Image Bank
Swansea
Mount Pleasant Chapel, Swansea
This is probably 1942. The big Mount Pleasant Chapel (centre right) has survived the bombing of Swansea with only scratches, while parts of Dynevor School just behind it are burnt out. On the steep hill behind it people found bodies.
The Plaza Cinema, in the distance on the left, had a bomb land on its stage, but it did not go off. Opposite was Northampton Place, and one woman remembers getting back to her house there – “all that was left was the coal shed, and inside was my little three-wheeler…”
Past the chapel ran Gower Street, which became Heathfield Street, but in 1950 a wide dual carriageway replaced them both, the Kingsway. So today the chapel and even the churchyard trees stand beside concrete buildings from the 1960s.
Activity: Time Tourists
Look at the picture and read, listen to, or print the story.
Now think about how life must have been during World War 2 and write a review for a Time Tourists Magazine.
Download the Time Tourists Writesheet to help you write your notes.