Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Four - An Era of Change, Uncertainty, Depression & War - The Penarth Dock Engineering Company Limited . . .


The tug 'Windsor' in Barry No. 1 Dock in the 1960's with the whitewashed walls of the engineering works of Hodges partially obscured by the ventilator. The book 'Bristol Channel Shipping Remembered' by Chris Collard has many fine images and is a good read for the older amongst us as well as enlightening to the younger element. [304]


Another of those wonderful photos of the Barry Dock Offices, headquarters of the breakaway Barry railway and dock enterprise built in the late 1890's complete with the statue of David Davies looking down upon his empire. The ship is the 'Baltic Prosperity' On the left of the image are the works of Hodges engineering. The three upper windows were the offices where Julie worked for a time whilst the ground floor and upper floor at the rear of the offices were occupied by Fownes Forge which was also a member company of the Penarth Dock Engineering group. Another of the fine books on the subject of the shipping trade of the Bristol Channel is by Bernard McCall and is entitled 'Coasters of South Wales'. [187]


	above image : The Geest banana ship 'Geestport' swings in the Barry number 1 dock to enter her berth in number 3 dock during 1987. The original Geest terminal was at the end of number 2 dock just down from the Atlantic Mills during my days at the dock but it was moved to number 3 dock later. Just peeking out behind the bow is the Hodges engineering works and the Fownes Forge where I used to 'work'. The image is borrowed from an article written by Bernard McCall in the Sea Breezes magazine of April 1987 entitled ' Another Good Day at the Locks'. [290] image left : The Geest Line - Barry, the best place in Britain for Bananas. One of Barry's more unexpected claims to fame is as the sole unloading point for Geest bananas. Geest is Britain's biggest importer of bananas and every week a new consignment arrives from the Windward Islands in our purpose-built Geest Line ships. The bananas are always stored in controlled conditions of temperature and humidity to maintain their quality. From our new terminal in Barry docks, the bananas are delivered all over the country, arriving fresh and full of flavour. No wonder they're Britain's favourite. [000] [002]