 The first copper works was built at Landore in 1717.Initially copper ore was imported from Cornwall, Cardiganshire and Ireland, but by the 1820s Swansea was receiving shipments from as far afield as South America, Africa and Australia.The copper industry reached a zenith in the 1880s, when the majority of copper ores imported to Britain were shipped to Swansea and local works employed around 3000 men at any given time.