Introduction . . .

The truth is that the coal trade spawned the development of Penarth from a hamlet into a thriving town and with the wealth it brought, great Victorian and Edwardian buildings, parks, gardens and civic amenities were created. The promenade would have in my humble opinion achieved World heritage status if it had only been preserved and cherished. Alas, it is now mostly demolished, hidden, built upon, or crumbling away thanks to the unenlightened, the uncaring, but mostly because of the greed, ineptitude, indifference and ineffectual policies of generations of private individuals and public bodies alike. Although the pier seems to be a little jewel now!

I therefore, inadvertently gave myself a new challenge when I decided to set this story out in such a public way on this website; that is to attempt to change the attitude and awareness of the local community in the only way I can. I have therefore, simply recounted as much as I can assemble together in one place of the history, of our industrial and maritime heritage, of the ordinary and extraordinary people, and of their combined legacy - warts an' all!

Also, in writing these papers in the first place, I set out to record the wonderful experiences I was lucky to tap into at the Penarth Dock Engineering Company works which, for well over half a century now, has steered me in a creative and rewarding career in engineering; to be able to work with my son designing products for clients on a worldwide basis is a good reason to get out of bed in the morning.

The impetus to find out what went on before my time has revealed the various eras of the rise and fall of our industrial nation and its revolution, providing an insight into the social, commercial and technological bits of a jigsaw which begin to make sense now, albeit, with many bits lost forever. I set out to record as much as I could in my own way for posterity and not to write a great work of literature nor do I pretend to be an educated historian. The internet provides the opportunity for others to correct me, comment and contribute.

I hope you enjoy the bits of the jigsaw I found and can find it in your heart to forgive the rantings and ramblings of a rather grumpy, bitter and twisted, old engineer!