The South Wales coast from Chepstow to Aberystwyth . throughthe lower slopes until it pours itself out intoSwansea Bay, and makes a port of Swansea town. If you enter the town via Landore, you accom-pany the river for the last and most dismal part ofits course. Emerging then from the Great Westernstation, you can turn down High Street, followingthe trams; at its foot Castle Street continuesthe thoroughfare, suddenly contracted at thispoint. At the lower end of the next narrowstretch of street you reach the old centre of thetown, whose heart and head were its Castle andCastellan. Two different
The South Wales coast from Chepstow to Aberystwyth . throughthe lower slopes until it pours itself out intoSwansea Bay, and makes a port of Swansea town. If you enter the town via Landore, you accom-pany the river for the last and most dismal part ofits course. Emerging then from the Great Westernstation, you can turn down High Street, followingthe trams; at its foot Castle Street continuesthe thoroughfare, suddenly contracted at thispoint. At the lower end of the next narrowstretch of street you reach the old centre of thetown, whose heart and head were its Castle andCastellan. Two different sets of Post Office build-ings have eaten up part of the Castle site, butsome of the old walls may be seen behind it. Asmall second-hand book-shop (where you can pickup rare Welsh books), near the gates of a wheel-wrights yard, may help to direct you to the northside of the ruin. Thence the Castle extended fora space of seventy yards originally, northwardbehind what is now Worcester Place, and south-ward along Castle Square, commanding, because of. •-> XDO a « n a < £ S - o « a « <; a CO £ Z Q?J O SWANSEA AND SWANSEA BAY 163 its position above the riverside, the whole waterwayand network of the great North Dock. One afternoon David and I turned in at thelower entrance of the Castle yard, and were gazingat the walls and wondering how to get into theTower, when an ancient dame appeared on thescene. We followed her up an outer flight ofsteps, but she did not offer much encouragementto explorers. The stairs, she explained to us, were thick toyour ankles with dirt and dust, and some of thesteps were gone so bad you couldnt go up to thetop. The Duke of Bewfort [Beaufort] couldntbear having the old place touched— dont ye somuch as lay a finger on it, he said. A most unseemly sort of midden lay below, fullof ashes and refuse. David asked her if the Dukewould not have that touched either ? No, she said, with a confidential change oftone; he will not have the old place
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondontfisherunwin
