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Hidden Histories, episode two

Episode Two follows the extraordinary rediscovery of an Industrial Revolution copperworks in Swansea through an urgent rescue excavation, sees night-time photography of a lost early medieval inscription and reveals a vast Iron Age hillfort near Welshpool, hidden in dense woodland.

Swansea was the world centre of copper smelting during the Industrial Revolution.

Swansea copperworks

Stephen Hughes, the Royal Commission's Head of Survey and Investigation, visits a major rescue excavation by Oxford Archaeology that is revealing new evidence about the copper industry at Swansea during the Industrial Revolution, when it was known as Copperopolis.

Swansea was the world centre of copper smelting during the Industrial Revolution. Most of the structures of this great industry have long gone, but a recent housing development gave an exceptional opportunity to reveal the Upper Bank copper smelting works, established in 1755.

Find out more about the copper works, on the Royal Commission's website.


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