IT is rather a woolly story — how a certain fabric contributed to Swansea's trade and wealth.

A study of the woollen trade will reveal the positive effect it has had on the local economy.

One person who has done just that is Bryan Taylor, chairman of Osytermouth Historical Association.

His research is there for all to see in the 15th edition of Minerva, the Swansea History Journal.

He focuses on the woollen mills in the Lordship of Gower and uncovered 25 of them in their heyday.

"The story starts with the small ticking mill, developed by early settlements, known in Wales as Y Pandy, followed in the 19th Century by the woollen factory," he said.

"Originally, the early stages in the manufacture of woollen cloth were completed by the weaver, often at the farm.

"Little capital was required to set up as a weaver.

"The carding and spinning was done by hand, usually by women, and the weaving by a man on a simple hand-operated loom.

"But the final, vital stage was the fulling or tucking, and this was done at the local pandy.

"The pandy was concerned with the finishing of the rather coarse material and making it into good quality cloth.

"A waterwheel drove a series of wooden hammers which would pound the cloth.

"This removed the grease and improved the nap, giving it a softer surface.

"The cloth was then hung to dry in the fresh air on tenter hooks, which were iron hooks on a series of poles.

"Before the fulling mill, the work was done by treading cloth in water in wooden vats, which must have been arduous."

Documentary evidence exists of a fulling mill built at Swansea's riverside in 1367.

Others were built on or near the foreshore, including one at Brynmill, run by Jack Du, which was still working in 1449.

In the growth years of the 19th Century, two groups, the Tanner and the Dix families, were the leading weavers in west Gower.

"Isaac Tanner started weaving at Billands, Llangennith, in the 1850s," said Mr Taylor.

"He moved to the larger Whitemoor mill in 1875 and finally to Stembridge Mill in the 1890s, where he successfully operated a factory up to 1924.

"The Dix family originally converted the old corn mill at Stembridge in the 1890s, but their main factory was at Stavel Hagar, Llanrhidian."

"Both factories were well-known for their fine cloth and blankets.

"There were also a number of individual weavers 'working from home', such as the Gwynne family at Stonyford.

"One of the last of the small factories was Billy Tanner's at Cheriton, a family concern. It was worked by Billy up to 1932."

There were many small fulling mills or pandies in villages such as Felindre, Pontardawe, Rhyd-y-Fro, Clydach and Penllergaer, with many of them eventually expanding into factories.

"In the west of the Lordship stood one of its oldest mills, Melin Mynach, built as a corn mill by the monks of Neath Abbey in 1150," said Mr Taylor.

"It was partly converted to produce paper in the 18th Century, but was still milling grist when William Lewis, the dyer of Melin Llan woollen mill, bought it in 1852.

"He later became so disillusioned with his speculation that he tried to sell, even advertising it as a good mill to convert to rolling tinplate.

"By 1974 he had acquired sufficient capital to build an up-to-date woollen factory on the site, enlarging on his experience at Melin Llan.

"The product was good, but Lewis soon came to realise the big money was elsewhere.

"Extending his interests, he branched out into tinplate manufacture and chemicals, making his fortune and creating the new town of Gorseinon."

Melin Llan carried on into the last century, and it was not alone.

"Most of the small factories in the Swansea area survived into the 20th Century, even during the First World War, when their warm products were in demand by the troops," said Mr Taylor.

"At the end of the war came a slump in the trade and large and small, one by one, the woollen mills closed.

But they had more than made their mark, providing a service to customers and a living to the folk who worked them.

Bryan Taylor's book Watermills of the Lordship of Gower is due to be published this autumn. The Swansea History Journal, Minerva, is published by The Royal Institution of South Wales, which is based at Swansea Museum.