Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Working the Ely Tidal Harbour . . .

The Victoria Wharf was lost to fire in 1888 and this detailed account of the event from the Cardiff Times [019] of 22nd September provides an insight to the scale of the trade undertaken there. I felt it was worth including in its entirety.

1888 - "Terrific Fire at Cardiff - The Victoria Wharf Destroyed - Probable Damage, £30,000. Shortly before seven o'clock on Monday evening the attention of the thousands of people in the streets of Cardiff was attracted to an ever-increasing red glare in the sky towards the south-west, and it was evident that a mighty fire must be raging in that direction. This proved to be the case, and vast throngs of sight-seers hurried away to the Victoria Wharf on the Ely river, where the staging and warehouses of the South Wales Public Wharfage, Warehouse, and Transit Co., are situated, to find that the whole group of buildings was being rapidly destroyed.

The crowds surged away toward Grangetown, and after gaining the Penarth Harbour road, and getting clear of the houses, the full extent of the fire could be seen. It seemed almost as if the whole of the buildings lining the Ely Harbour were enveloped in flames, such was the area of the conflagration and the height to which the vast tongues of fire leaped up. Dense clouds of smoke rose from the place, and as night came on the glare lit up the distant houses, the thick clumps of trees, the railway embankments, the huge sheds, the masts of the shipping, and every prominent object for hundreds of yards around.

The extensive premises of the company are enclosed by a high plank fencing, within which is an open space of several acres in extent, formed by a huge bend in the river Ely, which practically makes the spot a peninsula. Although prompt measures were taken to prevent an undue influx of spectators, it was impossible to prevent the people from climbing over the hoardings. On reaching the works of the company, which are situated at the higher end of the peninsula, the scene was found to be a terribly impressive one. The fire was raging over such an extent that it was impossible to take in the details at a glance. The large central sheds alone stood out conspicuously, their black walls where the flame had not yet broken through seeming to separate the hind patches one from the other. All else was simply a chaos of raging, crackling, roaring, fiery devastation. A large warehouse, in three divisions, a very finely built and extensive wharf, with a depressed platform and capacious storage room in cellars beneath, and two jetties were all on fire. The South Wales Public Wharfage, Warehouse, and Transit Company, Limited, was formed about two years ago, with a capital of £50.000, for the purpose of supplying adequate means for Cardiff merchants and traders to unship and store their goods until such time as it was convenient for them to remove the articles to their own premises.