This women-led industry has been in the Market for generations, and is still going strong today!
![](http://www.swanseaindoormarket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cockle-Fishery-6-1024x689.png)
Aided by donkeys, the “cockle women” would harvest fresh cockles daily from the estuary in Penclawdd and until the opening of a railway line in 1867, would walk to Swansea Market everyday to sell their fresh produce! That’s around 8 miles each way!
![](http://www.swanseaindoormarket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cockles-1954-1024x787.png)
Even when the Market was destroyed by the Blitz, the cockle women persevered!
![](http://www.swanseaindoormarket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/P-PR-13-6-3-1024x752.jpg)
Traditionally, the cockle women would wear full Welsh costume, a tradition which re-emerges every St David’s Day in modern Swansea Market.
![](http://www.swanseaindoormarket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cwatts3-1024x681.jpg)