Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

The Architects of Regency Swansea by Thomas Lloyd Fine architecture requires cultured minds and fat wallets. From the 1770s on, as the nearby copper, porcelain and other industries prospered on the one hand and tourism and sea-bathing became the latest gentry fashion on the other, these essential twin components were not anywhere in South Wales more productively united than in Swansea. Demand fathering supply, a group of five architects arose to meet the challenge, four of them local but the leader an incomer who had seen the opportunity. As in any town, there had always been builders and masons skilled enough to meet the local needs and if greater expertise was wanted, an outside architect could be called in, as Thomas Woodward of Worcester had been in 1739 to rebuild St Mary's Church. What makes Swansea exceptional, however, is that in the period 1770-1830, it could boast of having five of them, in a town still comparatively small. All the old county towns of South Wales were expanding at this time but none provided scope for more than one practitioner who could seriously be called an architect, and all of them were builders too, whose discernable legacy today is slight. As a yardstick to the building boom in Swansea, this comparison is revealing (though in fairness, four of Swansea's five were also builders). It is therefore a matter of regret that the much admired Regency town of Swansea which these five men were so instrumental in creating, has mostly gone. Such is inevitable to some extent with buildings. The important thing is to consider the achievement, and these brief notes are intended to cast a little light on the men behind it. John Calvert. (died C1795) The Times of 24th July 1798 carries the following remarkable information: The idea of making a tunnel under the Severn at the Old, or Aust, Passage near Chepstow and Bristol was conceived many years ago by an ingenious architect of Swansea, Mr Calvert, and had not his death happened, it would have been carried into execution to the infinite convenience of the public and to the incalculable benefit of the adjacent counties. Here surely is a Swansea man worthy of renaissance! That he was no mere dreamer is evidenced by a 'patent slating' technique that he