Barry Docks
Barry Docks is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. The docks were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alternative to the congested and expensive Cardiff Docks to ship coal carried by rail from the South Wales Coalfield. The principal engineer was John Wolfe Barry, assisted by Thomas Forster Brown and Henry Marc Brunel, son of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The docks occupy the former sound between Barry Island and the mainland. The contractors built dams to connect each end of the island to the mainland, drained or pumped the water from the site and excavated it. They used the material to level the area around the docks and for the core of breakwaters to protect the entrance. The works included a basin with gates at each end, which served as a lock between the sea entrance and the docks, the dock walls and quays, coal loading equipment and railways to deliver coal from the mines to the docks. A second dock and second entrance lock were added in 1898. The Barry Dock Offices were built in 1897–1900 by Arthur E. Bell, architect, of Cardiff and Barry, whose father, James Bell, was resident engineer of The Barry Railway Co.
In 1909, about 8,000 women and 10,000 men were employed in the docks. By 1913, the docks were the busiest coal port in the world, exporting at their peak. Coal exports declined after World War I. Strikes and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused further problems. The docks proved useful during World War II ; they were nationalised soon after the war ended. The Geest company used the docks to import West Indian bananas from 1959 until the 1980s. From 1957, many obsolete railway wagons were scrapped and cut up at the former West Pond site between Barry and Barry Island. From 1959, many steam locomotives were withdrawn from service and stored on sidings beside West Pond sidings area and more than 200 of them were recovered by enthusiasts for conservation or restoration.
Parts of the docks have since become industrial estates such as the Atlantic Trading Estate. The area around the first dock, now called The Waterfront, has been redeveloped for residential and commercial use. The second dock is still active and generally handles chemicals and timber.
Location
Barry is situated on the north shore of the Bristol Channel, a few miles southwest of Cardiff.Before the docks were created, Barry Sound lay between Barry Island and the mainland, sheltered from storms by the island and by Friar's Point. It had been a port since medieval times. The island was about long and wide, with a height of above mean sea level. The mainland slopes up to the north, so the sound was well sheltered from the wind. No rivers or streams ran into the sound.
The Bristol Channel is known for its tidal range. During normal spring tides there is a range in water level of, and during normal neap tides a range of, but tides can peak at around. When this happens, seawater flows into Barry Docks over the top surface of the hollow sections of the lock gates, and flows back over them as the tide falls. At low water during spring tides, there is a depth of at a distance of from the site of the dock entrance.
Background
For most of the 19th century Cardiff was the main port for exporting South Wales coal. Cardiff shipped of coal in 1859, in 1867 and of coal in 1889. John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute had built the Cardiff Docks, which remained in the possession of his son. Other coal mine owners had no choice but to use these docks and the Taff Vale Railway to export their product under terms dictated by Bute. They complained about delays and congestion at the port, and said that Bute was charging extortionate fees.A scheme to build a dock at Barry dated back as early as 1865, when John Thomas, a retired farmer of Barry Island, proposed a Glamorgan Coast Railroad to link Pencoed, Llansannor, Cowbridge and Aberthaw with Barry, and a further line to Cogan, where Penarth Dock and the Grangetown line to Cardiff were already under construction. Thomas proposed building a dock accessed by the railway for export of coal, iron and limestone, and import of hay, grain and vegetables for the mining districts. The idea was also attractive to railway developers of the period. The Ogmore Valley Railway Company wanted to increase revenue by carrying coal for shipment to the docks at Cardiff and Penarth. H. Voss, the engineer of the Ely Valley Railway Company and the Great Western Railway, also saw its commercial potential, and made a proposal to Jenner of Wenvoe Castle to build a dock at Barry, the largest in the district, which would be connected by rail to Peterston-super-Ely on the main South Wales line.
Jenner was granted permission to extend the railway through a series of acts in 1866, including the Barry Railway Act 1866 and the Barry Railway Act 1866 which authorised the building of a narrow-gauge line from Barry to Cogan, joining the line to Cardiff. The authorised another company to build a quay extending from where Buttrills Brook entered the old dock near the northwest end of the present No. 1 dock. The act permitted the deepening of Cadoxton River, which entered the sea at Cold Knap, to allow for large ships to reach the quay, and the Barry Railway Company and the Barry Harbour Company were established. However, the plan was never realised. Jenner made another attempt in 1868. It failed because he did not attract support from the coal traders, who preferred to operate in Cardiff.
