Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Defence of the Realm - Penarth Head Fort and Coastal Battery . . .

As a child, I recall walking along the beach toward Penarth Head and being intrigued by the remains of the ferro-concrete steps climbing the sheer cliff face to the summit over 200 feet above. My Mother told me they were the stairway to heaven! These, however, were the remnants of war, the fort and a battery of two 6-inch guns upon Penarth Head, a relic of bygone attempts to protect the trade at the ports of Cardiff and Penarth. Searchlights were fitted on platforms at the base of the stairway during 1917.

1950's - Penarth Head - 'A Stairway to Heaven' - A colourised photograph. [048]