Swansea Bonfire Night Memories

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Good morning, Swansea!

Before organised displays and strict health and safety, Bonfire night in Swansea was more of a free-for-all, with makeshift bonfires on street corners and fireworks lighting up the whole town.

This week, we're looking back at bonfire night from Swansea's past; sharing vivid memories from the newspaper archives - everything from the first post-war celebrations to a yearly tradition of burning barrels and fisticuffs in the street.

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.

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For many groups of men in 1870s, Guy Fawkes Night in the centre of Swansea was less about fireworks and bonfires and more about an excuse for fighting between rival factions.

In a story looking back from the early 1920s, the South Wales Daily Post remembered:

“Bands of young men, in high spirits, would sally forth to the dry docks and get possession of as many tar barrels as they could find. These they would ignite and roll blazing through the main thoroughfares.”

“The fights which ensued between the North and South parties were the great events of the year… The great battle usually took place in the neighbourhood of Castle Street or Oxford Street, and the war was carried on for some hours with the greatest energy.”

And when police stepped in, “Fists flew about, truncheons banged, the barrels blazed, and pandemonium reigned.”

A trio of local medics - Dr Hall, Dr Pratt, and Mr Fisher - treated injuries in the street, and “the druggists at Griffiths, Wind Street, revelled in the rare opportunity of prescribing for cracked craniums.”

The tradition carried on into the 1880s, until a new Chief Constable, Captain Colquhoun, came in with “methods of peaceful persuasion,” and the chaos faded into memory.

In 1946, Swansea was still reeling from the end of World War 2 and the three night blitz that destroyed much of the city centre a few years earlier. But that November, local residents took to the streets and parks to mark the first peacetime Guy Fawkes Night in years.

The celebrations were notably more subdued than in the past - a likely reflection of tightened budgets and weariness after six years of war. One reporter noted that “the foolish and expensive practice of letting off fireworks showed a considerable falling off.”

Still, youngsters clogged Castle Street and Bailey Street, using the narrow layout to their advantage. Their miniature explosions “echoed continually for several hours” and created what the paper politely described as “noise, yells, and thick volumes of smoke.”

In Victoria Park, the usual “tranquillity and calmness prevailed,” despite a few “occasional squibs and rockets.” There, a mock stage trial for Guy Fawkes himself took place, staffed by boys in costume and ending in mock execution. “Had I blown myself and the Parliament up together,” declared one home-made effigy, “I would have been happy.”

By the early 1950s, there were murmurs that Guy Fawkes Night might be losing its spark. A columnist in the Evening Post wrote (with tongue firmly in cheek) about “the dwindling appetite of the modern child for the traditional pyrotechnical orgy.”

When asked if she was planning to enjoy the festivities, one “demure young lady” reportedly dismissed the whole affair with a shrug: “Nasty, banging, tedious things.”

Despite one child’s dislike of the celebrations, bonfires still burned, especially at Blackpill - described as “the traditional centre of pyrotechnical activities” - where kids gathered to light mattresses and barrels on fire.

In Brynmill, the reporter noted that children were slow to get going, but once lit, enthusiasm spread. “The jollity developed late,” he wrote, “but the barrels were found, the mattresses produced, and everything seemed to go up in smoke in the end.”

And of course, one thing hadn’t changed at all. “The children wheeled the scarecrows about in perambulators or on platforms and shouted ‘penny for the guy!’”

What are your memories of bonfire night in Swansea? Reply to this email to let me know!

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.

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Sources

Swansea History Society - early bonfire photo.

A bonfire burns in Townhill - R. Studden

Story of Mumbles - A bonfire in Blackpill