An idyllic postcard view of the Penarth Head from the beach in about 1905. George Orwell summed up the secret of the working classes 'in four frightful words' - 'The lower classes smell.' There are a lot of them just around the headland risking life and limb to make a crumb for themselves and their families!

In the strata of the cliffs you can make out the lighter coloured layers of alabaster which used to be mined in Victorian times. Alabaster was formed from gypsum under pressure over time which in turn was formed from the dehydration of an ancient freshwater lake. In ancient times the mountains were 8,000 feet higher and possibly the local council were not the first dinosaurs to walk in Penarth. [000] [002]

A rather faded image from my collection of the Penarth Head as it was in the late 1890's I'd guess. I inherited many of the postcard images and this is one of those which really did not belong into the Penarth Dock theme of this website, but now it does, given the theme of this chapter. It's the sort of thing you can do with impunity when you are the webmaster! [000] [001]