement home, bearing the name of the now non-existent street. Map in hand we set off across the river in search of the old neighborhood.

The remains of Swansea Castle are perched on the bluff overlooking the river. You can only view the Castle from the outside, but for me it was a solid connection to something that would have been there when my great grandmother was a child growing up.

Swansea has a very large indoor market dating to well before my great grandmother’s day. I love markets of all kinds, and find great insight into the culture of a place by looking at the fresh foods that they use. The unique items in the market included an incredible array of fresh seafood (not surprising with the location so near the harbor,) an intriguing local specialty item made from seaweed (green, slimy, salty and tasting of the sea,) and a variety of potatoes known as Gowrl that are small with a dark rough skin. The market also has stalls selling local crafts and clothing.