Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - My Trip to Flat Holm - 2024 . . .


A short walk along the beach before Farmhouse Battery admiring the view towards the Glamorganshire coast and the wonderful array of shapes and form of the driftwood. We passed by the farmhouse and made our way eastward towards the WWII radar plinth in the middle of the island which seems to stand at the crossroads of the island paths. [001]


The remainder of the party headed back towards East Beach with Penarth Head distant, but not me! As a child, in Dinas Powis, I often listened to the sound of the foghorn on those long misty nights and which often made me drift off into deep sleep. The sound started with a low sound which quickly became a medium pitched bellow and which then ended abruptly on a lower note; then silence ; and then some seconds later, a repeat performance. A haunting but somehow very satisfying sound which Julie also recalls whilst tucked up in her bed in Cogan. The fog signal was a blast of 3 seconds followed by 27 seconds silence giving two blasts per minute. [001]



Foghorn Station - A quick sprint to the fog horn station on the east coast of the island which is now redundant. I forgot to take any photographs so I rely on others who had the common sense to take their cameras out of their pockets! The foghorn building was constructed by Trinity House in 1906 and is now a Grade II listed building. - upper image credit : [000] [002] - lower image credit [164] The operation of the Fog Signal is described by Trinity House as follows: When the fog detector senses fog conditions, it will activate the fog signal equipment. The signal emitters will continue sounding until the detector senses clear conditions. If any of the 4 emitters fail, the other three continue to sound the signal. If all four emitters fail or if the ac supply fails, there is no standby and the signal is not sounded. The fog signal is 'fail-safe' and if it is damaged or faulty the fog signal will sound automatically, even in clear conditions. As a grumpy old engineer of some years standing, I strongly disagree with the statement that 'The fog signal is fail-safe.' To be truly fail-safe, it must still be able to operate even when there is a general fault or power failure in order to continue to protect vessels at sea from the hazards of the island!