Barry Island - photos, history, railway and memories

[keybored]

or, maybe...

Sorry, I meant the book

 

[1927]

You sure it wasnt you with the attitude problem?
Even 20 years ago with only a handful of buildings and when it charged loads for entry it was wonderful....

Seconded

 

[lewislewis]

I live near Barry Island

 

[Space Girl]

my gramps built this building (the white one with the pillars) and fell off it and broke his back

 

[1927]

You sure it wasnt you with the attitude problem?
Even 20 years ago with only a handful of buildings and when it charged loads for entry it was wonderful....

Me,Mrs27 and bump have just been over to St.F's.Walked thru museum from car park, left via the pedestrian entrance and had a lovely pint of pear cider in the Plymouth Arms.It was the incentive I needed to walk in this heat!!

 

[CRI]

Oh, had a smashing afternoon at St Fagans today with a friend from Edinburgh who was well impressed. Hotter than Satan's G String today. Whew! They've changed the name of the place and one of the staff said they're getting feedback that it's confusing for people. Whatever it's called, I love it - oh and had a quick zip round Barry Island on Friday night as well. Love the snaps on the thread.

(Newbie here - recommended by a good friend btw.)

 

[ddraig]

Oh, had a smashing afternoon at St Fagans today with a friend from Edinburgh who was well impressed. Hotter than Satan's G String today. Whew! They've changed the name of the place and one of the staff said they're getting feedback that it's confusing for people. Whatever it's called, I love it - oh and had a quick zip round Barry Island on Friday night as well. Love the snaps on the thread.

(Newbie here - recommended by a good friend btw.)

welcome / croeseo CRI

 

[CRI]

welcome / croeseo CRI

Ah, diolch yn fawr!
Ah, thank you!

 

[King Biscuit Time]

Are you named after the Cardiff Royal Infirmary on Newport road?

 

[jayeola]

went there in the nineties to a "rave" either on the beach or "forest". Either way I had a really nice time. Great party with nice people.

 

[Strumpet]

*waves at CRI*


MMmmmmmmm pear cider *drool*

 

[ddraig]

Are you named after the Cardiff Royal Infirmary on Newport road?

i thought this and wondered if it was a friend of a friend

 

[Gromit]

Pear cider (which is a mix of Perry and cider) or Perry which is the pear equiv of cider?

Has a friend who makes real Perry as an independant brewer (and real cider).

 

[Strumpet]

*sluuuuuuuuuuuurp*

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Me,Mrs27 and bump have just been over to St.F's.Walked thru museum from car park, left via the pedestrian entrance and had a lovely pint of pear cider in the Plymouth Arms.It was the incentive I needed to walk in this heat!!

I can walk there from my house now we've moved... am yet to do so though

 

[CRI]

*waves at CRI*


MMmmmmmmm pear cider *drool*

Ta for the wave and welcome Strumpet!

It's gotta be ice cold though.

 

[editor]

Now here's a fantastic site: History of Barry Island Holiday Camp

(There's a fair few images missing but there's still some good stuff in there)

 

[shygirl]

Spent most summer weekends in Barry Island as a kid, got so many fond memories of it. The train from Queen St station was always packed with hundreds of excited kids clutching bucket and spade, dreaming of donkey rides, splashing about in the sea, and a couple of rides on the shows. The beach was huge, so easy to get lost on, hence the constant blare over loud-speakers of missing child announcements. You had to remember the number on the wall along the edge of the beach as a pointer to where your mum and dad were sat. I wouldn't mind betting a few of the parents moved just to get a couple of hours kip and sunburn without the kids shouting for a sarnie or lolly or chips. Mmm, the chips at the far end of the promenade were the best ever, well worth the walk and the wait. Wonder what Barry's like these days. Is the water any cleaner?


One of my fave places was Fontigary. We were homeless for a while and lived in my aunty's caravan for a couple of months. It was fab, right by the sea and lots of fields for playing in. Oh, and the best fish and chip shop ever.

 

[mwgdrwg]

I went to Butlins about thirty years ago. My mum always recites the story about being on the beach when this "strange little black boy" appeared. It was me covered in some kind of oil.

