Northern section The upper terminus of the Swansea Canal was a large basin situated to the west of Aber-craf, close to an 'S'-bend in the River Tawe. There was an iron works nearby, and two tramways linked it to limestone quarries near the summit of
Cribarth, a hill to the north-east. There were 33 large quarries near the summit, and many smaller ones, which were served by of tramways. Differences in level were handled by 18
inclined planes, built at various times between 1794, when the canal opened, and the 1890s, when quarrying ceased. The main line built by
John Christie in the 1820s included four consecutive inclines. Early tramways were built to a gauge of , but this was later superseded by . The
Rheola Arms public house was sandwiched between the basin and the river, and the
Lamb and Flag Inn was located on the south bank of the river, just across a bridge. The canal headed south-west, to pass through the two Cae'r Bont Locks at Ynys-bydafau. There was a brickworks, some saw pits, and a lime kiln by the second lock, as well as a dock and dry dock, built by Christie in 1825. From the dock, a tramway crossed the river and ascended to
Mynydd y Drum by three inclined planes. Parts of it were originally the Gwaunclawdd Colliery tramroad, and although much of Mynydd y Drum has been stripped away by opencast mining, the entrance to the colliery survives. The modern A4067 road runs along the canal from the basin to just after the first lock, and then veers southwards to cross the river. By 1904, a tramway from the Pant-mawr Colliery ran along the western bank of the canal, and crossed the head of the lower lock to reach railway sidings from the Ynyscedwyn Branch of the Midland Railway. There were two more locks further to the west at Pen-y-Gorof. The Ynyscedwyn Branch met the Ynyscedwyn Works Branch near the lower one, and crossed over its tail. By 1898, its site was occupied by a tinplate works, which was served by a siding connecting to a railway on the far side of the river. Ynysmeudwy Upper and Lower Locks are below the bridge. By 1878, the lower lock was crossed by a railway connecting the Cwm-nant-du Collieries to a Patent Fuel Works, by the lock, and continuing over the river to join the railway line. The collieries were disused by 1898, and only a short section of the railway line remained, as the link over the lock and river had been removed. Next came a branch from the main line of the canal to the side of the river, with a dock at the end. A tramway connected the dock to the Waun-y-coed Colliery on the south bank of the river, and there were tramway connections to the Cwm-nant-llwyd Colliery to the south and another to the north-east. The council depot has since been closed, and the towpath was reinstated through the site. The infilled section above the lock was reopened in late 2023, when the local MP Tonia Antoniazzi cut a rope to formally mark the completion of the work. Mark Evans, the director of the Canal and River Trust's Wales and South West division and the son of John Evans, was also present at the ceremony. Funding of £220,000 for the project came from the
Welsh Government's Brilliant Basics fund, which is used to finance small scale projects that will benefit tourism.
Connections southwards Restoration of the original route to Clydach would not be possible, but since the construction of
Swansea Barrage across Swansea Bay, water levels in the River Tawe are maintained at all states of the tide, and so it could be used to reach
Llansamlet, from where the
Nant-y-fendrod stream could be canalised to reach Fendrod Lake. The lake is to the east of the River Tawe, and from it, some of new canal and an aqueduct over the Tawe would be required to link up with the remains of the original canal. More recently, it has been suggested that a lock at Clydach might drop boats down into the River Tawe, which they would cross on the level to enter the new section of canal. This would link to the Nant-y-fendrod river and Fendrod Lake further down, before re-entering the river. Another lock would enable boats to reach the eastern docks in Swansea, from where a link to the
Tennant Canal would be accessible. Historically, some of the River Tawe were used by ships in the 18th and 19th centuries, serving the industries that were located along its banks. There are still signs of this at Landore, where a stone-built quay built between 1772 and 1774 provided access to deep water enabling coal to reach the Swansea valley prior to the construction of the canal. It is a
scheduled monument. A little further downstream is Morfa Quay, dating from the mid-19th century, which was used to offload copper ore from Cornwall destined for the Morfa copper works on the west bank of the river. The river is semi-tidal up to the junction with the Nant-y-fendrod stream, as Swansea barrage is higher than high neap tides, but spring tides overtop the barrage, raising the water level. The river is already used by a trip boat, the
Copper Jack, which runs from Swansea Marina upstream almost to the confluence with the Nant-y-fendrod. It is the only large vessel that regularly navigates this section of the river, and does so despite the fact that navigation on this section is not encouraged. It was restricted to working below the rolling bridge at Morfa, as the bridge was deemed to be unsafe, but the bridge was removed for refurbishment around 2020, and when replaced, navigation was again possible above it.
Copper Jack can carry up to 50 passengers, and in the early 2020s, an application for funding for a new pontoon was successful. This would allow passengers to disembark from the boat near the Liberty Stadium and Hafod-Morfa Copperworks. and it was completed in October 2023. It is located next to the Hafod Morfa Copperworks site, and the project included constructing habitat for otters on the river. The route for the new canal along the Nant-y-fendrod to Clydach, and the route of a link from the Prince of Wales Dock to a basin at Crymlyn on the Tennant Canal have been safeguarded in the Swansea Local Development Plan. The link from Swansea to Clydach would consist of two sections. The lower section would be a canalisation of the Nant-y-fendrod, passsing through Fendrod or Enterprise Lake, and would be long. It would need four locks to be constructed, and four culverts carrying the Nant-y-fendrod under existing roads would need to be enlarged to accommodate boats. Beyond the upper end of the Nant-y-fendrod, a new section of canal would complete the link to Clydach. This would pass under the M4 motorway through an existing bridge that spans the River Tawe and Garth Road. It would include another seven locks, a fixed bridge, five lift bridges, and an aqueduct to carry the canal across the Tawe similar to the one installed on the Neath and Tennant Canal at Ynysbwllog. This link was costed at £18 million in 2002, and was estimated to cost around £30 million in 2020. The Swansea Canal can accommodate boats which are wide, slightly wider than standard British narrow boats, but since the link would be new, there are advantages in making it wide enough to allow boats such at
Copper Jack, which is wide, to travel as far as Clydach. To complete the link from the Tawe to the Neath and Tennant Canal, a new lock into the Prince of Wales Dock would be required, as the ship lock from the river into the dock has been closed. A flood lock would protect a new canal from fluctuations in the water level within the dock, and after passing under a railway line and Fabian Way, would ascend to the level of the Neath and Tennant Canal by a lock. The new channel would be long and there would be two bridges along its length. Estimated cost for the link in 2020 was £6 million, and again, the option to build it wide enough to allow boats such as
Copper Jack to reach Crymlyn would provide increased opportunities for tourism. ==Points of interest==