Barry Dock:

[KG]

This picture taken by a sailor in 1916 with inscription on the back that reads 'These impressive buildings at Barry Docks will be remembered by sailors all over the World.



Subway Road on the left of the Dock Office with the Seamans Hall towards the top. The Railway Tunnel at the top of the road was one of the entrances to the Docks which was originally via one of these three Tunnels. This one on Dock View Road, the one on Weston Square/Cardiff Road and the one on Broad St.

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[Administrator]

BOLLARDS: Barry's Dock public art:



A Vale spokeswoman said: "The inspiration for these designs came from Barry’s maritime history and from the idea that Thompson Street itself has had an exciting and multi-layered history. "The material speaks of winches and dockside machinery, while the forms have some of these same connotations.

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[Administrator]

Barry: A New Community:

The Project examines the period 1891 – 1945 and is a revenue only project relating to creation of modern Barry, that shift from farming to a truly powerful economic hub. Barry in 1881 had a population of 75 people. In 1884 David Davies bought land for Barry Docks, which was opened in 1889. In 1913 Barry was the largest coal exporting Docks in the world with a population of 40,000 all of which were migrants in one way or another. That `boom’ period created a new, unique, community that is a proud part of the welsh diaspora. Fundamentally the Project is about people, rather than the physical creation of the Docks. This makes it a very unique piece of work within the Vale of Glamorgan, in heritage and historical terms.

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[ADMIN K]

The birth of Barry Docks:

Work began on the new dock at Barry on 14 November 1884, along with the construction of the new railway link. Everything was completed in double quick time and the dock opened for trade in 1889. In due course, further docks were added and while exports in the first year were just one million tons, by 1903 they had multiplied to over nine million. By 1913, the year before the outbreak of World War One, Barry had surpassed both Cardiff and Penarth to become the largest coal exporting port in the country.

The docks themselves were surrounded by dozens of business enterprises, everything from repair yards and cold storage facilities to flour mills and shipping agents. Even in the 1920s, as a world-wide depression began to bite into the Welsh coal trade, there were still over 50 independent companies trading out of the docks area. Of course, it did not last. The inevitable collapse of the Welsh coal trade after the war left Barry and its docks stranded, without purpose or plan. The port struggled on, the arrival of the Geest Company in 1959, importing bananas from the West Indies, gave some degree of job security but when they moved out in the 1980s Barry, as a port, went into terminal decline.

These days the old waterfront has been revamped and redeveloped, like so many other dockland areas. Parts of the old docks have been used in the filming of TV shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood and, of course, the television series Gavin and Stacey was both set and, in no small degree, filmed there. Barry Island struggles on - the old Butlins Holiday Camp, centre of so much entertainment on the island, closed at the end of the 20th century but the funfair and beach remain.