Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Various dock schemes which failed . . .

We understand, however, they have overcome the difficulty by making arrangements for the construction of a dry dock to the westward of the existing entrance to the Penarth Dock, and extending southward toward the channel. The Taff Vale Company have taken a lease of the ground now occupied by the Penarth Ferry Company, upon which the engineering shops will be erected. The Taff Company were bound to give 90 days’ refusal of this portion of the foreshore to the Penarth Shipbuilding Company, who have declined the option.

The dry dock will be 650ft. by 80ft. and sufficiently large to take any vessel which can go into Penarth Dock. A company is being formed for the purpose of constructing the dock, and the concessionaires have been given until the end of February to prepare an offer for the Taff Vale Company for the ground defined by them. With a strong directorate of shipowners, the company should prove a profitable investment. As it will connect with the basin of the Penarth Dock, the new dock will afford another entrance in case of emergency.” The Western Mail [036] 23rd January 1895.

The Dry Dock was never built. In 1895, the Western Mail reported:

1895 - "Windsor Dock Scheme - Names of the First Directors - Powers to the Taff Vale Railway Company to Subscribe £150,000 and Appoint Two Directors - The Windsor Dock (Cardiff) Bill has been duly deposited for next session, under the title of "A Bill for authorising the construction of a dock on the Penarth Flats at Cardiff, in the county of Glamorgan, and railways and works connected therewith ; for authorising subscription by and agreements with the Taff Vale Railway Company and the Penarth Harbour, Dock, and Railway Company, and for other purposes." Although the Bill is ostensibly promoted by an independent company, everything connected with it bears the visible imprint of the Taff Vale Railway Company. Messrs. Ingledrew and Sons, the solicitors to the Taff Company, and Messrs. Sherwood and Co., the Parliamentary agents to the Taff, are the names of the firms by whom the Bill has been deposited, whilst incidentally it may be mentioned that the Bill itself is printed by the same printers who have this year printed the Taff Vale Railway Company's own Bill.

Names of the Promoters and First Directors - The company, which is proposed to be incorporated under the name of "The Windsor Dock (Cardiff) Company," is to consist of Mr. Arthur Edward Guest, Mr. Russell Rea, Mr. Matthew Cape, Mr. David Evans, Mr. Philip Augustus Vyvyan-Robinson, and all other persons and corporations who have already subscribed to or shall thereafter become proprietors in the undertaking.