Penarth
Encyclopedia
Penarth is a town and seaside resort
in the Vale of Glamorgan
, Wales, 5.2 miles (8.4 km) south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city
of Cardiff
and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary
at the southern end of Cardiff Bay
. Penarth is the second largest town in the Vale of Glamorgan, next only to the administrative centre of Barry.
During the Victorian era
Penarth was a highly popular holiday destination, promoted nationally as “The Garden by the Sea” and was packed by visitors from the Midlands
and the West Country
as well as day trippers from the South Wales valleys
mostly arriving by train. Today the town and its traditional seafront continues to be a regular summer holiday destination for predominantly older visitors, but in much lower numbers that were common from Victorian times until the 1960s when cheap overseas package holiday
s were introduced.
Although the number of holiday visitors has greatly declined, the town retains a substantial retired population, representing over 25% of residents, but Penarth is now predominantly a dormitory town for Cardiff commuters. The town’s population was recorded as 23,245 in the United Kingdom Census 2001
although further growth has taken place since then.
The town retains extensive surviving Victorian
and Edwardian architecture
in many traditional parts of the town, and house prices are usually significantly higher than similar properties in nearby Cardiff.
The civic coat of arms was drawn by a Cardiff architect in the late 1890s from a detailed brief prepared by the Town Board. It features a bear's head above a shield supported by two further bears standing. The shield contains a Welsh '' to denote that the town is in Wales and a sailing vessel recognising Penarth's long association with sea commerce.
stone axe heads were found in the town. A large hoard of Roman
rings and coins were also discovered at nearby Sully
.
From the 12th century until 1543 the lands of Penarth were owned by the canons of St Augustine, Bristol
. The Norman church of St Augustine (on the headland) dates from this period. After the dissolution of the monasteries
the ownership transferred to the dean and chapter of Bristol Cathedral
.
The manor lands were leased to the Earls of Plymouth
of St. Fagans Castle
. In 1853 the family purchased the manor outright.
Because the surrounding land was owned by religious institutions from an early date there was no need for a large family house in Penarth. The oldest building in the area is a Tudor mansion, owned by the Herbert family, on the hillside at Cogan Pill. This has since been converted into a chain restaurant.
Pirates were prevalent on the coast near Penarth and, in the 1570s, a Special Commission was set up to investigate and suppress it. Leading family members in Penarth were believed to be implicated.
Penarth's medieval walled Sheriff's Pound
, an early form of multi-purpose gaol, remained in use until the late 18th century as a place to retain stray sheep, cattle and pigs or to imprison thieves, rustlers and vagabonds. It was located roughly where the car park now stands at the rear of the NatWest Bank in Plymouth Road.
In 1803 Penarth is recorded as having between 800 - 900 acres (3.6 km²) of land under cultivation as several farms. In the 1801 census there were just 72 people living in the Manor. Even as late as 1851 Penarth was little more than a small rural farming and fishing village since medieval times with just 24 houses and 105 residents being one of five parishes contained within the Hundred
of Dinas Powys
, with a combined population of just over 300. Before the pier
and dock were built there was a tiny fleet of local sail-powered fishing vessels based on the main town beach that tied up on the seafront quayside.
The Plymouth estate office retained control over the planning, building and development of the new town, offering 99-year leases and remaining the ground landlord. All householders in Penarth were tenants of the Plymouth Estates and paying an annual grount rent. The situation would not change until the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 that gave householders the choice of purchasing their freehold or negotiating 999 year extensions on their short leases.
The earliest homes built in the town were streets of terraced houses with busy corner shops and public houses on almost every corner, following the contours of the headland and in the rapidly expanding Cogan area near the docks. Local grey limestone, quarried from what is now Cwrt-y-vil playing fields, gave a particular character to the surviving older buildings of the town. To the south of the town centre, imposing detached villa residences along the cliff tops looked across the Channel to the Somerset coast and the islands of Flat Holm
and Steep Holm
. The villas were built by wealthy shipping and dock owners from Cardiff who were moving out of the industrialised city for a more genteel and sophisticated lifestyle.
The contract for the building of Penarth Dock was placed in 1859 and the dock was opened six years later, constructed by a workforce of around 1,200 mostly Irish
'navvies
' under the direction of chief engineer Harrison Hayter
and implementing the design of renowned architect Sir John Hawkshaw
. At the Welsh coal trade's zenith in 1913 ships carried 4,660,648 tons of coal in a single year out of Penarth docks. In 1886 Isambard Kingdom Brunel
's , originally a passenger vessel but later converted as a coal trader departed from Penarth Dock on what would become its final voyage. A disastrous fire during the voyage all but destroyed the vessel and she foundered on the Falkland Islands
, where she remained until salvaged and returned to Bristol
Docks for restoration in the 1970s.
By 1861 the number of people in the five parishes had increased to 1,898 and to 3,382 by 1871. In 1875 three of the constituent parishes - Penarth, Cogan, and Llandough
- were merged together into the Penarth Local Board, giving a population of 6,228 persons by 1881. This figure had doubled by 1891 with the opening of the railway and had increased even further by 1901 to 14,228 persons.
The town of Penarth thus owes its development to the massive expansion of the South Wales coalfield
in the 19th century. Its proximity to Cardiff, which was the natural outlet for the industrial valleys of Glamorgan
, and its natural waterfront meant that Penarth was ideally situated to contribute in meeting the world’s demand for Welsh coal through the construction of the docks.
One feature of Penarth Dock was the tunnel underpass that connected Penarth dock to Ferry Road Grangetown
under the River Ely
. Not quite wide enough for motor vehicles it was used by commuting pedestrians and cyclists as a short cut to work in Cardiff. The circular tunnel was about half a mile long with an entrance foyer at each end. Lined with cream and green coloured ceramic tiles the route was lit originally by gaslight
and later by electricity. Completed in 1899, from parts cast by T Gregory Engineering Works, Taffs Well, the tunnel remained in use until the autumn of 1965 when it was closed and the ends bricked up, after a series of violent muggings, repeated vandalism and the cost of maintenance becoming uneconomical. The tunnel entrance at the Penarth end was located near the lock gates between the outer basin and the number one dock. This historic short cut route was 'almost' replicated and replaced in June 2008 with the opening of a pedestrian and cycle route across the new Cardiff Bay Barrage
.
The development of the town continued to be rapid and Penarth soon became self sufficient with its own local government, a thriving shopping centre and many new community facilities. What is now the main shopping area of Windsor Road was originally residential housing, but the owners sacrificed their front gardens to build shop extensions although the original house architecture can still be seen above the current shops. Most of the town's fine architectural features owe their origin to the landowners of the time and the results of their vision can be seen by the many grand buildings and parks which make Penarth what it is today. Thanks to the generosity of those far sighted landowners, Penarth earned its wide reputation as "The Garden by the Sea" because of its beautiful parks and open spaces. Furthermore, many of the buildings and features of the town have led to a substantial part of the town being designated as a Conservation Area
because of its Victorian
/Edwardian architecture. Penarth's town library was opened in 1905, thanks to a donation by the Carnegie Trust
. The town's gothic style Police Station and town gaol opened in 1864 opposite the Windsor Arms brewery.
With the arrival of the railway connection to the Welsh valleys in 1878 came the regular influx of day trippers, often hundreds of them at weekends and bank holidays. According to correspondence held in the Glamorgan Record Office the Plymouth Estates Office sought to actively discourage the "rabble from the hills" who came by train to spend brief hours of leisure at the seaside from ruining the ambience of the town. The Earl of Plymouth's land agent actively disapproved of commercialisations such as fairground rides or donkeys on the beach, that were encouraged by other seaside resorts. He also disapproved of "those persons who swim in the sea either without a bathing costume, or without sufficient modesty to change into one hidden from public view." A permanent air of gentility in the town was the continuing aim of Plymouth Estates.
The developing summer holiday trade was supported by a large number of quality hotels that provided nearly two thousand bedspaces. The biggest and grandest of the hotels were the Esplanade Hotel on the seafront built in 1887, The Marine Hotel at the mouth of the docks, The Royal Hotel at the top of Arcot Street, The Washington Hotel opposite the library and The Glendale and Lansdowne hotels on Plymouth Road. Apart from the major hotels, accommodation was also available at the smaller Dock Hotel, Penarth Hotel, Ship Hotel, Westbourne Hotel, Plymouth Hotel, Windsor Hotel, Railway Hotel and dozens of mariners' lodging houses at the top end of the town. All have now closed with the exception of the Glendale and a handful of small and more recent bed and breakfast establishments.
A Royal Navy
minesweeper
was named after the town in 1918 and survived the last nine months of the First World War, but only served for twelve months when it was ironically sunk off the Yorkshire coast in 1919, by a mine, probably a British mine. The vessel is remembered on the Royal Navy Memorial at Portsmouth
.
At one time Penarth had two grand and decorative cinemas. The first was the Windsor Kinema on Windsor Road, originally converted from a 19th century Territorial Army drill hall and now in use as Monty Smith's garage. The even grander Washington Cinema was built opposite the library in 1936 with a classical 'Art Deco
' frontage, on the site of a former hotel and its tennis courts. The Washington closed as a cinema in 1970 and after several years as a busy Bingo
Hall is now converted as a coffee house and art gallery, while retaining its original frontage.
Penarth's other distinctive art deco structure was the new General Post Office
that was built in Albert Road in 1936. Closed in the 1980s the building is Grade II listed and now converted as an ethnic restaurant, The rear yard, once used to stable horses for the horse-drawn Penarth to Cardiff bus service, is still used by the Post Office for mail and parcel sorting.
In the 1880s an attempt was made to construct a permanent pier
. This was possibly because of the need to find a safer way to unload boats. However, construction ground to a halt at an early stage when the London contractors went into liquidation
.
The Penarth Pier Company was formed to make a second attempt at building a permanent pier. The foundations were laid in 1894 and the pier successfully opened in 1895. It was 750 feet long. Between 1907 and 1931 there was a small 'Concert Party theatre' at the far end of the pier until it was destroyed by fire. The current ballroom and pavilion was built after this event.
In 1947 the 7,130 ton steamship the SS Port Royal Park, under the flag of the Tavistock Shipping Company collided with the pier causing severe damage that was not repaired for several years
In August 1966 a 600-ton pleasure steamer, Bristol Queen, hit the pier causing an estimated £25,000 damage.
In March 2011 planning permission was granted for a £3.9 million revamp of the pier to re-open the pavilion as a major tourist attraction. The new plans included a cinema and observatory.
and steelworks it is not surprising that Penarth became a target for Nazi German bombing raids during the Second World War and life in the town during those years is difficult to imagine these days. Road signs were taken down, street lights and house windows were blacked out
at night, cars travelled with deflector shields over the headlamps reducing them to a dim glimmer. Road accidents at night were frequent.
Penarth had its own Home Guard detachment manned by those who were too old or unsuited for military service. Volunteers also became Air Raid Wardens
(ARPs) or joined the Royal Observer Corps
. Even children aged between 14 and 18 were recruited as Fire Guard Messengers, equipped with steel helmets and used as runners, carrying messages through the night raids between the ARPs and the fire service units.
Scrap metals were needed to build tanks and aircraft so hundreds of Penarth homes lost their traditional Victorian iron railings from the front gardens during the war years. Most were never replaced and the ornamental architecture and appearance of the Lower Penarth roads altered almost overnight. Even All Saints' Church in Victoria Square lost its magnificently ornate gates and the railing fence that surrounded the square's green, never to be replaced. Between petrol rationing and limited public transport the streets and roads were almost empty of vehicles, with many children cycling or even walking as far as Cardiff daily to attend school. Schools were full to bursting point, the school rolls bolstered by children evacuated
from places like London and Birmingham
. Most schoolmasters were called up for military service, replaced by previously rare women teachers.
There was a non profit 'British Restaurant
' at the top end of the Windsor Arcade in the town centre and run by the urban district council, where families made homeless by the bombing or any occasional visitor could buy a simple but wholesome three course meal for ninepence (approx 4p in today's money, but £2.50 when adjusted for inflation to 2009).
to France. Several never returned, having been killed by mines and enemy action during the many crossings.
In 1941 the Bristol Channel
, which seems almost deserted these days, was packed solid with almost coast to coast merchant shipping
. Freighters were constantly arriving, unloading or departing from the docks. Atlantic convoys made up with hundreds of vessels regularly formed up in the area between Cardiff, Barry Island
and Flat Holm
before setting off for America, or de-grouping on their return. Royal Naval warships based in the channel ports were constantly cruising up and down searching for enemy submarines. Penarth was filled with anti-aircraft batteries, searchlight batteries and the sky overhead was full of barrage balloons and patrolling aircraft. The defending Spitfires
and Hurricanes
were based at RAF Fairwood Common
in Swansea, RAF Colerne
, RAF Filton
, RAF Pembrey
and RAF Pengam Moors
(formerly Cardiff Municipal Airport in Cardiff Bay). The Glamorganshire Golf Club in Lower Penarth was the site of an experimental rocket battery that regularly scared residents during practice firings. Lavernock Point was the location of Lavernock Fort
, with its heavy naval guns, anti aircraft and searchlight batteries and the town’s Royal Observer Corps observation post, that sounded the air raid sirens nightly in the town. Gunner Neil Reid, a 17 year old gunner in 1940 with the Royal Artillery at the Lavernock Fort Battery, would later be posted to the Far East where he was captured by the Japanese. Reid was a prisoner of war
in Nagasaki at the time that the second atomic bomb was dropped
just four miles (6.4 km) from where he was working on a beach. He survived the blast and told his story to the BBC in 2004.
At the outbreak of the war over 350 soldiers of the Royal Artillery
were stationed on Flat Holm, which was armed with four 4.5 inch guns and associated searchlight
s to be used for anti-aircraft and close defence, together with two 40 millimetres (1.6 in) Bofors guns. A GL (Gun Laying) MkII radar
station was also placed in the centre of the island. The structures formed part of the Fixed Defences, Severn scheme and protected the Atlantic shipping convoy de-grouping zones. In 1943 there was a Battalion of American Seabees, the US Construction Corps
, living on a merchant vessel tied up in Penarth docks, while they built a large number of Quonset hut
s for the rapid temporary expansions of Llandough Hospital and Sully Hospital.
bomber pilots flew up the Bristol Channel, following the River Severn as a guide to the industrial Midlands. Many raids however were specifically targeted at Cardiff
and Penarth. At the time it was felt by residents that the town was bombed more thoroughly than the Docks, which escaped fairly lightly by comparison. Local resident during the war, Michael Page, a schoolboy at the time remembers:
Eighty-six year old Rose Glenn remembers:
One night in 1942 All Saints' Church was hit by a stick of incendiary bombs
and was totally gutted by fire with only the outer walls left standing. The church was rebuilt after the war and reopened in 1955. On the same night a house on the corner of the lane near Cwrt-y-Vil Road, opposite All Saints' Church, was hit by a massive bomb. The house was badly damaged and collapsed two weeks later but was never rebuilt. Albert Road School was also hit by a stick of incendiaries and badly damaged by fire, although it was quickly patched up and in use again within the week. A man living in Archer Road wondered why the morning was still so dark when he drew back his bedroom curtains. His window was being obstructed by a large landmine suspended from a parachute that had snagged his chimney. St Paul's Methodist Church overlooking the docks was totally destroyed by bombs and after rebuilding is today used as a boxing gymnasium. Dozens of ordinary homes were struck by bombs, sometimes whole terraces, including houses in Salop Street, Arcot Street, Albert Road and Queens Road.
. Many of the Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships
were loaded with American Sherman tanks
and their US Army crews that had been billeted in Penarth after training, housed in a vast village of Quonset or Nissen huts that had been built in 'Neale's Wood', now the Northcliffe Estate next to the present-day Headlands Nursing Home.
British Commando
units trained on the Penarth cliffs in preparation for scaling the Normandy cliff faces. Several of the invasion barges were not used and lay rotting on the dock beach well into the 1950s used as playthings by local children.
were still being found in the silt and sand on the beaches between Penarth and Cardiff. It is highly likely that there are still many out there buried deep in the mud.
The coal
trade from Penarth docks eventually petered out and the docks closed in 1936, only reopening for commercial and military use during World War II. From the 1950s and up until 1965 the basins were utilised by the Royal Navy
to mothball
dozens of destroyer
s and frigate
s from the no longer needed wartime fleet of warships, until they were sold to foreign nations or broken up. By 1967, after barely a hundred years of commercial operations, the docks lay unused and derelict, and much of it was used for landfill
. The largest basin, No 2 dock at the Cogan end, is now completely filled in, grassed over and surrounded by roadways.
In 1987 the new Penarth Marina
village opened on the disused docks site. The No 1 dock and outer basin were re-excavated or dredged out to provide some 350 yacht berths, surrounded by extensive modern waterside homes and several marine engineering yards. The original dock office and Excise House is now in use as a popular restaurant, with only the Grade II listed Marine Hotel remaining derelict and boarded up awaiting suitable redevelopment plans. The Penarth Marina development was one of the key catalysts to the similar later redevelopment of the Cardiff Bay area.
Penarth is one of the most affluent areas in the Vale of Glamorgan and property prices continue to remain high. Marine Parade or 'Millionaires' row', with its grand, substantial Victorian houses or modern designer villas with views across the Bristol Channel
, is considered to be the finest street in Penarth, although several larger properties are now split as apartments or adapted as residential care homes
. Houses in Penarth vary from imposing three storey red brick Victorian houses found on both Plymouth and Westbourne Roads to compact stone terraces in Cogan and upper Penarth. Many of the Plymouth Road, Westbourne Road, Victoria Road and Archer Road houses, originally large family homes with servants' quarters on the top floors, have now been adapted for multi-occupancy as flats and apartments. Penarth Marina
in direct contrast features trendy modern townhouse
s, apartment
s and designer penthouse
s.
In 1930 the General Post Office
(GPO), later British Telecom (BT), had built its main telephone engineers' college on the corner of Forrest Road and Westbourne Road where engineers from all over the UK attended basic and advanced residential courses lasting up to eight weeks. The college closed in the 1980s and stood empty for many years before being demolished for a new development of residential housing.
In 1965 the combined Cardiff Universities built the multi-storey International House on Plymouth Road near the end of Cliff Parade to provide Halls of Residence for up to 300 overseas students attending University College, Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Abandoned in the late 1990s, after just 30 years in its original use, International House is now converted as a specialist residential care home.
In March 2008 several scenes for the Doctor Who
episode "The Stolen Earth
" were filmed in and around Penarth streets. A lot of the Sarah Jane Adventures episodes were filmed in Penarth.
, Milton
, Tennyson
and Chaucer
. The St Augustine's ward does not serve a natural 'community' but extends from the Marina development, over the Penarth Head area through the town centre and old Penarth as far as the junction of Stanwell and Cornerswell Roads. The wards of Cornerswell, Plymouth and St Augustine's are represented by Conservatives, Stanwell ward is represented by the Labour Party.
The "Father" of the Town Council, (the longest serving of the 16 councillors representing the town), and Deputy Leader of the Council is Co. Cllr. Anthony M. Ernest of the Plymouth Ward.
Cllr Gwyn Roberts of the Labour Party is the sole party member representing St Augustine's ward in the 5 member ward. The ward of Stanwell is represented by Penarth Fairtrade Forum Chairperson Mark Wilson and Janice Birch of the Labour Party who is the longest continously serving Penarth councillor and Cllr John Ferris of the Conservatives.
The current Mayor of Penarth is a Conservative Councillor who represents Plymouth Ward, Cllr Anthony Earnest.
JP
MP
a member of the Labour & Co-operative Party (UK). He has been member of parliament since 1987, replacing Jim Callaghan
.
represents Cardiff South and Penarth in the National Assembly for Wales
(Labour & Co-operative Party), succeeding Lorraine Barrett
.
There are four Regional Assembly Members also representing the area: David Melding AM (Conservative), Andrew RT Davies AM (Conservative), Leanne Wood AM (Plaid) and Eluned Parrot (Liberal Democrats).
(UKIP), Kay Swinburne
(Conservative) and Derek Vaughan
(Labour).
between Penarth Head and Grangetown was completed in 1999 and came into operation shortly afterwards. The impounding of the River Taff
and River Ely
has created 2 km² or 202.35 ha (500 acre) of freshwater lake in the Cardiff Bay. The promised pedestrian and cyclist short cut to Cardiff across the barrage finally opened to the public on Friday 27 June 2008, after numerous postponements.
An imaginary line drawn between Lavernock Point
, just two miles (3 km) south west of Penarth and Sand Point, Somerset
marks the lower limit of the Severn Estuary
and the start of the Bristol Channel, hence Penarth is technically deemed to be in the Severn Estuary and not on the Bristol Channel. Because of the extreme tidal range there are very strong currents or rips close inshore, with speeds that exceed 7 knots (8mph), for several hours at each tide. The rise and fall of the tides at Penarth are the second highest recorded anywhere in the world and on occasions when certain moon phases coincide with the spring and autumn equinox
es the sea level can overspill the esplanade wall and flood the roadway, particularly if in conjunction with a high wind.
that was laid down under a prehistoric warm sea and subsequently ground down by ice age glaciers
approximately 18,000 years ago. This produced the rich, brown and dry soil that provided an ideal growing medium for cereal crops during the medieval farming history of the area. The abundance of limestone was exploited for nearly a hundred years at the Cosmeston quarry that fed the Snocem cement
factory in Lower Penarth until it closed down in 1970 and the quarry was converted into Cosmeston Lake at the new country park.
The town is located at the top of cliff
s that have a distinctive strata rock formation that is world known and referred to as the Penarth Group of rocks or Penarth coeval strata wherever it appears in Britain. The Penarth cliffs are made of interspersed layers of limestone
and alabaster
, both of which are dry and crumbly rocks. The Penarth cliffs contain the largest known outcrop of naturally occurring Pink Alabaster anywhere in the world but, although decorative and highly prized by local gardeners to crown their rockeries, it is considered to be much inferior to the harder and hand-carvable whiter alabasters found elsewhere.
The main problem associated with the dry and crumbly nature of the limestone and alabaster rocks, that make up the cliffs that border Penarth, is the continuing and relentless erosion by the sea. Rockfalls are frequent and walkers using the beach should not walk too close to the base of the cliffs. Until a few years ago, a rusty sign could be seen where the town beach merged into the base of the cliff, with this trilingual message:
"Caution: Beware of stones falling from the cliff. Beware of being caught by the high tides.
Rhybudd: Gochelwch y ceryg yn syrthio or dybin uwchben ar perygl o fod ar y traeth pan y mae y llanw yn dod i mewn.
Avis: Attention à la marée montante! Attention aux debris de roc oui (sic = "qui") se detachent des falaises".
The cliff has retreated many tens of metres even in living memory, with the area around Penarth Head remaining most at threat and several structures once on the clifftop already having been smashed on the beach below. A reinforced concrete and iron staircase that once led from Penarth Head to the beach, built by the war department just before the First World War, was already destroyed by advancing erosion as long ago as the early 1950s.
. They are now nine years out of date and this should be taken into account. The 2001 data shows:
In August 2008 plans for the development of the pier's derelict pavilion
were made public. The two million pound Lottery
-funded scheme was planned to include a 98-seat cinema and theatre, a cafe and gallery, bar and a large multi-purpose area that will retain the Victorian vaulted ceiling. The Vale of Glamorgan council allocated a starter contribution of £800,000 to enable the initial Lottery Fund application to proceed, an application that was declined due to shortage of available funds. In the autumn of 2008 a Penarth Town Centre Task and Finish Group was formed to look for a positive way ahead for the town. In November 2009 the National Lottery Heritage Fund granted a £99,000 interim award to permit further planning to proceed.
Cosmeston Medieval Village
is open daily and features historical re-enactments during the summer weekends and on bank holiday
s. The reconstruction of the historical village has been described as the best of its kind in Britain.
Turner House Art Gallery is located at the top end of Plymouth Road and is the current exhibition space for Ffotogallery
the national photography development agency for Wales. It features regular exhibitions of photography, video and new media art. The gallery was opened in 1888 by local resident, James Pyke Thompson
, originally to house his personal art collection. There is also a small art gallery
located at the Washington Buildings, a tastefully converted 1930s art deco
cinema. Although the back of the Washington Cinema which used to be a Hyper-value store is now a Tesco Express, with a possibility that Subway
and Domino's Pizza
may join them.
Alexandra Gardens is the town's main Victorian Park, opened in 1902, with colourful flowerbeds, leafy glades, an ornamental fishpond, ornate bandstand and the town's Cenotaph memorial to the fallen of two world wars. The park leads from the town down to the seafront, almost connecting up with the Windsor Gardens park that runs above and parallel to the esplanade.
The Paget Rooms hosts dances, occasional pop concerts and plays by local dramatic societies. The 1970s superstar Tom Jones
played one of his final UK concerts at the Paget Rooms before moving to America. Welsh band Man
once recorded a live album at the Paget Rooms, using the famous Decca
mobile studio that also recorded The Rolling Stones
and today pristine copies of the limited edition vinyl pressing, named (incorrectly) , now change hands for substantial sums of money.
The beach front promenade remains a popular draw for visitors and tourists with its Victorian Italian Garden that displays many unusual palm trees and exotic plants. The surviving element of the original Victorian pier is a summer staging point for the various pleasure steamers, that ply their trade from time to time in the Bristol Channel and the pier is used as a popular winter sea fishing venue. There is also the historic Penarth Yacht Club, built in 1883, stood next to the new RNLI lifeboat station
and its associated shop, together with a wide range of popular cafes and restaurants available on the seafront. The seafront remains uncommercialised with none of the amusement arcade
s that can be found at other traditional Victorian holiday resort frontages. The town's swimming pool and baths built in the late 19th century was closed in the 1980s and, after a short reincarnation as a bar and bistro, has recently been tastefully converted into luxury flats while retaining its Victorian exterior.
The clifftop walks to the bays of Lavernock, St Mary's Well and Swanbridge
with their beaches and the historic hut where Marconi first transmitted radio messages over open sea
remain popular with residents and visitors alike. The old trackbed of the railway that once connected Penarth to Cadoxton
and Barry Island
and was closed by the Beeching Axe
is now a rural greenway and cycle track from the Archer Road rail bridge as far as the Fort Road bridge in Lavernock. The remaining main section of the Lavernock Fort
gun battery has been listed as an Ancient Monument
. The Lavernock Point Nature Reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales.
The town has mounted the two week long Penarth Holiday Festival each July since 1966 that features special events and celebrations all over the town. These have included pop concerts, yacht regattas and power boat races, donkey derbies, parades, fairs and fetes in the parks, tea dances, stage shows, art exhibitions and spectacular firework displays. In 1970 the festival was closed with an air display by the Red Arrows
above the clifftops and sea front.
, formerly St Cyres Secondary Modern School has employed a keen focus on its Welsh Baccalaureate programme, where it has led the way in delivering this new qualification, associated to the International Baccalaureate programme. Currently spread over two sites with years seven to nine located in both Penarth and nearby Dinas Powys, and years ten to thirteen on just Penarth, the bigger of the two sites. St Cyres had hoped to see building work completed in 2011 on its brand new campus that will see all of its 1,479 pupils together on a single site, but there are continuing delays in provision of capital funds. The main feeders schools for St Cyres are Llandough Primary, Fairfield County Primary, Cogan Primary and all the primary schools in Dinas Powys. In the autumn of 2008 St Cyres became the first fairtrade secondary school in Penarth.
Stanwell School
, formerly Penarth County Grammar School, is a co-educational comprehensive school
for 11-18 year olds. The school has been subject to a substantial investment of several million pounds in new buildings, facilities and equipment in the last decade. Specialist teaching accommodation has been provided for Science (featuring eleven modern laboratories), drama, music, media studies, P.E. (including sports halls), Information Technology, Art and Design Technology. The school currently has approximately 1,600 pupils including a thriving sixth form. The main feeder schools for Stanwell are Albert Road, Victoria , Evenlode and Sully Primary School.
Westbourne School
is a small coeducation
al independent day school
, nursery
and prep school
for children between the ages of 3 and 18 located on the corner of Stanwell Road and Hickman Road. There are currently 162 pupils on roll. The school is housed within two buildings, approximately half a mile apart. The first houses the nursery and infants, the other the prep school and senior school. With 24 permanent staff and 2 teaching assistants the class sizes remain small, varying from a maximum of 17 down to as low as 9 in some subjects. Westbourne School opened its new 6th form in the Autumn term of 2008 and major building works are still currently in progress. The school introduced the speciality of the Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate Organisation
. The academic results are consistently excellent with 100% passes at GCSEs in 2007 and Westbourne School is nationally recognised as a high achieving school. The school is now owned by the Montague Place Group of Independent Schools.
, Victoria Primary, Albert Road Primary, Evenlode Primary and Llandough Primary School.
and shares the facilities with Penarth Rugby Club, Penarth Hockey Club, and in recent years, Penarth Lacrosse Club. The cricket
club operates 4 regular league sides on a Saturday. The first XI currently plays in the South Wales Premier League. A number of current and former players have played for Glamorgan CCC, and Wales MC, and there have been many players who have gained junior representative honours.
The once-renowned Penarth Rugby Football Club
is based at The Athletic Ground, Lavernock Road, Penarth, where it played Wales' and the West Country's premier clubs until the creation of the Welsh League system in the early 1990s. It has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, and in season 2006-07 won promotion to Division 3 South-East of the Welsh National Leagues by finishing runner-up in Division 4 South-East. Penarth RFC used to host the world-famous Barbarians Football Club
each Easter Good Friday, until 1986. This fixture was the start of the "Baa-Baas" annual South Wales tour from the team’s spiritual home of Penarth, which also encompassed playing Cardiff
on the Saturday, Swansea
on Easter Monday and Newport on the Tuesday. On the Thursday before Good Friday, the Barbarian rugby squad would be allowed free use of the Glamorganshire Golf Club, when they would play a match amongst themselves using only two golf clubs. On Easter Sunday, the Golf Club held its annual tournament for club members for a trophy titled the Barbarian Cup. The grand (but now demolished) Esplanade Hotel, formerly located on the seafront at Penarth would host the gala party for the trip. Penarth has a second and more recent rugby union
club Old Penarthians RFC
, originally formed out of 'old boys' from Penarth County Grammar School, but no longer applying that restrictive membership criteria.
Penarth currently has two football (soccer)
clubs. The longest established is Cogan Coronation AFC, known locally as the 'Coro' that was founded in 1960, playing their home games at the Penarth Leisure Centre recreation fields. The senior team currently features in the South Wales F.A. Senior League 1st Division and their best season was 2000/2001 when they finished the year in second position. The club fielded eighteen teams at various age groups in the 2007/2008 season. Cogan Coronation players Mark Eley, Liam Beddard and goalkeeper Stewart Owadally have been selected to represent the Football Association of Wales on a number of occasions.
Penarth Town AFC was founded only a handful of years ago and currently plays in Division 2 of the Vale of Glamorgan Senior Football League.
The picturesque Glamorganshire Golf Club
is located in Lower Penarth and is considered to be one of the finest golf courses in the Principality. The course was established in 1890 and, in 1898, the club was the testing ground of Dr Frank Stableford’s revolutionary new Stableford
golf scoring system still used all over the world today.
Penarth has two tennis clubs. Windsor Lawn Tennis Club is situated in Larkwood Avenue in a residential area. It has 7 hardcourts and a grass court area. Penarth Lawn Tennis Club in Rectory Road is the oldest tennis club in Wales (established 1884) and has 3 hard courts plus grass court area. Both clubs compete regularly in the Tennis Wales South Doubles Leagues and have junior representation in the National Junior Club League and Vale of Glamorgan Mini Tennis Club League.
Penarth has a Mens (established 1911) and Ladies (established 1896) Hockey Club. The Men's first team were promoted in both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons to play in their highest ever league. The Men's first team play in North Division 1 of The Davis Wood Hockey League (2011/12) Both Ladies teams compete in the South Wales Premier 1 division (2011/12).
Cogan Leisure Centre is a modern leisure centre
sports venue that provides the town with a full range of sporting facilities including a leisure pool and extensive playing fields. The new Cardiff Sports Village is just under two miles (3 km) from the town centre.
Penarth Sea Cadets are located on Stanwell Crescent and offer children from the ages of 10-18 a wide variety of activities to keep them occupied all year round. These include sailing, canoeing, rowing, windsurfing, climbing, shooting, camping, seamanship, swimming, expeditions, engineering, cooking, powerboating, and many more.
Cardiff Morris perform traditional dances from Wales and England and feature several members from the town. They are the prime performers of Morris dances from the Nantgarw tradition
. They meet and rehearse weekly throughout the year, alternating between The Anchor in Taffs Well and the Windsor Arms public house in Penarth. In recent years several younger members of both sexes have joined the traditional dance side who have performed all over the UK. Of particular interest are their renditions of genuine Welsh morris dance as collected by Margaretta Thomas in the village of Nantgarw in Taff Vale, the key dance being (The Snow Mare)
Penarth Amateur Boxing Club now meets in Station Road, after the closure of their club at St Pauls Church.
Penarth Bowls Club is located on Rectory Road at a bowling green built on what was once a deep limestone quarry.
South Wales Comedy Writers Society is based in Penarth.
serves the town and is the terminus of the Penarth branch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line
from Cardiff. It is on an extension of the line originally built by the Taff Vale Railway
in 1865 to serve the newly-created docks. All services on this line are operated by Arriva Trains Wales
as part of the Valley Lines
portion of the National Rail
network. Dingle Road station
is also close to the town centre. The Barry branch of the Vale of Glamorgan line passes through Cogan railway station
, near Cogan Leisure Centre.
Penarth is served by Cardiff Bus
services from Cardiff
City Centre, with some services continuing to Barry. Penarth falls into the Cardiff
fare zone for Cardiff Bus
fares. Penarth is also served by First Group from Cardiff
City Centre - Llandough
which continues on to Barry.
Penarth is linked to west Somerset
and North Devon
seaside resorts such as Minehead
, Ilfracombe
and Lundy Island by the Paddle Steamer Waverley
and , which have sailed from Penarth pier for over 60 years, continuing a steamer tradition that started when the pier was built. Devon's tourist trade in the late 19th century was expanded when the paddle steamer
s spent weekends cruising the Bristol Channel taking the South Wales tourists on cheap excursions from Penarth to places such as Lynmouth
, Ilfracombe, Bideford
and Clovelly
. The traditional summer daily service to Weston-super-mare
ceased in 1994 when Weston's Birnbeck Pier
was damaged in a storm, declared unsafe and closed to visitors.
The Cardiff Waterbus
operates a passenger water taxi service daily between 10.30 am and 5.00 pm, sailing from the Penarth end of the Bay Barrage and the Mermaid Quay on Cardiff's waterfront with seven crossings at hourly intervals. The first boat leaves Penarth at 10.30 am and the last boat back departs Cardiff at 5.00 pm.
The Pont y Werin
pedestrian and cycle bridge opened in July 2010, completing a 4.2 mile circular route between Cardiff Bay and Penarth.
Brittany
, France The fortieth anniversary of the twinning charter takes place in 2010. In the 1970s and 1980s there were regular joint civic meetings and events often in conjunction with Penarth Holiday Fortnight, coupled with annual student exchange weeks between the two towns of up to fifty young people. Since 2003 when the French town's long serving mayor retired and there were changes to their committee no cultural exchanges or joint civic events appear to have taken place. In March 2010 it was announced that both towns were keen to reconnect and an appeal was made for local organisations and interested individuals to become actively involved.
The current chair of Penarth's twinning committee is Cllr Clive Williams MBE. In Penarth marina there is an address named after the twinned town, "Plas St. Pol De Leon".
People that have been born, lived in or associated with Penarth have included politicians such as Alun Michael
MP and John Smith MP
, three recipients of the Victoria Cross
including Dambuster's
leader Guy Gibson
and sports stars like Colin Jackson
and Dame "Tanni" Grey-Thompson
.
Penarth has also been fruitful in literature and the performing arts and included such people as novelist Eric Linklater, actor Colin McCormack
, composer Joseph Parry
and chart star Shakin' Stevens
.
The French Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley
famously stayed in Penarth in 1897,at which time he married his long-term companion Eugénie Lescouzec. Sisley creating several landscape paintings of the cliffs and coast during his visit.
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
in the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, Wales, 5.2 miles (8.4 km) south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
at the southern end of Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
. Penarth is the second largest town in the Vale of Glamorgan, next only to the administrative centre of Barry.
During the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
Penarth was a highly popular holiday destination, promoted nationally as “The Garden by the Sea” and was packed by visitors from the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
and the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
as well as day trippers from the South Wales valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
mostly arriving by train. Today the town and its traditional seafront continues to be a regular summer holiday destination for predominantly older visitors, but in much lower numbers that were common from Victorian times until the 1960s when cheap overseas package holiday
Package holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
s were introduced.
Although the number of holiday visitors has greatly declined, the town retains a substantial retired population, representing over 25% of residents, but Penarth is now predominantly a dormitory town for Cardiff commuters. The town’s population was recorded as 23,245 in the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
although further growth has taken place since then.
The town retains extensive surviving Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
and Edwardian architecture
Edwardian architecture
Edwardian architecture is the style popular when King Edward VII of the United Kingdom was in power; he reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the architecture style is generally considered to be indicative of the years 1901 to 1914....
in many traditional parts of the town, and house prices are usually significantly higher than similar properties in nearby Cardiff.
Name and insignia
Penarth is a Welsh placename and could be a combination of the word: meaning head and meaning bear, hence 'Head of the Bear' or 'Bear’s Head'. This was the accepted translation for several hundred years and is still reflected in the town’s achievement of arms which depicts bears. Modern scholars have suggested that the name is shortened from an original “”, where garth means cliff, hence 'Head of the cliff' or 'Clifftops'. and the Welsh-English dictionary (The Big Dictionary: Gomer Press) reveals that penardd/penarth eb (feminine noun) means 'promontory'.The civic coat of arms was drawn by a Cardiff architect in the late 1890s from a detailed brief prepared by the Town Board. It features a bear's head above a shield supported by two further bears standing. The shield contains a Welsh '' to denote that the town is in Wales and a sailing vessel recognising Penarth's long association with sea commerce.
Early history
The Penarth area has a history of human inhabitation dating back at least 5000 years. In 1956 several NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
stone axe heads were found in the town. A large hoard of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
rings and coins were also discovered at nearby Sully
Sully, Vale of Glamorgan
Sully is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales lying on the northern coast of the Bristol Channel, midway between the towns of Penarth and Barry and 7 miles southwest of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.-Medieval Sully:...
.
From the 12th century until 1543 the lands of Penarth were owned by the canons of St Augustine, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The Norman church of St Augustine (on the headland) dates from this period. After the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
the ownership transferred to the dean and chapter of Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England, and is commonly known as Bristol Cathedral...
.
The manor lands were leased to the Earls of Plymouth
Earl of Plymouth
Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, illegitimate son of King Charles II by his mistress Catherine Pegge...
of St. Fagans Castle
St Fagans National History Museum
St Fagans National History Museum , commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture and architecture of the Welsh people...
. In 1853 the family purchased the manor outright.
Because the surrounding land was owned by religious institutions from an early date there was no need for a large family house in Penarth. The oldest building in the area is a Tudor mansion, owned by the Herbert family, on the hillside at Cogan Pill. This has since been converted into a chain restaurant.
Pirates were prevalent on the coast near Penarth and, in the 1570s, a Special Commission was set up to investigate and suppress it. Leading family members in Penarth were believed to be implicated.
Penarth's medieval walled Sheriff's Pound
Pound (village)
The Village pound was a feature of most British medieval villages.A high walled and lockable structure it served several purposes; the most common use was to hold stray sheep, pigs and cattle until they were claimed by the owners, usually for the payment of a fine or levy. The pound could be as...
, an early form of multi-purpose gaol, remained in use until the late 18th century as a place to retain stray sheep, cattle and pigs or to imprison thieves, rustlers and vagabonds. It was located roughly where the car park now stands at the rear of the NatWest Bank in Plymouth Road.
In 1803 Penarth is recorded as having between 800 - 900 acres (3.6 km²) of land under cultivation as several farms. In the 1801 census there were just 72 people living in the Manor. Even as late as 1851 Penarth was little more than a small rural farming and fishing village since medieval times with just 24 houses and 105 residents being one of five parishes contained within the Hundred
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
of Dinas Powys
Dinas Powys
Dinas Powys is a large village and a community in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales which takes its name from the Dinas Powys hillfort that dates from the Iron Age...
, with a combined population of just over 300. Before the pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
and dock were built there was a tiny fleet of local sail-powered fishing vessels based on the main town beach that tied up on the seafront quayside.
The Plymouth estate office retained control over the planning, building and development of the new town, offering 99-year leases and remaining the ground landlord. All householders in Penarth were tenants of the Plymouth Estates and paying an annual grount rent. The situation would not change until the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 that gave householders the choice of purchasing their freehold or negotiating 999 year extensions on their short leases.
The earliest homes built in the town were streets of terraced houses with busy corner shops and public houses on almost every corner, following the contours of the headland and in the rapidly expanding Cogan area near the docks. Local grey limestone, quarried from what is now Cwrt-y-vil playing fields, gave a particular character to the surviving older buildings of the town. To the south of the town centre, imposing detached villa residences along the cliff tops looked across the Channel to the Somerset coast and the islands of Flat Holm
Flat Holm
Flat Holm is a limestone island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, but in the City and County of Cardiff. It includes the most southerly point of Wales....
and Steep Holm
Steep Holm
Steep Holm is an English island lying in the Bristol Channel. The island covers at high tide, expanding to at mean low water. At its highest point it is above mean sea level. It lies within the historic boundaries of Somerset and administratively, it forms part of North Somerset...
. The villas were built by wealthy shipping and dock owners from Cardiff who were moving out of the industrialised city for a more genteel and sophisticated lifestyle.
Victorian developments
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
'navvies
Navvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
' under the direction of chief engineer Harrison Hayter
Harrison Hayter
Harrison Hayter was a British engineer, participating in many significant railway construction projects in Britain and many harbour and dock constructions worldwide....
and implementing the design of renowned architect Sir John Hawkshaw
John Hawkshaw
Sir John Hawkshaw , was an English civil engineer.-Early life:He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and was educated at Leeds Grammar School...
. At the Welsh coal trade's zenith in 1913 ships carried 4,660,648 tons of coal in a single year out of Penarth docks. In 1886 Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's , originally a passenger vessel but later converted as a coal trader departed from Penarth Dock on what would become its final voyage. A disastrous fire during the voyage all but destroyed the vessel and she foundered on the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
, where she remained until salvaged and returned to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
Docks for restoration in the 1970s.
By 1861 the number of people in the five parishes had increased to 1,898 and to 3,382 by 1871. In 1875 three of the constituent parishes - Penarth, Cogan, and Llandough
Llandough
Llandough is a village and southern suburb of Cardiff, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.- Location :...
- were merged together into the Penarth Local Board, giving a population of 6,228 persons by 1881. This figure had doubled by 1891 with the opening of the railway and had increased even further by 1901 to 14,228 persons.
The town of Penarth thus owes its development to the massive expansion of the South Wales coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
in the 19th century. Its proximity to Cardiff, which was the natural outlet for the industrial valleys of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, and its natural waterfront meant that Penarth was ideally situated to contribute in meeting the world’s demand for Welsh coal through the construction of the docks.
One feature of Penarth Dock was the tunnel underpass that connected Penarth dock to Ferry Road Grangetown
Grangetown, Cardiff
Grangetown is a community in the south of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is one of the largest districts in the south of the city and is bordered by Riverside, Canton and Butetown. The River Taff winds its way through the area...
under the River Ely
River Ely
The River Ely is a river in South Wales flowing generally south east, from Tonyrefail to the capital city of Cardiff.-Course of the river:...
. Not quite wide enough for motor vehicles it was used by commuting pedestrians and cyclists as a short cut to work in Cardiff. The circular tunnel was about half a mile long with an entrance foyer at each end. Lined with cream and green coloured ceramic tiles the route was lit originally by gaslight
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
and later by electricity. Completed in 1899, from parts cast by T Gregory Engineering Works, Taffs Well, the tunnel remained in use until the autumn of 1965 when it was closed and the ends bricked up, after a series of violent muggings, repeated vandalism and the cost of maintenance becoming uneconomical. The tunnel entrance at the Penarth end was located near the lock gates between the outer basin and the number one dock. This historic short cut route was 'almost' replicated and replaced in June 2008 with the opening of a pedestrian and cycle route across the new Cardiff Bay Barrage
Cardiff Bay Barrage
The Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s.-History:...
.
The development of the town continued to be rapid and Penarth soon became self sufficient with its own local government, a thriving shopping centre and many new community facilities. What is now the main shopping area of Windsor Road was originally residential housing, but the owners sacrificed their front gardens to build shop extensions although the original house architecture can still be seen above the current shops. Most of the town's fine architectural features owe their origin to the landowners of the time and the results of their vision can be seen by the many grand buildings and parks which make Penarth what it is today. Thanks to the generosity of those far sighted landowners, Penarth earned its wide reputation as "The Garden by the Sea" because of its beautiful parks and open spaces. Furthermore, many of the buildings and features of the town have led to a substantial part of the town being designated as a Conservation Area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
because of its Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
/Edwardian architecture. Penarth's town library was opened in 1905, thanks to a donation by the Carnegie Trust
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. The town's gothic style Police Station and town gaol opened in 1864 opposite the Windsor Arms brewery.
With the arrival of the railway connection to the Welsh valleys in 1878 came the regular influx of day trippers, often hundreds of them at weekends and bank holidays. According to correspondence held in the Glamorgan Record Office the Plymouth Estates Office sought to actively discourage the "rabble from the hills" who came by train to spend brief hours of leisure at the seaside from ruining the ambience of the town. The Earl of Plymouth's land agent actively disapproved of commercialisations such as fairground rides or donkeys on the beach, that were encouraged by other seaside resorts. He also disapproved of "those persons who swim in the sea either without a bathing costume, or without sufficient modesty to change into one hidden from public view." A permanent air of gentility in the town was the continuing aim of Plymouth Estates.
The developing summer holiday trade was supported by a large number of quality hotels that provided nearly two thousand bedspaces. The biggest and grandest of the hotels were the Esplanade Hotel on the seafront built in 1887, The Marine Hotel at the mouth of the docks, The Royal Hotel at the top of Arcot Street, The Washington Hotel opposite the library and The Glendale and Lansdowne hotels on Plymouth Road. Apart from the major hotels, accommodation was also available at the smaller Dock Hotel, Penarth Hotel, Ship Hotel, Westbourne Hotel, Plymouth Hotel, Windsor Hotel, Railway Hotel and dozens of mariners' lodging houses at the top end of the town. All have now closed with the exception of the Glendale and a handful of small and more recent bed and breakfast establishments.
A Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
was named after the town in 1918 and survived the last nine months of the First World War, but only served for twelve months when it was ironically sunk off the Yorkshire coast in 1919, by a mine, probably a British mine. The vessel is remembered on the Royal Navy Memorial at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
.
At one time Penarth had two grand and decorative cinemas. The first was the Windsor Kinema on Windsor Road, originally converted from a 19th century Territorial Army drill hall and now in use as Monty Smith's garage. The even grander Washington Cinema was built opposite the library in 1936 with a classical 'Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
' frontage, on the site of a former hotel and its tennis courts. The Washington closed as a cinema in 1970 and after several years as a busy Bingo
Bingo (Non-US)
Bingo or housey-housey or housie is a gambling game that began in Italy in the 1500s. The game is believed to have migrated to France, Great Britain, and other parts of Europe in the 1700s...
Hall is now converted as a coffee house and art gallery, while retaining its original frontage.
Penarth's other distinctive art deco structure was the new General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
that was built in Albert Road in 1936. Closed in the 1980s the building is Grade II listed and now converted as an ethnic restaurant, The rear yard, once used to stable horses for the horse-drawn Penarth to Cardiff bus service, is still used by the Post Office for mail and parcel sorting.
