Volume Five - The Age of Decline & Crass Stupidity - Some fools had cunning plans! . . .

During the late 1960's, other features of the dock were destroyed. All remaining railways were removed and the mooring posts were uprooted and weighed-in. I can't recall when the Seamen's Mission was demolished or, the hydraulic house, or when the wartime Quonson huts were removed, but I'd suggest it was around the same time.

When the dock was extended in 1881 - 1883, additional railway lines were required for the four new coal tips on the southern side of the dock and the distance across the numerous lines and the danger to pedestrians from the sheer quantity of shunting movements meant that a pedestrian subway was built to allow safe access to and from the docks to a path which wound its way up the escarpment to Dock Road, now Paget Road, and a fine fish and chip shop!

The previous images show the dam in place and the remains of the former Penarth Dock Engineering works in the distance. The extent of the vegetation suggests that these images were taken some years later.

The area above the dam which is fenced off was the municipal waste site for Penarth and its environs. According to Environment Agency the first waste was received at this side of the dam in December 1971 and tipping was complete by December 1985. The buildings behind the engineering works are the former timber yard of Price Brothers Limited.

The second cunning plan was to develop the entire site including the construction of houses above the refuse site. One could imagine the effects of methane gas percolating upwards through the foundations of the houses and the devastating explosions that might ensue. The perpetrator of this master plan was the company AMEC Regeneration.