Assembly Rooms, Swansea

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Exterior Image, 1840s
Exterior Image, c.2007
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Venue Type & Location

Multi-use

Site Name: Assembly Rooms, Swansea
Location: Swansea
County: Glamorgan
Location Type: Town - in town at determined location

Overview

  • Address: 5 Cambrian Place, Swansea.
    Click here for map



  • Audience Composition: The rooms attracted the well-to-do members of the local community, as well as wealthy out-of-town visitors who flocked to Swansea due to its status as “a fashionable bathing resort” (Miskell 23, 24).



  • Performance Space Description: According to Louise Miskell, the Assembly Rooms were “complete with spaces for reading, billiards and cards, drinking, dining and dancing” (23). Furthermore, the 1851 Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales describes the building as “elegant” (268). Little information about the specific characteristics of the performance space itself has been found.



  • Typical Fare: In general, the assembly rooms seem to have been used for grand balls, card playing, and other forms of fashionable socialization. Further information about the general character (or commonality) of staged entertainments at this venue has to be located.



    • Performance History

  • The Assembly Rooms were built sometime after 1810, using funds raised by subscription (shares cost 5 pounds each).



  • The structure survives, and is now a Grade 2 listed building.




    Please see the 'Bibliographic Sources' link at right for a complete listing of materials (both primary and secondary) from which the above information was compiled.


    Beth Marquis

    • Troupes at Assembly Rooms, Swansea

    Troupe Troupe Type # of events
    Aldridge, Ira Dramatic 1

    Events at Assembly Rooms, Swansea

    Event Date Venue Location Troupe
    Dramatic 15 April 1844 - 17 April 1844 Swansea, Glamorgan Aldridge, Ira

    Bibliographic Sources

    • City and County of Swansea, Listed Building Index. 03/09/2008 (http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1524)
    • Miskell, Louise. "Urban Power, Industrialisation and Political Reform: Swansea Elites in the Town and Region, 1780-1850.”. R. Roth & R. Beachy (eds). Who Ran the Cities? City Elites and Urban Power Structures in Europe and North America, 1750-1940. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2007.
    • The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co., 1851.
    • Swansea Marina Website. 03/09/2008 (http://www.swanseamarina.org.uk/index.cfm?Articleid=3868)