Hafod is a district of the city of Swansea, in South Wales, U.K., and lies just north of the city centre, within the Landore ward.
The word hafod is Welsh for 'summer dwelling' or 'farm', and refers to the seasonal cycle of transhumance - the movement of livestock and people from a lowland winter pasture at the main residence (Welsh hendre) to a higher summer pasture from roughly May through October.
The western part of Hafod is a residential suburb. In the late 20th century, this was a mostly run-down area of Swansea, with property prices there being some of the lowest in the city centre area. In the new millennium, many properties in the main Neath Road (B4603) and some of the side streets have benefited from council grants to improve the façade of the properties. This has certainly improved the image of the area superficially. Beside the River Tawe to the east is a small industrial strip around Morfa Road.
Hafod has a comprehensive school called Pentrehafod Comprehensive School, and a primary school called Hafod Primary school. There used to be junior and senior schools located on the same site but the school was ravaged by fire during the early 1990s. The new primary school was built to replace it and new buildings were constructed within the grounds of Pentrehafod school to cater for the junior and senior pupils. The community sports facility is the Pentrehafod sports hall and pool located in the grounds of the Pentrehafod Comprehensive School. The school is built on what was formerly the waste product dumping ground for the Morris family copper works.
Neath Road is a busy thoroughfare used by buses and cars to travelling between central Swansea and the northern suburbs in and around Morriston and Llansamlet. There is currently work underway in constructing a dedicated express bus route to the east of Neath Road, which will be used by buses serving the Landore Park and Ride site. As new distributor road is planned, further east of the bus road to allow traffic to bypass the Hafod.
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The remains of the Hafod Copper Works of Vivian & Sons, a Grade II listed building, still lie on the banks of the River Tawe. These can be seen clearly from the east side of the river. The works was founded in 1810 by the Cornishman John Vivian. During the 19th century, this was the largest copper works in the world. It continued rolling copper until its closure in 1980.
The two engine houses and their chimneys, built successively to drive the rolling mills in 1860-62 and 1910, remain with adjacent rolling machinery. At the entrance to the works is a very large wall that once formed the abutment to bridges giving access to the works over the Swansea Canal. It is built of cast copper-slag blocks, the largest surviving example of the use of this material for constructional purposes. The locomotive shed by the river (built for the first standard-gauge articulated locomotive in Britain) bears the name 'Vivians' spelt out in polychromatic brickwork on its river facade.[1]
The local authority indends to have the site re-developed where the listed buildings would be preserved and new uses would be given to heritage buildings. The development could include a new hotel, restaurant and new housing.[2]