Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Radyr Stone  . . .

Whilst serving an apprenticeship at the Penarth Dock Engineering Company Limited and after the first year at the Penarth works, I was shipped out for the next three years to the works of Hodges Engineering and Fownes Forge situated on number one dock at Barry.

Opposite the entrance to the works was a stone pier upon which once stood coal tip number one. The pier was a lunchtime-break venue for the workforce and I used to sit and dangle my legs over the dockside sometimes equipped with a weighted sharpened welding rod onto which a line was attached. It was used to attempt to spear red mullet which were large and abundant in the waters below. These mullet were so fast and none of us ever succeeded in harpooning one so it was just the usual mass of jelly-fish to remove from the spike. This was a great pastime normally undertaken with the right-hand whilst eating a cheese and tomato sandwich lovingly prepared by my Mum in the other. Sometimes the jelly-fish mush and sandwich combined but it didn't taste too bad when you were hungry!

Sitting on this strange stone I was intrigued by its pink colour and varied texture and asked one of the older, wiser, engineers what it was. It's Radyr stone was the reply, that's strange I replied, I thought it was concrete! After he hit me I took another look at it and I found that it's texture and varied tones are really quite unique and beautiful. I also recognised that this was the stone used in the construction of the quay-walls back at Penarth Dock. I decided to investigate its origin and to understand how and why it was chosen in the first place to build these great dock walls.