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Located at the entrance to Barry Docks to the east of Barry Island can be found this old breakwater, complete with a rusting railway track leading to the lighthouse at the end.
Built by David Davies from 1889 onwards, Barry Docks handled vast amounts of coal from the south Wales valleys, peaking in 1913, when over 11 million tonnes of coal and coke passed through the port.
I spent a fair bit of my childhood summer holidays visiting Penarth (and the nearby Barry Island), so it’s great to hear that the pier and pavilion will be enjoying a substantial £1.65m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
With the remains of Brighton’s magnificent West Pier now doomed to slowly rust away into the English Channel, the West Pier Trust have lent their support to what they believe is an ‘appropriate successor to the historic West Pier.’
This comes in the the shape of the i360, a tall observation tower with a passenger pod that rises 150m above sea level to offer dramatic views of the area.
By 2003, storm damage and two arson attacks had all but destroyed the entire structure of the West Pier.
Although there is an active campaign to create an ‘appropriate successor to the historic West Pier’ one thing is for sure – the wonderful pier ain’t coming back.
I fell in love with this pier when I first saw it used as a backdrop for some of the photos in the photo supplement that accompanied The Who’s Quadrophenia double album.
The elegant, Grade I listed pier with its trademark neon ‘WEST PIER’ lettering on the concert hall had brought pleasure to millions over the years, but, sadly, I never got to walk on its wooden promenades.
We took the train down to Brighton on a chilly February day in 2002, and armed with my old Sony Cybershot DCS-F55E camera, I grabbed a few photos around town.
On the way down to the beach, we passed this shop that was nearly overflowing with books.
I love this picture of these five old ladies dressed in white and sat on a bench looking out across the Bristol Channel.
It was taken at the small seaside resort of Penarth, just around the coast from Cardiff Bay.
See more photos here: Penarth photos
A few snaps from a quick jaunt to Penarth pier, a short, late Victorian attraction situated just a few miles from Cardiff. The pier has had some considerable ups and downs over the years, but things seem to be on the up at last.
One thing that surprised me when I was researching the pier was that it formed the backdrop for some truly fierce Mods vs Rockers battles in the 1960s!
More photos: Penarth pier.
New Brighton photos!
I’ve just added about thirty new pics to the Brighton photo gallery
Sad to see the West Pier looking so moribund – here’s how it looked just ten years ago:
