Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - A concise history of Penarth Dock and the coal trade . . .

	The navvies lodged above the docks predominately in an area notoriously named “Dagger Town” which was part of a suburb of Penarth known as "The Bowery". Ale houses, “baccy”, gambling, prostitution and opium dens were said to be common along with the occasional murder or two. Many Irish came fleeing the ravages and aftermath of the Great (Potato) Famine of 1845-1852.

One sea captain is reported to have commented ”the ravenous hordes made for handy ballast too.” However, in other areas of the country, gangs of navies were more commonly 30% Irish, 30% Scots, the remainder being of English, Welsh and of overseas origin hence I have some reservations regarding the number of Irish who were alleged to have been employed in the construction gangs.

Upon arrival the Irish contingent were often forced to disembark, not at the docks due to the dutiful port officials, but left to crawl into Cardiff or Penarth across the claggy tidal mud flats arriving in such a state that for years they were known as “mudflappers”. The voyage from Ireland took a few days at most when the winds were favourable but if becalmed, it may take a few weeks. Most were starving, completely exhausted and often disease ridden upon arrival and there are reports of drowning as the poor souls raced to beat the incoming tide ; the second highest rise and fall of tide in the world no less!

The Marquis of Bute apparently had no patience nor sympathy toward these immigrants, who arrived at Cardiff "with pestilence on their backs and famine in their stomachs". Cardiff's first “race riot” in 1848, followed the stabbing to death of a Welshman by an Irishman! I wonder if it was a drunken argument regarding the relative merits of the ales of Cardiff based brewers such as Mr. W. A. Brain or Mr. Hancock versus one Arthur Guinness of Dublin fame!

The population increased dramatically with the influx of the Irish and divisions over religion, culture and politics ensued. The predominant Welsh language became redundant almost overnight; diluted by the use of English. It was reported [1081] [499] that at Penarth by 1879, only 17% of the population was Welsh speaking!