Penarth Pier
Because of the growing popularity of Penarth beach and the need for better communications with Cardiff, in 1856 the Cardiff Steam and Navigation Company started a regular ferry service between Cardiff and Penarth. This continued until 1903. Boats were loaded and unloaded at Penarth using a landing stage on wheels which was hauled up the beach.In the 1880s an attempt was made to construct a permanent pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
. This was possibly because of the need to find a safer way to unload boats. However, construction ground to a halt at an early stage when the London contractors went into liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
.
The Penarth Pier Company was formed to make a second attempt at building a permanent pier. The foundations were laid in 1894 and the pier successfully opened in 1895. It was 750 feet long. Between 1907 and 1931 there was a small 'Concert Party theatre' at the far end of the pier until it was destroyed by fire. The current ballroom and pavilion was built after this event.
In 1947 the 7,130 ton steamship the SS Port Royal Park, under the flag of the Tavistock Shipping Company collided with the pier causing severe damage that was not repaired for several years
In August 1966 a 600-ton pleasure steamer, Bristol Queen, hit the pier causing an estimated £25,000 damage.
In March 2011 planning permission was granted for a £3.9 million revamp of the pier to re-open the pavilion as a major tourist attraction. The new plans included a cinema and observatory.
Early changes
With its busy commercial docks and the proximity to Cardiff DocksCardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
and steelworks it is not surprising that Penarth became a target for Nazi German bombing raids during the Second World War and life in the town during those years is difficult to imagine these days. Road signs were taken down, street lights and house windows were blacked out
Blackout (wartime)
A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...
at night, cars travelled with deflector shields over the headlamps reducing them to a dim glimmer. Road accidents at night were frequent.
Penarth had its own Home Guard detachment manned by those who were too old or unsuited for military service. Volunteers also became Air Raid Wardens
Air Raid Precautions
Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. It was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber...
(ARPs) or joined the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
. Even children aged between 14 and 18 were recruited as Fire Guard Messengers, equipped with steel helmets and used as runners, carrying messages through the night raids between the ARPs and the fire service units.
Scrap metals were needed to build tanks and aircraft so hundreds of Penarth homes lost their traditional Victorian iron railings from the front gardens during the war years. Most were never replaced and the ornamental architecture and appearance of the Lower Penarth roads altered almost overnight. Even All Saints' Church in Victoria Square lost its magnificently ornate gates and the railing fence that surrounded the square's green, never to be replaced. Between petrol rationing and limited public transport the streets and roads were almost empty of vehicles, with many children cycling or even walking as far as Cardiff daily to attend school. Schools were full to bursting point, the school rolls bolstered by children evacuated
Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II
Evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to save the population of urban or military areas in the United Kingdom from aerial bombing of cities and military targets such as docks. Civilians, particularly children, were moved to areas thought to be less at risk....
from places like London and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. Most schoolmasters were called up for military service, replaced by previously rare women teachers.
Rationing
Strict wartime food rationing meant that food had to be found wherever possible. The town’s parks, recreation grounds, open spaces and front gardens of houses were dug up and planted with vegetables. One Penarth resident recalls that behind Westwood College Private Boarding School, in the building that now houses Penarth Conservative Club, there was a large kitchen garden containing many vegetables and blackcurrant bushes. Children could harvest the fruit and vegetables free of charge as long as they provided the school with half of the pickings. The seafront and pier were packed daily with people trying to improve their diet by landing fresh fish.There was a non profit 'British Restaurant
British Restaurant
British Restaurants were communal kitchens created during the Second World War to ensure communities and people who had run out of rationing coupons were still able to eat....
' at the top end of the Windsor Arcade in the town centre and run by the urban district council, where families made homeless by the bombing or any occasional visitor could buy a simple but wholesome three course meal for ninepence (approx 4p in today's money, but £2.50 when adjusted for inflation to 2009).
Military developments
Many Penarth Yacht Club members volunteered for the Dunkirk evacuation and sailed their yachts and motor boats around the coast and across the English ChannelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
to France. Several never returned, having been killed by mines and enemy action during the many crossings.
In 1941 the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
, which seems almost deserted these days, was packed solid with almost coast to coast merchant shipping
Ship transport
Ship transport is watercraft carrying people or goods . Sea transport has been the largest carrier of freight throughout recorded history. Although the importance of sea travel for passengers has decreased due to aviation, it is effective for short trips and pleasure cruises...
. Freighters were constantly arriving, unloading or departing from the docks. Atlantic convoys made up with hundreds of vessels regularly formed up in the area between Cardiff, Barry Island
Barry Island
Barry Island may refer to:*Barry Island , Wales*Barry Island , Antarctica...
and Flat Holm
Flat Holm
Flat Holm is a limestone island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, but in the City and County of Cardiff. It includes the most southerly point of Wales....
before setting off for America, or de-grouping on their return. Royal Naval warships based in the channel ports were constantly cruising up and down searching for enemy submarines. Penarth was filled with anti-aircraft batteries, searchlight batteries and the sky overhead was full of barrage balloons and patrolling aircraft. The defending Spitfires
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
and Hurricanes
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
were based at RAF Fairwood Common
RAF Fairwood Common
RAF Fairwood Common was a World War II aerodrome located at Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula to the west of Swansea. It is now the location of Swansea Airport.-History:...
in Swansea, RAF Colerne
RAF Colerne
RAF Colerne now known as Colerne Airfield or AEF Colerne is a former World War II RAF Fighter Command and Bomber Command airfield located on the outskirts of the village of Colerne, Wiltshire...
, RAF Filton
RAF Filton
RAF Filton was a World War II, Royal Air Force Sector Airfield situated at Filton Aerodrome about 5 miles north of the city centre of Bristol, England....
, RAF Pembrey
RAF Pembrey
RAF Pembrey was a Royal Air Force station, home to 233 Operational Conversion Unit which flew de Havilland Vampires and Hawker Hunters until its closure in 1957. Site of one of only five Dome Trainer Buildings still existing in the UK...
and RAF Pengam Moors
RAF Pengam Moors
RAF Pengam Moors was a Royal Air Force station and maintenance unit , located on the Pengam Moors area of Tremorfa, 2 miles south east of Cardiff city centre in Wales from June 1938 to January 1946....
(formerly Cardiff Municipal Airport in Cardiff Bay). The Glamorganshire Golf Club in Lower Penarth was the site of an experimental rocket battery that regularly scared residents during practice firings. Lavernock Point was the location of Lavernock Fort
Lavernock Battery
Lavernock Battery was built at Lavernock Point, Wales on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission.It was the most northerly of a chain of defences across the Bristol Channel, protecting the access to Bristol and Cardiff...
, with its heavy naval guns, anti aircraft and searchlight batteries and the town’s Royal Observer Corps observation post, that sounded the air raid sirens nightly in the town. Gunner Neil Reid, a 17 year old gunner in 1940 with the Royal Artillery at the Lavernock Fort Battery, would later be posted to the Far East where he was captured by the Japanese. Reid was a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in Nagasaki at the time that the second atomic bomb was dropped
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
just four miles (6.4 km) from where he was working on a beach. He survived the blast and told his story to the BBC in 2004.
At the outbreak of the war over 350 soldiers of the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
were stationed on Flat Holm, which was armed with four 4.5 inch guns and associated searchlight
Searchlight
A searchlight is an apparatus that combines a bright light source with some form of curved reflector or other optics to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direction, usually constructed so that it can be swiveled about.-Military use:The Royal Navy used...
s to be used for anti-aircraft and close defence, together with two 40 millimetres (1.6 in) Bofors guns. A GL (Gun Laying) MkII radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
station was also placed in the centre of the island. The structures formed part of the Fixed Defences, Severn scheme and protected the Atlantic shipping convoy de-grouping zones. In 1943 there was a Battalion of American Seabees, the US Construction Corps
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...
, living on a merchant vessel tied up in Penarth docks, while they built a large number of Quonset hut
Quonset hut
A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semicircular cross section. The design was based on the Nissen hut developed by the British during World War I...
s for the rapid temporary expansions of Llandough Hospital and Sully Hospital.
Air raids
The air raids started in 1941 and continued almost constantly for the next four years. The LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bomber pilots flew up the Bristol Channel, following the River Severn as a guide to the industrial Midlands. Many raids however were specifically targeted at Cardiff
Cardiff Blitz
The Cardiff Blitz refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II.At the time, Cardiff Docks was the biggest coal port in the world and, for a few years before World War I, it handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool....
and Penarth. At the time it was felt by residents that the town was bombed more thoroughly than the Docks, which escaped fairly lightly by comparison. Local resident during the war, Michael Page, a schoolboy at the time remembers:
The sky would be full of noise, the crash of anti aircraft gunfire, the wooshing roar of rockets from the Penarth golf course, the whistle of falling bombs followed by rumbling explosions, the clattering rain of incendiaries, the smashing of broken glass, the fire-engine bells, lights in the sky, smoke and flames and the smell of burning. For a youngster, it was all rather exciting and always disappointing that we should be led away to some dark place of shelter, just as things were getting interesting.
I served as a gun layer in Lower Penarth (Lavernock Fort) back in 1944 as part of the defence forces for the town, living it up in some Nissen huts a few hundred yards below the gun sites. The term 'gun layer' was a bit of a misnomer as in truth I was part of a close-knit team of radar operators who tracked enemy aircraft and held them in the radar beam till our radar-controlled guns could be brought to bear upon the incoming aircraft. Our OC was a Major Gover and we became known as 'Gover's Ladies'. I have lots of memories of the posting there. In those days it was frowned upon for women to do a man's job but eventually common sense prevailed and we became an accepted and valuable asset to the defence force.
One night in 1942 All Saints' Church was hit by a stick of incendiary bombs
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
and was totally gutted by fire with only the outer walls left standing. The church was rebuilt after the war and reopened in 1955. On the same night a house on the corner of the lane near Cwrt-y-Vil Road, opposite All Saints' Church, was hit by a massive bomb. The house was badly damaged and collapsed two weeks later but was never rebuilt. Albert Road School was also hit by a stick of incendiaries and badly damaged by fire, although it was quickly patched up and in use again within the week. A man living in Archer Road wondered why the morning was still so dark when he drew back his bedroom curtains. His window was being obstructed by a large landmine suspended from a parachute that had snagged his chimney. St Paul's Methodist Church overlooking the docks was totally destroyed by bombs and after rebuilding is today used as a boxing gymnasium. Dozens of ordinary homes were struck by bombs, sometimes whole terraces, including houses in Salop Street, Arcot Street, Albert Road and Queens Road.
Operation Overlord
In 1944 Penarth dock and the dock beach as far as the Penarth Headland was full of invasion barges that departed for the "Operation Overlord" D-Day landingsOperation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
. Many of the Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships
Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships
Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship was an Admiralty Trade Division program established in June, 1939, to arm 5,500 British merchant ships with an adequate defence against enemy submarines and aircraft...
were loaded with American Sherman tanks
M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
and their US Army crews that had been billeted in Penarth after training, housed in a vast village of Quonset or Nissen huts that had been built in 'Neale's Wood', now the Northcliffe Estate next to the present-day Headlands Nursing Home.
British Commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
units trained on the Penarth cliffs in preparation for scaling the Normandy cliff faces. Several of the invasion barges were not used and lay rotting on the dock beach well into the 1950s used as playthings by local children.
Aftermath
Thousands of incendiary and explosive bombs were dropped on Penarth during the war and as late as the 1970s unexploded devicesUnexploded ordnance
Unexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.While "UXO" is widely and informally used, munitions and explosives of...
were still being found in the silt and sand on the beaches between Penarth and Cardiff. It is highly likely that there are still many out there buried deep in the mud.
The town today
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
trade from Penarth docks eventually petered out and the docks closed in 1936, only reopening for commercial and military use during World War II. From the 1950s and up until 1965 the basins were utilised by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
to mothball
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
dozens of destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s and frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s from the no longer needed wartime fleet of warships, until they were sold to foreign nations or broken up. By 1967, after barely a hundred years of commercial operations, the docks lay unused and derelict, and much of it was used for landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
. The largest basin, No 2 dock at the Cogan end, is now completely filled in, grassed over and surrounded by roadways.
