Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - Handbook to Penarth Dock & Ely Tidal Harbour - 1904 . . .

General view of shipping in Penarth Dock.

Penarth Dock is situated under Penarth Head, within the Port of Cardiff, and is distant by water about one mile from the Bute Docks. It was constructed by the Penarth Harbour, Dock, and Railway Company, under the provisions of a Special Act of Parliament passed in 1857. It was opened in 1865, and was enlarged in 1884. It is leased for a term of 999 years to the Taff Vale Railway Co., with whose system of Railways it is directly connected.

The Taff vale railway runs through what is probably the most important steam coal district in the world, the out-put of which in the year 1903 was about 30,000,000 tons, of which, 16,168,838 tons were carried by the Taff Vale Company, which has direct communication with every Colliery in the Rhondda, Ferndale, Aberdare, and Merthyr Valleys, and runs trains direct from these Collieries to the ship's side.

The Dock is also in direct railway communication with the Monmouthshire, Llynvi and Ogmore, and Ely Valley Coalfields, from which districts Coal is conveyed at through rates, and transferred to the Taff Vales Co.'s system at Penarth Curve, within a mile of the Dock.

Penarth Dock being under the shelter of Penarth Head, vessels are exceptionally secure against risks and may be moved from side to side, and from berth to berth, in safety in almost all weathers. The Dock is approached directly from the Bristol Channel, and, under ordinary circumstances, the gates can be thrown open from the sea to Dock, thereby enabling vessels entering to proceed direct to the tips or cranes without the delay of locking from Basin to Dock, and to commence loading or discharging forthwith.