Jenner dropped the idea after the Bute Dock Act 1874 allowed an additional dock at Cardiff, but the movement to build a dock at Barry continued to gain momentum, this time by the Plymouth Estate trustees, major landowners in Glamorgan who advocated the building of the railway from Barry to Cogan. They proposed the Penarth, Sully and Cadoxton Railway Bill, which was approved by Parliament as the Penarth Extension Railway Act in 1876. They extended the line privately, opening it on 20 February 1878.
Construction
Project launch
In 1883 a group of mine owners applied for parliamentary permission to build a dock at Barry and a new railway to serve it. Barry Sound was a natural choice for the dock site since comparatively little excavation was needed. David Davies and John Cory were spokesmen for the group. Davies, son of a small farmer in Montgomeryshire, was the founder of the Ocean Coal Company. He was the leader of the Rhondda mine owners, and was already experienced in railway construction. Cory was establishing a network of coal bunkering depots around the world. At first rejected, the group won permission for the port and railway in August 1884. On 14 November 1884 a group of ship and mine owners "trudged out to Castleland Point—near the later Dock Offices—to dig a small hole in the ground with the aid of a ceremonial spade, a wheelbarrow and a plentiful supply of planking to keep the autumn mud off their shoes."The lead engineer was John Wolfe Barry, assisted by Thomas Forster Brown and Henry Marc Brunel, son of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. John Robinson was the resident engineer and the works were built by T.A. Walker. Barry was the son of the architect Charles Barry, and was the engineer of Tower Bridge, Surrey Commercial Docks, Natal Harbour and many other major works. Houses were built for the construction workers that would be used by the dockworkers after the docks had been opened. Labourers and shopkeepers began to flood into the area.
Dams and excavation
Before construction could start, the site of the dock and quays, covering, had to be clear of water. Three dams were built from the island to the mainland. The centre dam divided the dock area in half, another was further west and a third dam extended east across what would be the entrance. The two outer dams completely closed off the site from the sea. The centre dam was built without much difficulty by simply tipping material to form an embankment, although some of the earth sank into the mud, so more had to be added.The western dam caused much more trouble, since it rested on mud that varied in depth to upwards of. The ends of the dam were formed by tipping earth from wagons run out from the mainland and the island. In the centre, the earth sank into the deep mud and slid away with it. A viaduct of timber piles was built across the gap, to carry loaded trucks from which the earth was thrown out. As the ends approached each other, the tide current was too fast. The contractor twice tried to close the gap with earth at low-water neap tide, but each time the water broke through to make a gap wide, through which the tide poured at.
The problem was solved in July 1885 by dropping shutters between horizontal timbers attached to the viaduct piles when the tide had receded, then backing up the shutters with as much stone and earth as could be delivered from preloaded trucks. This worked. A cast-iron pipe in diameter had been laid through the dam to form a sluice, with a flap on the outside that was closed at high tide and opened as the tide receded. By this means the west part of the works were drained to the level of the pipe, and the remaining water was pumped out at an average rate of per hour by a Cornish beam engine brought down from the Severn Tunnel works. The causeway along the dam permanently linked Barry Island to the mainland.
The eastern dam was made of piers of masonry with marl foundations, backed up with earth, leaving four openings through which the tide flowed. It included a temporary stone dam where the entrance to the docks would be built. In March 1886 the openings in the eastern dam were quickly closed with planks, backed with concrete. Later the planks were removed and the concrete faced with brickwork in cement mortar. Three pipes with valves ran through the lowest part of the concrete wall, allowing the water to drain to this level while excavation proceeded. The remaining water was pumped out.
Gunpowder was used to loosen the marl, which was then removed by steam shovels. Various other steam-powered devices were used to remove mud, clay, and rock. All the hard material was used for embankments and quay roads around the docks. The mud was placed behind these, and in trenches to seal the works from water, using special side-tipping wagons.
File:A King in the rain.jpg|thumb|Restored locomotive 6024 King Edward 1 crosses the Porthkerry viaduct near Barry in May 2007.