In 1987 the new Penarth Marina
Penarth Marina
Penarth Marina is situated in the sheltered waters of Cardiff Bay, near Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.Penarth Marina is built around the basin of the historic Penarth Docks and has 350 berths....
village opened on the disused docks site. The No 1 dock and outer basin were re-excavated or dredged out to provide some 350 yacht berths, surrounded by extensive modern waterside homes and several marine engineering yards. The original dock office and Excise House is now in use as a popular restaurant, with only the Grade II listed Marine Hotel remaining derelict and boarded up awaiting suitable redevelopment plans. The Penarth Marina development was one of the key catalysts to the similar later redevelopment of the Cardiff Bay area.
Penarth is one of the most affluent areas in the Vale of Glamorgan and property prices continue to remain high. Marine Parade or 'Millionaires' row', with its grand, substantial Victorian houses or modern designer villas with views across the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
, is considered to be the finest street in Penarth, although several larger properties are now split as apartments or adapted as residential care homes
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
. Houses in Penarth vary from imposing three storey red brick Victorian houses found on both Plymouth and Westbourne Roads to compact stone terraces in Cogan and upper Penarth. Many of the Plymouth Road, Westbourne Road, Victoria Road and Archer Road houses, originally large family homes with servants' quarters on the top floors, have now been adapted for multi-occupancy as flats and apartments. Penarth Marina
Penarth Marina
Penarth Marina is situated in the sheltered waters of Cardiff Bay, near Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.Penarth Marina is built around the basin of the historic Penarth Docks and has 350 berths....
in direct contrast features trendy modern townhouse
Townhouse
A townhouse is the term historically used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in many other countries to describe a residence of a peer or member of the aristocracy in the capital or major city. Most such figures owned one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year...
s, apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
s and designer penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
s.
In 1930 the General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
(GPO), later British Telecom (BT), had built its main telephone engineers' college on the corner of Forrest Road and Westbourne Road where engineers from all over the UK attended basic and advanced residential courses lasting up to eight weeks. The college closed in the 1980s and stood empty for many years before being demolished for a new development of residential housing.
In 1965 the combined Cardiff Universities built the multi-storey International House on Plymouth Road near the end of Cliff Parade to provide Halls of Residence for up to 300 overseas students attending University College, Cardiff and the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Abandoned in the late 1990s, after just 30 years in its original use, International House is now converted as a specialist residential care home.
In March 2008 several scenes for the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "The Stolen Earth
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
" were filmed in and around Penarth streets. A lot of the Sarah Jane Adventures episodes were filmed in Penarth.
Town Council
Penarth is split into four electoral wards. Plymouth, Stanwell, Cornerswell and St. Augustines. The first three are named after the key spine roads, whilst the latter is named after the landmark church situate on Penarth Head. Plymouth ward and Stanwell ward are traditional locations for professional families staking a claim in Penarth's Stanwell School. Cornerswell ward contains both the Cogan community and the Poet's Estate where residents live on roads named after WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
, Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
and Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
. The St Augustine's ward does not serve a natural 'community' but extends from the Marina development, over the Penarth Head area through the town centre and old Penarth as far as the junction of Stanwell and Cornerswell Roads. The wards of Cornerswell, Plymouth and St Augustine's are represented by Conservatives, Stanwell ward is represented by the Labour Party.
The "Father" of the Town Council, (the longest serving of the 16 councillors representing the town), and Deputy Leader of the Council is Co. Cllr. Anthony M. Ernest of the Plymouth Ward.
Cllr Gwyn Roberts of the Labour Party is the sole party member representing St Augustine's ward in the 5 member ward. The ward of Stanwell is represented by Penarth Fairtrade Forum Chairperson Mark Wilson and Janice Birch of the Labour Party who is the longest continously serving Penarth councillor and Cllr John Ferris of the Conservatives.
The current Mayor of Penarth is a Conservative Councillor who represents Plymouth Ward, Cllr Anthony Earnest.
Vale of Glamorgan Council
Penarth is made up of four electoral wards. St Augustine's ward is represented by Conservative Cllrs Sophie Williams and Paul Church. For Plymouth Ward, they are Conservative Cllrs Maureen Kelly-Owen and Cllr Clive Williams. For Cornerswell Ward it is Conservative Cllrs Dorothy Turner and John Fraser. Cllrs Mark Wilson and Janice Birch are the two Labour Party councillors representing the Stanwell Ward.Westminster
Cardiff South and Penarth is currently represented by Alun MichaelAlun Michael
Alun Edward Michael is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth since 1987. He was formerly First Minister of Wales and leader of the Welsh Labour Party from 1999 to 2000.-Education:Michael was born at Bryngwran Anglesey, son of...
JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
a member of the Labour & Co-operative Party (UK). He has been member of parliament since 1987, replacing Jim Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
.
Assembly for Wales
Vaughan GethingVaughan Gething
Vaughan Gething AM is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician, who has represented the constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth since the National Assembly for Wales election of 2011.-Early life:...
represents Cardiff South and Penarth in the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
(Labour & Co-operative Party), succeeding Lorraine Barrett
Lorraine Barrett
Lorraine Barrett is a former Welsh Labour & Co-operative Member of the National Assembly for Wales for Cardiff South and Penarth and an Assembly Commissioner since 2007...
.
There are four Regional Assembly Members also representing the area: David Melding AM (Conservative), Andrew RT Davies AM (Conservative), Leanne Wood AM (Plaid) and Eluned Parrot (Liberal Democrats).
European parliament
The four MEPs for the area are Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru), John BuftonJohn Bufton
John Bufton , is a UKIP Member of the European Parliament for Wales.-Early life:He was educated at Elan Village Primary School and Llandrindod Wells High School, and joined the family haulage business before embarking on a career managing a residential care home for the elderly with the local...
(UKIP), Kay Swinburne
Kay Swinburne
Jacqueline Kay Swinburne is a Welsh politician. She is a Conservative Member of the European Parliament for Wales.-Background:...
(Conservative) and Derek Vaughan
Derek Vaughan
Derek Vaughan was elected as Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for Wales in the 2009 European Parliament election.-Biography:Vaughan was born in Aberfan and studied politics and history at Swansea University. He has served as a full time trades union official, and is a member of the...
(Labour).
Geography
Sea shore
Penarth lies 5.2 miles (8.4 km) south west of Cardiff by road and has a road infrastructure that has been much improved in recent years, together with a traditional rail link. The Cardiff Bay BarrageCardiff Bay Barrage
The Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s.-History:...
between Penarth Head and Grangetown was completed in 1999 and came into operation shortly afterwards. The impounding of the River Taff
River Taff
The River Taff is a large river in Wales. It rises as two rivers in the Brecon Beacons — the Taf Fechan and the Taf Fawr — before joining to form the Taff north of Merthyr Tydfil...
and River Ely
River Ely
The River Ely is a river in South Wales flowing generally south east, from Tonyrefail to the capital city of Cardiff.-Course of the river:...
has created 2 km² or 202.35 ha (500 acre) of freshwater lake in the Cardiff Bay. The promised pedestrian and cyclist short cut to Cardiff across the barrage finally opened to the public on Friday 27 June 2008, after numerous postponements.
An imaginary line drawn between Lavernock Point
Lavernock
Lavernock is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel.- Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea :...
, just two miles (3 km) south west of Penarth and Sand Point, Somerset
Sand Point, Somerset
Sand Point in Somerset is the peninsula stretching out from Middle Hope, which lies to the north of the village of Kewstoke, and the stretch of coastline called Sand Bay. It is owned by the National Trust and is a popular place for walking...
marks the lower limit of the Severn Estuary
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary is the estuary of the River Severn, the longest river in Great Britain. Its high tidal range means it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy.-Geography:...
and the start of the Bristol Channel, hence Penarth is technically deemed to be in the Severn Estuary and not on the Bristol Channel. Because of the extreme tidal range there are very strong currents or rips close inshore, with speeds that exceed 7 knots (8mph), for several hours at each tide. The rise and fall of the tides at Penarth are the second highest recorded anywhere in the world and on occasions when certain moon phases coincide with the spring and autumn equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
es the sea level can overspill the esplanade wall and flood the roadway, particularly if in conjunction with a high wind.
Soils
The general underlying sub-strata below the land and fields surrounding Penarth is of a limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
that was laid down under a prehistoric warm sea and subsequently ground down by ice age glaciers
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
approximately 18,000 years ago. This produced the rich, brown and dry soil that provided an ideal growing medium for cereal crops during the medieval farming history of the area. The abundance of limestone was exploited for nearly a hundred years at the Cosmeston quarry that fed the Snocem cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
factory in Lower Penarth until it closed down in 1970 and the quarry was converted into Cosmeston Lake at the new country park.
Cliffs
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s that have a distinctive strata rock formation that is world known and referred to as the Penarth Group of rocks or Penarth coeval strata wherever it appears in Britain. The Penarth cliffs are made of interspersed layers of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
, both of which are dry and crumbly rocks. The Penarth cliffs contain the largest known outcrop of naturally occurring Pink Alabaster anywhere in the world but, although decorative and highly prized by local gardeners to crown their rockeries, it is considered to be much inferior to the harder and hand-carvable whiter alabasters found elsewhere.
The main problem associated with the dry and crumbly nature of the limestone and alabaster rocks, that make up the cliffs that border Penarth, is the continuing and relentless erosion by the sea. Rockfalls are frequent and walkers using the beach should not walk too close to the base of the cliffs. Until a few years ago, a rusty sign could be seen where the town beach merged into the base of the cliff, with this trilingual message:
"Caution: Beware of stones falling from the cliff. Beware of being caught by the high tides.
Rhybudd: Gochelwch y ceryg yn syrthio or dybin uwchben ar perygl o fod ar y traeth pan y mae y llanw yn dod i mewn.
Avis: Attention à la marée montante! Attention aux debris de roc oui (sic = "qui") se detachent des falaises".
The cliff has retreated many tens of metres even in living memory, with the area around Penarth Head remaining most at threat and several structures once on the clifftop already having been smashed on the beach below. A reinforced concrete and iron staircase that once led from Penarth Head to the beach, built by the war department just before the First World War, was already destroyed by advancing erosion as long ago as the early 1950s.
Demography
The latest demographic figures date from the United Kingdom Census 2001United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
. They are now nine years out of date and this should be taken into account. The 2001 data shows:
- Population: 23,245
- Male: 11,031
- Female: 12,214
- Average age: 42
- Retired: 5,904
- Immigrants: 2,814
- Degree educated 7,457
- Living in households: 22,805
- Living in communal establishments: 440
- Students away from home: 339
Regeneration of the seafront and town centre
Despite town centre improvements, since the 1980s Penarth seafront has seen many Victorian hotels and houses demolished in favour of modern apartment blocks. The theatre and bars on the town's pier were allowed to fall into neglect and disrepair, although the pier itself remains open to the public.In August 2008 plans for the development of the pier's derelict pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
were made public. The two million pound Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
-funded scheme was planned to include a 98-seat cinema and theatre, a cafe and gallery, bar and a large multi-purpose area that will retain the Victorian vaulted ceiling. The Vale of Glamorgan council allocated a starter contribution of £800,000 to enable the initial Lottery Fund application to proceed, an application that was declined due to shortage of available funds. In the autumn of 2008 a Penarth Town Centre Task and Finish Group was formed to look for a positive way ahead for the town. In November 2009 the National Lottery Heritage Fund granted a £99,000 interim award to permit further planning to proceed.
Landmarks and attractions
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park has been a popular attraction, throughout the years since it was developed in 1970. Apart from the lake and a wide range of water fowl there are acres of pleasant walks in woodlands and on the heath.Cosmeston Medieval Village
Cosmeston Medieval Village
Cosmeston Medieval Village is a "living history" medieval village near Lavernock in the Vale of Glamorgan not far from Penarth and Cardiff in south Wales...
is open daily and features historical re-enactments during the summer weekends and on bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
s. The reconstruction of the historical village has been described as the best of its kind in Britain.
