0:00:30 > 0:00:35I'm here to discover an alchemist's ancient secret
0:00:35 > 0:00:40that once made Swansea the copper capital of the world.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Open it at the bottom, close it at the top.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Eddie Daughton is an experimental archaeologist.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48This is rather fun, isn't it?
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Erm, to start with!
0:00:51 > 0:00:55We're using 4,000-year-old methods
0:00:55 > 0:01:00to rediscover the magic of turning rock into metal.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05The Welsh knew the secret and Eddie thinks he's cracked it.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08First, we have to get the fire hot enough,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and it's not as easy as it looks.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13So if you want to stop bellowing.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Phew! That was exhausting!
0:01:16 > 0:01:19So, what's the recipe to make copper?
0:01:19 > 0:01:23For this furnace, it's about 10 kilograms of charcoal...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27..half a kilogram of copper ore...
0:01:29 > 0:01:31..a little tiny bit of iron stone,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36..and we should end up making a quarter of a kilogram of copper.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Maybe not quite that much.
0:01:38 > 0:01:45So what you're saying is you need 10 times as much fuel - carbon -
0:01:45 > 0:01:48- to make the copper than the copper ore itself.- Yeah!
0:01:48 > 0:01:53- So that explains why Swansea's here...- Coal!- ..masses of coal!
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Masses of carbon.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Put together copper ore with coal to make the metal,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05and the sea to transport it and you get a winning formula!
0:02:05 > 0:02:09- Do you think this is going to work? - With luck.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12I'm deeply sceptical.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14It's so simple! Believe!
0:02:14 > 0:02:18As Swansea's metal workers mastered the art of copper extraction,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22a city grew from primitive beginnings
0:02:22 > 0:02:25into a scene of Satanic industry.
0:02:28 > 0:02:35By the late-18th century, the whole of the Tawe Valley was filled smelters.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40The works operated day and night, producing sulphurous fumes,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45so horrendous that downwind, the land is still toxic to this day.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52These docks were built to expand the trade still further.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00200 years ago, Swansea's copper was in demand.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Who was after it? The Royal Navy.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04Hello, David.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Hello, Mark! I saw you on the telly.
0:03:07 > 0:03:14David Jenkins knows the story of the city's copper-bottomed deal with Nelson's Navy.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19This is an ingot of pure copper, as would have been produced in Swansea.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21This is pure copper?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24That is pure, pure copper, the essential product.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27What did they need it for in the 19th century?
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Well, the main use of copper was this.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34This is what gave Nelson's Navy massive tactical advantages.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37- That's fantastic. - It's a sheet of copper ore
0:03:37 > 0:03:39from the hull of HMS Victory.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42You can see here "Vivian and Sons, Swansea."
0:03:42 > 0:03:45I can see a number, 2802.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50That's right, copper ore and obviously copper itself was very, very valuable,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53but its value was not so much monetary as tactical.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Indeed, the manoeuvring that took place before the Battle of Trafalgar
0:03:57 > 0:03:58owed a great deal of its success
0:03:58 > 0:04:02to the fact that Nelson's ships had this on their bottoms.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05And it means that no weeds grow on the hull of your ship,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08the water slips much more quickly over the hull,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12and therefore it gives the ship excellent manoeuvrability.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Swansea's dominance of the world copper trade
0:04:16 > 0:04:22meant the Royal Navy had copper-bottomed boats, but the French didn't...
0:04:23 > 0:04:28..a tactical advantage that can be traced back 4,000 years
0:04:28 > 0:04:33to those prehistoric Welsh experiments in metallurgy.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40Now, have we managed to rediscover the secrets of their success?
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Do I have to carry on pumping?
0:04:42 > 0:04:46- Carry on pumping!- God, you must be stiff by now.- Just a bit.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49- Do you think you've got copper? - I think so.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53I hope so, but I'm not giving any guarantees.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56All right, I'm gonna stop pumping.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57- Keep pumping.- Right.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06OK, stop pumping. Get round the other side with a stick.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21- Wow!- Wow!
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Isn't that fantastic?
0:05:23 > 0:05:25That's it!
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It's probably frozen by now.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33I can probably pick that up with the tongs. That is copper.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36- A small ingot of copper. - A small lump of copper.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41It's absolutely incredible when you think of that energy and that effort
0:05:41 > 0:05:44that's gone into winning a metal.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49Copper poured out of Swansea, but it became a victim of its own success.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55The industry exhausted the domestic copper supply.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57To feed the voracious smelters,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00the precious ore had to be shipped in
0:06:00 > 0:06:04from further and further overseas.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Swansea's mariners became known as Cape Horners,
0:06:13 > 0:06:18so-called because they repeatedly braved the treacherous seas south of Cape Horn.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Many never came back.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31The Falkland Islands were the nearest shelter,
0:06:31 > 0:06:37and Swansea's abandoned copper ships are still rotting there.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Eventually, the copper communities of Swansea disintegrated.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46As workers emigrated to the ore-producing countries,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51their home town's metal monopoly was finished for good.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Swansea Bay is sheltered from the prevailing wind by the rocks of the Mumbles.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04They mark a turning point.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08We're leaving the populated shores of the industrial east behind,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10to head to the wilder west.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Few places have sites as celebrated as the Gower Peninsula,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23the first place in Britain to be designated
0:07:23 > 0:07:25an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30It's a land of unexpected riches!
