Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - Large Testing Machines in South Wales, 1829-1906 . . .


The Bute Chain & Anchor Testing Ho. as indicated upon the OS map which was surveyed during the period 1878 to 1879 and published in 1885. [398] [010] The establishment commenced advertising its services in 1866 as situated at the Old Canal, Cardiff. The site was originally a tin works situated on land adjacent to the River Taff and the Glamorganshire Canal. Lloyd's Register of Shipping of 1867 [760] has the following entry : - Cardiff - Public Chain and Anchor Testing Machine, erected by the Trustees to the Marquis of Bute ; Superintendent, Mr. Alexander Taylor. By order of the Committee, George B. Seyfang, Secretary, No. 2, White Lion Court, Cornhill, London, E.C., 16th October, 1866. During the early 1880's the company was renamed the Bute Chain & Anchor Proving House. In 1884, there was a visit of the Lloyd's Committee to the renamed Lloyd's Bute Chain and Anchor Proving House : - 'Shortly after ten o'clock on Wednesday morning thirteen members of Lloyd's Committee, who are on a tour of inspection to the prominent ports of the kingdom, arrived at Cardiff at the Great Western Railway Terminus. They were met at the station by Mr. H. T. Tyrrell, Mr. A. E. Keydell, and Mr. J. G. G. Rule, of Lloyd's Register Office, Cardiff. The members of the committee are Messrs. W. H. Tindall (chairman), B. Weymouth (secretary), Wm. Parker (chief engineer's surveyor), H. J. Cornish (assistant-chief surveyor), H. A. Scott (accountant), H. J. Bristow, H. E. Montgomerie, F. B. B. Natusch, W. Strang, J. R. Tatham, L. C. Wakefield, J, Williamson, and J. H. Worthington. LLOYD'S CHAIN AND ANCHOR HOUSE. The party drove off in four open carriages, and proceeded to Lloyd's Chain and Anchor Proving House, which is situated about midway between the Custom House Bridge and the Old Sea Lock on the west side of the Glamorganshire Canal. They were met by Mr. George W. Penn, the superintendent, who showed them over the building, and lucidly explained the various methods of testing anchors and chain cables.' - The Western Mail [036] [361] 21st August 1884.

	The location of the Testing House situated between the River Taff and the Glamorganshire Canal in a larger scale plan of the Bute Docks at Cardiff. [735]



1883 - The location of the 'Cable Testing House' as defined within a plan of Cardiff and Penarth in 'Atlas des ports étrangers.' - Volume 1, published by the Ministere des Travaux Publics, Paris (Ministry of Civil Engineering). [001]