Turner House Art Gallery is located at the top end of Plymouth Road and is the current exhibition space for Ffotogallery
Ffotogallery
Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography in Wales. It was established in 1978 and it currently is based in two locations. Main offices and many facilities are located in Chapter in the city of Cardiff, while its gallery is located in the Grade I listed Turner House in Penarth...
the national photography development agency for Wales. It features regular exhibitions of photography, video and new media art. The gallery was opened in 1888 by local resident, James Pyke Thompson
James Pyke Thompson
James Pyke Thompson was an English corn merchant who is best known for his philanthropic work towards the people of Cardiff and Penarth in South Wales...
, originally to house his personal art collection. There is also a small art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
located at the Washington Buildings, a tastefully converted 1930s art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
cinema. Although the back of the Washington Cinema which used to be a Hyper-value store is now a Tesco Express, with a possibility that Subway
Subway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
and Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc. is an international pizza delivery corporation headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States and has over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in 60 countries and all 50 U.S....
may join them.
Alexandra Gardens is the town's main Victorian Park, opened in 1902, with colourful flowerbeds, leafy glades, an ornamental fishpond, ornate bandstand and the town's Cenotaph memorial to the fallen of two world wars. The park leads from the town down to the seafront, almost connecting up with the Windsor Gardens park that runs above and parallel to the esplanade.
The Paget Rooms hosts dances, occasional pop concerts and plays by local dramatic societies. The 1970s superstar Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
played one of his final UK concerts at the Paget Rooms before moving to America. Welsh band Man
Man (band)
Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had...
once recorded a live album at the Paget Rooms, using the famous Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
mobile studio that also recorded The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and today pristine copies of the limited edition vinyl pressing, named (incorrectly) , now change hands for substantial sums of money.
The beach front promenade remains a popular draw for visitors and tourists with its Victorian Italian Garden that displays many unusual palm trees and exotic plants. The surviving element of the original Victorian pier is a summer staging point for the various pleasure steamers, that ply their trade from time to time in the Bristol Channel and the pier is used as a popular winter sea fishing venue. There is also the historic Penarth Yacht Club, built in 1883, stood next to the new RNLI lifeboat station
Penarth Lifeboat Station
Penarth Lifeboat Station is located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales) , Wales 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay.The first Penarth lifeboat started operations ...
and its associated shop, together with a wide range of popular cafes and restaurants available on the seafront. The seafront remains uncommercialised with none of the amusement arcade
Video arcade
An amusement arcade or video arcade is a venue where people play arcade games such as video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers , or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables...
s that can be found at other traditional Victorian holiday resort frontages. The town's swimming pool and baths built in the late 19th century was closed in the 1980s and, after a short reincarnation as a bar and bistro, has recently been tastefully converted into luxury flats while retaining its Victorian exterior.
The clifftop walks to the bays of Lavernock, St Mary's Well and Swanbridge
Sully Island
Sully Island is a small tidal island at the hamlet of Swanbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, four hundred and fifty metres off the northern coast of the Bristol Channel, midway between the towns of Penarth and Barry and 7 miles south of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
with their beaches and the historic hut where Marconi first transmitted radio messages over open sea
Lavernock
Lavernock is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel.- Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea :...
remain popular with residents and visitors alike. The old trackbed of the railway that once connected Penarth to Cadoxton
Cadoxton, Vale of Glamorgan
Cadoxton is a district of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Cadoxton was once originally its own village, separate from Barry. It grew up around Saint Cadoc's parish church, which survives.The area is served by Cadoxton railway station- History :...
and Barry Island
Barry Island
Barry Island may refer to:*Barry Island , Wales*Barry Island , Antarctica...
and was closed by the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
is now a rural greenway and cycle track from the Archer Road rail bridge as far as the Fort Road bridge in Lavernock. The remaining main section of the Lavernock Fort
Lavernock Battery
Lavernock Battery was built at Lavernock Point, Wales on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission.It was the most northerly of a chain of defences across the Bristol Channel, protecting the access to Bristol and Cardiff...
gun battery has been listed as an Ancient Monument
Ancient monument
An ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...
. The Lavernock Point Nature Reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales.
The town has mounted the two week long Penarth Holiday Festival each July since 1966 that features special events and celebrations all over the town. These have included pop concerts, yacht regattas and power boat races, donkey derbies, parades, fairs and fetes in the parks, tea dances, stage shows, art exhibitions and spectacular firework displays. In 1970 the festival was closed with an air display by the Red Arrows
Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Scampton, but due to move to RAF Waddington in 2011...
above the clifftops and sea front.
Secondary schools
St Cyres Comprehensive SchoolSt Cyres Comprehensive School
St Cyres School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
, formerly St Cyres Secondary Modern School has employed a keen focus on its Welsh Baccalaureate programme, where it has led the way in delivering this new qualification, associated to the International Baccalaureate programme. Currently spread over two sites with years seven to nine located in both Penarth and nearby Dinas Powys, and years ten to thirteen on just Penarth, the bigger of the two sites. St Cyres had hoped to see building work completed in 2011 on its brand new campus that will see all of its 1,479 pupils together on a single site, but there are continuing delays in provision of capital funds. The main feeders schools for St Cyres are Llandough Primary, Fairfield County Primary, Cogan Primary and all the primary schools in Dinas Powys. In the autumn of 2008 St Cyres became the first fairtrade secondary school in Penarth.
Stanwell School
Stanwell School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales for children aged between eleven and eighteen...
, formerly Penarth County Grammar School, is a co-educational comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
for 11-18 year olds. The school has been subject to a substantial investment of several million pounds in new buildings, facilities and equipment in the last decade. Specialist teaching accommodation has been provided for Science (featuring eleven modern laboratories), drama, music, media studies, P.E. (including sports halls), Information Technology, Art and Design Technology. The school currently has approximately 1,600 pupils including a thriving sixth form. The main feeder schools for Stanwell are Albert Road, Victoria , Evenlode and Sully Primary School.
Westbourne School
Westbourne House School Penarth
Westbourne School is a small coeducational independent day school, nursery and prep school for children between the ages of 3 and 18 located in the holiday resort town of Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales 5.2 miles south west from the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.Traditionally the school...
is a small coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al independent day school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
, nursery
Nursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
and prep school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
for children between the ages of 3 and 18 located on the corner of Stanwell Road and Hickman Road. There are currently 162 pupils on roll. The school is housed within two buildings, approximately half a mile apart. The first houses the nursery and infants, the other the prep school and senior school. With 24 permanent staff and 2 teaching assistants the class sizes remain small, varying from a maximum of 17 down to as low as 9 in some subjects. Westbourne School opened its new 6th form in the Autumn term of 2008 and major building works are still currently in progress. The school introduced the speciality of the Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate Organisation
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...
. The academic results are consistently excellent with 100% passes at GCSEs in 2007 and Westbourne School is nationally recognised as a high achieving school. The school is now owned by the Montague Place Group of Independent Schools.
Junior and nursery provision
Primary schools include Cogan County Primary, Ysgol Pen-y-garth (Welsh medium), St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary and Nursery School, Fairfield County PrimaryFairfield Primary School Penarth
Fairfield Primary School is an English medium primary school for children aged 4–11, located in the suburbs of Penarth, Wales.-History:Fairfield Primary School first opened on 13 April 1953, and was officially opened by County Alderman, R.A...
, Victoria Primary, Albert Road Primary, Evenlode Primary and Llandough Primary School.
Religious sites
Local church sites are:- St Augustine's Church is just off Church Place on Penarth Headland. The Penarth parish churchParish churchA parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Saint Augustine stands on the headland site of a much earlier church probably dating from 1240. The original church was demolished in 1865 and the new much larger church built in 1866 at a cost of £10,000, financed by the Countess of Plymouth. It was designed by the famous Victorian architect William ButterfieldWilliam ButterfieldWilliam Butterfield was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement . He is noted for his use of polychromy-Biography:...
and it is described as one of his best polychromaticPolychromaticThe term polychromatic means having several colours.It is used to describe light that exhibits more than one color. In a technical respect, this can also mean that it contains radiation of more than one wavelength. The study of polychromatics is particularly useful in the production of diffraction...
churches. The interior uses a mixture of coloured bricks and stone in yellow, pink, red, black and white. Because the distinctive tower of the old church it had appeared on navigational charts. At the request of the AdmiraltyAdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
a similar saddle-back tower was kept in the new design. The new tower was 90 feet high, much larger than the old church. The churchyard cross is medieval and dates from the original church, but is much weathered and most of the detailed decoration has vanished.
- St Peter's Church also known as Old Cogan Church Church in WalesChurch in WalesThe Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
is located off Sully Road and may have originally been a wooden structure built as early as 800. "The present structure is one of the earliest ecclesiastical buildings surviving in the Vale of Glamorgan and the Diocese of Llandaff. There is a reference to it in 1180 so it was probably constructed just before that of thin lias limestone slabs, a local stone, in a herringbone pattern more typical of earlier Saxon times."
- All Saints Church in Wales is located in Victoria Square. Built by the Earl of Plymouth in 1892, on a greenfield site previously used as the town's cricket and rugby field and donated by wealthy Penarth butcher David Cornwall, the church is now surrounded by a square of later housing although the original grassed area has been retained and landscaped with trees. Destroyed by a German air raid in 1943, the church was rebuilt and reopened in 1955.
- St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church is on Wordsworth Avenue. The church relocated from an earlier premises in the triangle opposite the old Royal Hotel, where Arcot Street meets Queens Road. The original church and school was built by Bishop Hedley in 1873.
- Trinity Methodist Church is in Woodland Place. The present church, built 1901 in a Gothic style, has the only spire left in the town and was designed by Henry Budgen. The congregation had met since 1890 in a corrugated iron building on the site known as 'Playter's Church' built in the 1880s. In 1896 a schoolroom had been built alongside the iron church. Trinity was damaged several times by bombing during World War II, and its stained glass windows were removed for safe keeping to the Coed Ely Coal Pit, Gilfach GochGilfach GochGilfach Goch is a small former coal mining village in Rhondda Cynon Taff, south Wales, near the larger community of Tonyrefail in the Ogmore Valley....
. In 1970 a day centre for the elderly was established and in 1986 a radical remodelling of the original school accommodation provided meeting rooms, a thriving youth club, kitchens and toilets.
- Immanuel Church Penarth (ICP) meets in the Upper Hall of Trinity Methodist Church in Woodland Place and was established in 2002.
- Albert Road Methodist Church is at Albert Road and Albert Crescent.
- Tabernacle BaptistBaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Chapel is in Plassey Street - Hebron Church is on Pill Street, Cogan
- The United Reformed ChurchUnited Reformed ChurchThe United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...
is on Elfed Avenue - The Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
Kingdom HallKingdom HallA Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii...
is on Plassey Street.
Sports and recreation
Penarth Cricket Club was founded in 1851 and is possibly the oldest cricket club in South Wales. It plays in the South Wales Premier League. They originally played their home matches at the site where the Masonic Hall now stands on Stanwell Road. The club have now played at their current site at The Athletic Ground on Lavernock Road since 1924 when the site was gifted to the town by the Earl of PlymouthRobert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth GBE, CB, PC , known as The Lord Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.-Background:...
and shares the facilities with Penarth Rugby Club, Penarth Hockey Club, and in recent years, Penarth Lacrosse Club. The cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
club operates 4 regular league sides on a Saturday. The first XI currently plays in the South Wales Premier League. A number of current and former players have played for Glamorgan CCC, and Wales MC, and there have been many players who have gained junior representative honours.
Penarth RFC
Penarth Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based since 1924 at The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.-Origins and early history:...
is based at The Athletic Ground, Lavernock Road, Penarth, where it played Wales' and the West Country's premier clubs until the creation of the Welsh League system in the early 1990s. It has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, and in season 2006-07 won promotion to Division 3 South-East of the Welsh National Leagues by finishing runner-up in Division 4 South-East. Penarth RFC used to host the world-famous Barbarians Football Club
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
each Easter Good Friday, until 1986. This fixture was the start of the "Baa-Baas" annual South Wales tour from the team’s spiritual home of Penarth, which also encompassed playing Cardiff
Cardiff RFC
Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, but soon relocated to Cardiff Arms Park where they have been based ever since...
on the Saturday, Swansea
Swansea RFC
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...
on Easter Monday and Newport on the Tuesday. On the Thursday before Good Friday, the Barbarian rugby squad would be allowed free use of the Glamorganshire Golf Club, when they would play a match amongst themselves using only two golf clubs. On Easter Sunday, the Golf Club held its annual tournament for club members for a trophy titled the Barbarian Cup. The grand (but now demolished) Esplanade Hotel, formerly located on the seafront at Penarth would host the gala party for the trip. Penarth has a second and more recent rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
club Old Penarthians RFC
Old Penarthians RFC
Old Penarthians Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Penarth, Wales. The Old Penarthians were formed out of an association set up on the 7th December 1923 by Penarth County School. The society formed was the Penarth County School Old Boys Association and it covered the games of...
