Pearse's Commercial Directory to Swansea and the Neighbourhood, for 1854

Transcribed from the 1854 E. Pearse edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
COMPRISING
AN ALPHABETICAL AND CLASSIFIED LIST OF PROFESSIONAL, COMMERCIAL, AND PRIVATE RESIDENTS;
WITH
A COMPLETE LIST OF PUBLIC OFFICERS, POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS, &c., &c.
SWANSEA: PUBLISHED BY E. PEARSE, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER, AND STATIONER.
1854.
Swansea is most delightfully situated in the centre of the Bay to which it gives its name, near the junction of the river Tawe with the sea. The town is protected from the chilling influence of the north-west and north-easterly winds by two hills lying on either side, but freely receives those of the south, where it is open to the sea; and the soil being light and gravelly to a considerable depth, the air is both salubrious and agreeable.
Swansea justly claims to be the first and most important town in the Principality. It is the centre of commercial transactions of very great magnitude, and its status is proved by its having been selected for the Meeting of the British Association for the advancement of Science, in 1848. Few commercial towns have so admirable a sea-side available to the inhabitants, as that which extends from Swansea to the Mumbles, round the western margin of the bay.
The town is in general well planned and built, particularly in the newer portions, and the shops in the principal streets are in the most modern style. There are three churches and numerous chapels belonging to the various denominations of dissenters. The Castle is an object of principal interest to the antiquary; it is a fine old ruin, built in 1330, and is remarkable for the range of light arches surrounding the top of the massive quadrangular tower, and supporting the parapet which forms a connection with the turret at each angle. The Guildhall is a beautiful Grecian structure of Bath stone, and was greatly enlarged in 1848. The Royal Institution of South Wales, erected for literary and scientific purposes, is a most elegant structure, the museum and library of which are well worth a visit by strangers, who may obtain ready access by a note from any member. The Market Buildings are large and commodious, and well supplied with every kind of provisions, especially butter, poultry, fish and meat, besides other articles of almost every description. In the centre is a tower with a two-dial illuminated clock. Principal Market days—Wednesday and Saturday. The Grammar School founded by Bishop Gore in 1682, has been recently restored, and a new building in the Tudor Gothic style erected on a site at Mount Pleasant, commanding a most beautiful prospect of the Bay and surrounding Country.