For nearly a century, the Collins family lived on or within a few doors of Llangyfelach Street in Greenhill — the heart of Little Ireland in Swansea. What follows is a record of where they were, and when, drawn from electoral registers, census records and other documents.
Llangyfelach Street was the spine of Greenhill — the area of Swansea known as Little Ireland. In the latter half of the 19th century it was a densely packed working class street, its courts and alleys crammed with Irish immigrants and Welsh labourers who worked in the nearby copper and coal industries. Poor sanitation and overcrowding made cholera and typhoid a recurring threat.
The opening of St Joseph's Church in 1888 gave the community a physical and spiritual anchor — a short walk from the street where the Collins family lived for generations. By the early 1900s the worst of the court housing began to be cleared and replaced with terraced houses, some of which still stand today. Despite the hardship, Llangyfelach Street was a self-contained world — schools, pubs, church and neighbours within a few hundred yards — and the community it fostered was remarkably resilient.
The constant soot drifting from the Landore copperworks was simply part of life. It was the price of belonging to Copperopolis.
A Century on One Street
The table below shows how the Collins family presence on Llangyfelach Street spans from Cornelius's first confirmed appearance in 1855 through to the 1960s — over a century in which the street was as much a part of the family as any person in it.
| Decade | Who was there |
|---|---|
| 1850s | Cornelius Collins arrives in Swansea. Mary Leary's family already established in Greenhill since the late 1830s. |
| 1860s–70s | Cornelius and Mary on Llangyfelach Street and Road. Children born and raised in the area. |
| 1880s–1900s | Cornelius settled at 13 Convent Street. Son Patrick at 127 Llangyfelach Street from 1901. |
| 1910s–20s | John Collins (great grandfather) at 51 Llangyfelach Street. John J Collins (Jack) at 52 from 1926. |
| 1930s–40s | John at 51, Jack and Lily at 52, Cornelius (Connie) at 75, Patrick at 127. Multiple branches of the family within a short walk of each other. |
| 1950s–60s | Jack and Lily at 99, then 160. Thomas Raymond Collins at 160 in 1953. Connie at 75 until at least 1965. |
The Confirmed Family Addresses
These are the addresses on or around Llangyfelach Street where the Collins family can be confirmed from records.
Cornelius Collins — The Earlier Addresses
Before the family settled at the addresses above, Cornelius Collins — the first of the line to arrive in Swansea from Castletownsend, Cork — moved around the Llangyfelach Road area before eventually settling at Convent Street.
| Period | Address | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1855 | Greenhill, Swansea | First confirmed record in Swansea — newspaper report, Swansea Sessions, alongside Mary and Ann Leary |
| 1861 | Swansea | Census records Cornelius and Mary as husband and wife with children Margret and Patrick — seven years before the formal marriage |
| 1868–69 | 57 Llangyfelach Road | Electoral register — year of his marriage to Mary Leary in October 1868 |
| 1871 | 53 Llangyfelach Street | Census — family of six including Margret, Patrick, John, Susanna and Mary Jane |
| 1872–73 | 54 Llangyfelach Road | Electoral register |
| 1882–84 | 118 Llangafelach Road | Electoral register — gap in records between 1873 and 1882 |
| 1888 onwards | 13 Convent Street | Electoral register (recorded as Collings 1888–89) — his settled address for the rest of his life |
| Feb 1912 | Swansea Workhouse, Mount Pleasant | Workhouse creed register — Catholic. Informant: son Patrick, 124 Llangyfelach Street |
| 19 Jan 1913 | Swansea Workhouse | Died in the workhouse. Buried with Mary at Danygraig Cemetery, plot 180 O |