Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Witness to the Past [2023] . . .

During October 2023, Julie and myself stayed at 'The Deck,' which is situated on the remains of the Penarth Dock, in one of their floating rooms, or pods, which we thoroughly recommend. I enjoyed being at dock level and was able to touch and record a number of original features of the dock. The last time I was so close to the water of the dock was in 1966 when another apprentice, Bill Muir, and myself swam in the dock one lunchtime! The water is now clearer and the numerous jellyfish have disappeared.

Whilst Julie and myself feel and accept that the Penarth Marina is a great reuse of the once most efficient coaling dock in the entire world, we feel that the residential buildings are completely out of character with the heritage of the dock and are uninspiring.

The most concerning element of our visit was the silence ; the cries of seagulls are few and far between. Could this be the result of that barrage and the change of environment from salt to fresh or brackish water in the dock and river Ely etc.? The above comments are entirely our observations and not intended to insult or undermine the hard work of the local businesses.

Our floating room was situated between the former sites of coal tip numbers 3 and 4. I have in my garden an 1841 Admiralty pattern kedge anchor which was dredged from the dock nearby one of these coal tips during the conversion of the dock to a marina back in the 1980's. When the dock closed there were 14 coal tip locations on this side of the dock but the Marina is limited to only to the first 5 tip locations, the remainder being infilled with rubbish and capped off. The entire site is still producing methane after nearly half a century! I ranted about this back in Volume 5.