I hope they've cleaned the beach up a bit since then.

 

[mwgdrwg]

Now here's a fantastic site: History of Barry Island Holiday Camp

(There's a fair few images missing but there's still some good stuff in there)

I'll show that to my mum, she'll love it.

 

[editor]

I came across this old breakwater near Barry Island and it rather strangely had a railway running along its length to the lighthouse.

Anyone know anything about it?

 

[Crispy]

Probably used to transport materials for the construction of the lighthouse. Why it was left in place though, I don't know...

 

[editor]

Probably used to transport materials for the construction of the lighthouse. Why it was left in place though, I don't know...

That's pretty unlikely - the lighthouse is small and made from made from cast iron so building an entire railway just for that would be real overkill!

Besides, I suspect that the track would be in a far worse state if it hadn't been used since 1890. Actually, the rail track clips prove this - they're stamped 'GWR' while the originals would have been stamped Barry Railway.

I'm guessing that there was some of pier/jetty leading into the harbour, with the track perhaps used to load ships with coal for fuel.

 

[pogofish]

There is some discussion of it and more photos on Railscot:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=15298

Captions on two of the pics in the lower part of this page suggest the line was used to meet pleasure steamers and that it remained operational till 1975:

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Barry Railway

And this old photo with a crane, so it could well have been used for servicing shipping/harbourworks?

 

[pogofish]

Also this from the Barry Railyay Company Wiki page:

Barry and Bristol Channel Steamship Company
Barry Dock Offices - June 2007The railway which had played a major part in the development of the dock, did a great deal to make Barry Island a popular resort.

From the 1890s, the company persuaded P and A Campbell to run steamers from a pier built alongside the dock across the Bristol Channel, but in 1905 they started to build their own fleet of four ships. But as a railway company, parliamentary powers were required to operate steamships and the powers granted generally included provisions which limited operations to routes genuinely associated with the mother company's principal business (i.e. railway connections to non-accessible locations). The powers were also granted to take account of the legitimate interests of existing operators.

The company were limited to calls on the southern bank of the Channel between Weston super Mare and Ilfracombe, with additional summer excursion destinations allowed so long as the cruises started and finished at Barry. To circumvent these restrictions, the company resorted to the ploy of registering their vessels in the names of its directors and set up an operating company, the Barry and Bristol Channel Steamship Company. P and A Campbell resorted to successful legal action which ensured that by July 1907, the Barry Railway Company was required to abide by the terms of the original legislation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Railway_Company

Services were maintained despite deteriorating financial fortunes, but as a cost saving measure, PS Gwalia was sold to the Furness Railway on 7 May 1910. Five days later the remaining three steamers were sold to Bristol Channel Passenger Boats Ltd. The latter company struggled to make the business pay and after two seasons, sold out to P and A Campbell.

 

[editor]

Captions on two of the pics in the lower part of this page suggest the line was used to meet pleasure steamers and that it remained operational till 1975:

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Barry Railway

That must surely be an incorrect caption - Barry Pier was to the east and looked like this:

http://www.barrywales.co.uk/showimage.asp?ID=729

 

[pogofish]

Then it looks like cargo/harbourworks might be the better guess?

 

[editor]

The original railway pier can be seen to the right of the LB station in this map (the breakwater is to the left)

 

[Crispy]

And the lighthouse pier railway can be seen connecting via a tunnel to the docks to the north - in fact, the southern portal is just about visible on gmaps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?clien....3937,-3.264129&spn=0.000264,0.00098&t=k&z=20

 

[editor]

And the lighthouse pier railway can be seen connecting via a tunnel to the docks to the north - in fact, the southern portal is just about visible on gmaps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?clien....3937,-3.264129&spn=0.000264,0.00098&t=k&z=20

Looking at the aerial view it makes you wonder where the crane was unloading stuff to as the breakwater rocks stretch out quite a way and it all looks rather shallow and sandy.

There has been talk of reopening the line through the tunnel from Barry Island station, although I can't see that happening any time soon. It would open up that part of the docks though.