0:07:30 > 0:07:34A feast for the eye and the taste buds!
0:07:36 > 0:07:38This is Langland Bay.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42At low tide, a select few are drawn to its beaches
0:07:42 > 0:07:45for a somewhat dubious gastronomic delight!
0:07:49 > 0:07:53I'm told there's a rather special seafood you can find down here,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56if you know what you are looking for, that is.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03Betty Phillips is one of the few people who can still recognise a peculiar Welsh delicacy.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08- Hello, are you all right? - What is you're looking for? Not just any old weed, I take it?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11No, it's special. Laver weed.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14It's like polythene in a way, it's like plastic.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17- Are you sure that's not what it is? - Black plastic bags.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20I can't say it looks terrible appetising.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22- You don't fancy it, do you? - I'm not convinced.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25- Are you going to eat it when I cook it for you?- I'll give it a lash.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- Will you? You've got to. - Let's give it a try.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Give it a try. OK, shall we pick a little bit more?- OK.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33I can see you'll take a bit of convincing.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35It doesn't sell itself very well.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Looks like green slime.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Oh no, it's not slimy. It's not a bit slimy.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42It's all very well if you know you can eat it.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45- It's not like this when it's cooked. - How would you know that?
0:08:45 > 0:08:48What sort of person finds this stuff on a rock and says,
0:08:48 > 0:08:50"That would look good on a sandwich."
0:08:50 > 0:08:52- Do you know what I mean? - Yes, I know.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58- OK.- I want to see this done. - Right, OK, follow me.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Laver weed is the same seaweed the Japanese use to wrap sushi.
0:09:03 > 0:09:10The Japanese dry theirs, the Welsh cook it for hours.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15It doesn't look like the sort of thing you should put in your mouth!
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- OK, you promise this isn't a practical joke.- No, no, no, no...
0:09:18 > 0:09:20- You really do eat this?- Yes.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26That's fantastic.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Well done. Well done.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30It is.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32That's brilliant. What is that?
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Mmm... It tastes of many things. It's got the sea in it.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39It's got a pickled flavour to it. And there's kind of a...
0:09:39 > 0:09:41It's got the texture of spinach.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43- Mmm.- That's brilliant.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I'll remember Langland Bay
0:09:50 > 0:09:54as the place I joined the select seaweed appreciation society!
0:10:00 > 0:10:04The distinctive Gower Peninsula juts out into the Bristol Channel.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24The Gower's landscape was sculpted by ice.
0:10:24 > 0:10:2850,000 years ago, massive glaciers bulldozed its fertile soils.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46Now, the peninsula's conjunction of land and sea produces food of distinction.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Below Weobley Castle lies Llanrhidian Marsh.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58It's a harsh land that takes skill and know-how to farm.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23Rowland Pritchard rears 1,200 sheep on some 4,000 acres of salt marsh.
0:11:23 > 0:11:29Rowland is one of a tiny band of sheep farmers whose pasture is regularly under water.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33How extreme are the tides?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38The tides are very, very high.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42All this we're standing on now, this time next week, will be under water.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45- This'll be sea bed in a few days' time?- Yes.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And it comes in very, very quickly,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50at a good walking pace.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Because the land is so flat,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55you find once it starts rising above a certain level,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00it just shoots over the top, so it is very dangerous for the sheep.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Do they learn to avoid the tide, or what?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Oh no, they'll stand there when the tide comes in.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07We've actually got to go out and fetch them in
0:12:07 > 0:12:09before the tide comes in.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It's strange because sheep are good swimmers, but they won't swim.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14They just stand there.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19The salt marsh might keep Rowland and his sheep on their toes,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21but the ebb and flow of the tide
0:12:21 > 0:12:24creates a richly varied coastal pasture.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Does the grazing here affect the meat, do you think?
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Oh, yes, significantly.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35There's sort of no ryegrasses that you get on conventional fields.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39More the herbs they're eating. That really affects the flavour of the meat.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41What sort of herbs are out here?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Well we've got the marsh pinks
0:12:43 > 0:12:47and the samphire you'll see in the gutters now.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49I would call that wild asparagus.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Yeah, a lot of people call it a poor man's asparagus.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56I prefer to call it a rich man's asparagus.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58You can taste the salt in it, can't you?
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Originally, sheep were put here out of necessity -
0:13:07 > 0:13:10poor communities making the most of the land they had.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Now, the salt lamb has become a great delicacy.