, originally formed out of 'old boys' from Penarth County Grammar School, but no longer applying that restrictive membership criteria.
Penarth currently has two football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
clubs. The longest established is Cogan Coronation AFC, known locally as the 'Coro' that was founded in 1960, playing their home games at the Penarth Leisure Centre recreation fields. The senior team currently features in the South Wales F.A. Senior League 1st Division and their best season was 2000/2001 when they finished the year in second position. The club fielded eighteen teams at various age groups in the 2007/2008 season. Cogan Coronation players Mark Eley, Liam Beddard and goalkeeper Stewart Owadally have been selected to represent the Football Association of Wales on a number of occasions.
Penarth Town AFC was founded only a handful of years ago and currently plays in Division 2 of the Vale of Glamorgan Senior Football League.
The picturesque Glamorganshire Golf Club
Glamorganshire Golf Club
Glamorganshire Golf Club is located in Lower Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, 7.3 miles south west from the capital city of Cardiff and is one of the oldest golf clubs in Wales...
is located in Lower Penarth and is considered to be one of the finest golf courses in the Principality. The course was established in 1890 and, in 1898, the club was the testing ground of Dr Frank Stableford’s revolutionary new Stableford
Stableford
Stableford is a scoring system used in the sport of golf. Rather than counting the total number of strokes taken, as in stroke play, it involves scoring points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole...
golf scoring system still used all over the world today.
Penarth has two tennis clubs. Windsor Lawn Tennis Club is situated in Larkwood Avenue in a residential area. It has 7 hardcourts and a grass court area. Penarth Lawn Tennis Club in Rectory Road is the oldest tennis club in Wales (established 1884) and has 3 hard courts plus grass court area. Both clubs compete regularly in the Tennis Wales South Doubles Leagues and have junior representation in the National Junior Club League and Vale of Glamorgan Mini Tennis Club League.
Penarth has a Mens (established 1911) and Ladies (established 1896) Hockey Club. The Men's first team were promoted in both the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons to play in their highest ever league. The Men's first team play in North Division 1 of The Davis Wood Hockey League (2011/12) Both Ladies teams compete in the South Wales Premier 1 division (2011/12).
Cogan Leisure Centre is a modern leisure centre
Leisure centre
A leisure centre in the UK and Canada is a purpose built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people go to keep fit or relax through using the facilities.- Typical Facilities :...
sports venue that provides the town with a full range of sporting facilities including a leisure pool and extensive playing fields. The new Cardiff Sports Village is just under two miles (3 km) from the town centre.
Penarth Sea Cadets are located on Stanwell Crescent and offer children from the ages of 10-18 a wide variety of activities to keep them occupied all year round. These include sailing, canoeing, rowing, windsurfing, climbing, shooting, camping, seamanship, swimming, expeditions, engineering, cooking, powerboating, and many more.
Cardiff Morris perform traditional dances from Wales and England and feature several members from the town. They are the prime performers of Morris dances from the Nantgarw tradition
Nantgarw tradition
Nantgarw tradition is a style of Morris dancing from the South and Valleys regions of Wales, specifically the small village of Nantgarw. The style encompasses both handkerchief and stick dances. The dances call for eight dancers in four pairs...
. They meet and rehearse weekly throughout the year, alternating between The Anchor in Taffs Well and the Windsor Arms public house in Penarth. In recent years several younger members of both sexes have joined the traditional dance side who have performed all over the UK. Of particular interest are their renditions of genuine Welsh morris dance as collected by Margaretta Thomas in the village of Nantgarw in Taff Vale, the key dance being (The Snow Mare)
Penarth Amateur Boxing Club now meets in Station Road, after the closure of their club at St Pauls Church.
Penarth Bowls Club is located on Rectory Road at a bowling green built on what was once a deep limestone quarry.
South Wales Comedy Writers Society is based in Penarth.
Transport
Penarth railway stationPenarth railway station
Penarth railway station is the railway station serving the town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is the terminus of the Penarth branch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line 4¼ miles south of Cardiff Central.-The busy years:...
serves the town and is the terminus of the Penarth branch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line
Vale of Glamorgan Line
The Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Bridgend via Barry, Rhoose and Llantwit Major. There are also branch lines to Penarth and Barry Island. As its names suggests, the line runs through the Vale of Glamorgan....
from Cardiff. It is on an extension of the line originally built by the Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
in 1865 to serve the newly-created docks. All services on this line are operated by Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
as part of the Valley Lines
Valley Lines
Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes is the busy network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glamorgan and the South Wales Valleys....
portion of the National Rail
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
network. Dingle Road station
Dingle Road railway station
Dingle Road railway station is a railway station serving the town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. It is located on the Penarth branch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line 4 miles south of Cardiff Central towards Penarth....
is also close to the town centre. The Barry branch of the Vale of Glamorgan line passes through Cogan railway station
Cogan railway station
Cogan railway station is a railway station serving Cogan in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. It is located on the Vale of Glamorgan Line 2¾ miles south of Cardiff Central on the way to Barry Island and Bridgend....
, near Cogan Leisure Centre.
Penarth is served by Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. Its hub is Cardiff central bus station...
services from Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
City Centre, with some services continuing to Barry. Penarth falls into the Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
fare zone for Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus
Cardiff Bus is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. Its hub is Cardiff central bus station...
fares. Penarth is also served by First Group from Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
City Centre - Llandough
Llandough
Llandough is a village and southern suburb of Cardiff, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.- Location :...
which continues on to Barry.
Penarth is linked to west Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
and North Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
seaside resorts such as Minehead
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
, Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe
Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs.The parish stretches along the coast from 'The Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west...
and Lundy Island by the Paddle Steamer Waverley
PS Waverley
PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger carrying paddle steamer in the world. Built in 1946, she sailed from Craigendoran on the Firth of Clyde to Arrochar on Loch Long until 1973...
and , which have sailed from Penarth pier for over 60 years, continuing a steamer tradition that started when the pier was built. Devon's tourist trade in the late 19th century was expanded when the paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
s spent weekends cruising the Bristol Channel taking the South Wales tourists on cheap excursions from Penarth to places such as Lynmouth
Lynmouth
Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the north edge of Exmoor.The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers, in a gorge below Lynton, to which it is connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway....
, Ilfracombe, Bideford
Bideford
Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...
and Clovelly
Clovelly
Clovelly is a village in the Torridge district of Devon, England. It is a major tourist attraction, famous for its history and beauty, its extremely steep car-free cobbled main street, donkeys, and its location looking out over the Bristol Channel. Thick woods shelter it and render the climate so...
. The traditional summer daily service to Weston-super-mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
ceased in 1994 when Weston's Birnbeck Pier
Birnbeck Pier
Birnbeck Pier is a pier in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England. It is situated on the Bristol Channel approximately south west of Bristol...
was damaged in a storm, declared unsafe and closed to visitors.
The Cardiff Waterbus
Cardiff Waterbus
The Cardiff Waterbus celebrated its 10 year anniversary in April 2010. The fleet have clocked up 50,000 miles since operating on the routes, carrying an estimated 1,000,000 passengers.-External links:**...
operates a passenger water taxi service daily between 10.30 am and 5.00 pm, sailing from the Penarth end of the Bay Barrage and the Mermaid Quay on Cardiff's waterfront with seven crossings at hourly intervals. The first boat leaves Penarth at 10.30 am and the last boat back departs Cardiff at 5.00 pm.
The Pont y Werin
Pont y Werin
Pont y Werin is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge spanning the River Ely between Cardiff Bay and Penarth, Wales....
pedestrian and cycle bridge opened in July 2010, completing a 4.2 mile circular route between Cardiff Bay and Penarth.
Twin towns
Penarth is twinned with: Saint-Pol-de-LéonSaint-Pol-de-Léon
Saint-Pol-de-Léon is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretange in northwestern France, located on the coast.It is famous for its 13th-century cathedral on the site of the original founded by Saint Paul Aurelian in the 6th century. It has kept a unique architecture, such as Notre-Dame du...
Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, France The fortieth anniversary of the twinning charter takes place in 2010. In the 1970s and 1980s there were regular joint civic meetings and events often in conjunction with Penarth Holiday Fortnight, coupled with annual student exchange weeks between the two towns of up to fifty young people. Since 2003 when the French town's long serving mayor retired and there were changes to their committee no cultural exchanges or joint civic events appear to have taken place. In March 2010 it was announced that both towns were keen to reconnect and an appeal was made for local organisations and interested individuals to become actively involved.
The current chair of Penarth's twinning committee is Cllr Clive Williams MBE. In Penarth marina there is an address named after the twinned town, "Plas St. Pol De Leon".
Notable people
- See :Category:People from Penarth
People that have been born, lived in or associated with Penarth have included politicians such as Alun Michael
Alun Michael
Alun Edward Michael is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth since 1987. He was formerly First Minister of Wales and leader of the Welsh Labour Party from 1999 to 2000.-Education:Michael was born at Bryngwran Anglesey, son of...
MP and John Smith MP
John Smith (Welsh politician)
John William Patrick Smith is a Welsh Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for the Vale of Glamorgan from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...
, three recipients of the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
including Dambuster's
Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis...
leader Guy Gibson
Guy Gibson
Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF , was the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area...
and sports stars like Colin Jackson
Colin Jackson
Colin Ray Jackson CBE is a British former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. Over his career representing Great Britain and Wales he won an Olympic silver medal, became world champion three times, went undefeated at the European Championships for 12 years and...
and Dame "Tanni" Grey-Thompson
Tanni Grey-Thompson
Carys Davina "Tanni" Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, DBE is a Welsh athlete and TV presenter.Grey-Thompson was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. She is considered to be one of the most successful disabled athletes in the UK...
.
Penarth has also been fruitful in literature and the performing arts and included such people as novelist Eric Linklater, actor Colin McCormack
Colin McCormack
Colin McCormack was a professional Welsh actor who enjoyed considerable success in classical stage performances and television shows over a career approaching fifty years from his debut as a child actor in a BBC TV's Dixon of Dock Green episode, a show he returned to twenty years later when he...
, composer Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry
Joseph Parry , was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of Myfanwy and Aberystwyth used in Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika the National anthem of South Africa.The cottage at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, where Parry was born, is now open to the...
and chart star Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...
.
The French Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life, in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air...
famously stayed in Penarth in 1897,at which time he married his long-term companion Eugénie Lescouzec. Sisley creating several landscape paintings of the cliffs and coast during his visit.
See also
- Cogan
- Cosmeston Lakes Country Park
- Cosmeston Medieval VillageCosmeston Medieval VillageCosmeston Medieval Village is a "living history" medieval village near Lavernock in the Vale of Glamorgan not far from Penarth and Cardiff in south Wales...
- Glamorganshire Golf ClubGlamorganshire Golf ClubGlamorganshire Golf Club is located in Lower Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, 7.3 miles south west from the capital city of Cardiff and is one of the oldest golf clubs in Wales...
- LavernockLavernockLavernock is a hamlet in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, lying on the coast south of Cardiff between Penarth and Sully, and overlooking the Bristol Channel.- Marconi and the first radio messages across open sea :...
- List of people associated with Penarth
- Penarth Lifeboat StationPenarth Lifeboat StationPenarth Lifeboat Station is located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales) , Wales 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay.The first Penarth lifeboat started operations ...
- Penarth RFCPenarth RFCPenarth Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based since 1924 at The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.-Origins and early history:...
- St Cyres Comprehensive SchoolSt Cyres Comprehensive SchoolSt Cyres School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...