Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - A concise history of Penarth Dock and the coal trade . . .

	Within 20 miles or so along the South Wales coast of the Bristol Channel we have the major ports of Newport, Cardiff, Penarth and Barry with the more distant Port Talbot and Swansea all of whom exported Welsh coal from the Rhondda, Cynon, Taff, Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw valleys to the four corners of the earth. There was a contribution also from the quaysides of Porthcawl, Briton Ferry, Neath, Burry Port, Llanelli, Milford Haven and others.
	Penarth was the smallest of the major purpose built docks but nevertheless was important in the growth of the coal industry. The zenith was around 1913 when Penarth port and harbour was exporting in excess of 4.5 million tons of coal per annum. Then began the decline in tonnage shipped until closure of the dock was forced in 1936. Playing an important role during WWII it remained open for ship repair until its final demise in 1962. Today much of the dock is filled in with household and uncontrolled industrial waste and the remainder, a marina.
	The Penarth Harbour, Docks & Railway Co. was incorporated in 1856 and the dock was built nearby “Cogan Pill” (Pill in context is the Welsh “Pwll”, literally a pool or inlet) between the years 1859–1865. Some suggest [016] that 1,200 navvies, predominantly of Irish decent were employed in the works, directed initially by Harrison Hayter (1825-1898) utilising the design of (Sir) John Hawkshaw (1811-1891).

The second son of the Victorian engineering icon, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806- 1859), kept a close eye on the project and it is believed that the person wearing the distinctive stove-pipe hat in an image of the works, is no less than the young Henry Marc Brunel (1842–1903), although his identity has not been satisfactorily authenticated.