The remains of the slipway of the Penarth Shipbuilding and Ship Repairing Company. Formed in 1878 it built and repaired ships on the patent slipway and on a gridiron which was situated to the right of the picture within the River Ely. The gridiron became a rather dated and inconvenient means of working ships hulls since the work pattern was entirely dependant upon the relative positions of the Earth and its Moon, the barometric air pressure in the nearby Atlantic Ocean, the time of day or night, the wind direction and its velocity; not really a mix of variables that the average production planning clerk could juggle with too well! The lower image has been colourised.

The image is taken from a unique and excellent book. 'We Remember it Well' is 'A patchwork of recollections from the Penarth Past oral history group stitched together by Joan Collins' in 1994. An excellent read indeed with some very personal recollections of Penarth residents who were there and made it all happen. [326]