Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Defence of the Realm - Penarth Head Fort and Coastal Battery . . .

It was obvious that, under the circumstances, the port was quite impervious to attack by day. Nothing further took place until after darkness had set in. A close watch was kept on the water-way with the aid of the searchlight at Penarth Head, and between one and two o'clock this morning, the look-out espied an unfriendly "cruiser" steaming up the Channel again from the direction of Barry. The alarm was given to the forts at Barry Island and Lavernock, and a hot fire was at once concentrated upon the craft by the 4.7in. guns at the former fort and the 6in. guns at the latter. This was continued for several minutes, when the "cruiser" steamed out into the Channel.

The experiment so far shows that the Channel between Barry and Cardiff is not sufficiently lighted from the shore. The one searchlight on Penarth Head, whilst perhaps sufficient to guard the immediate vicinity of the Cardiff roadstead, is of practically no utility so far as the fairway of the Channel towards Lavernock and Barry is concerned, and it is suggested that there should be another light at Nell's Point, Barry Island, and a further flash at the Flat Holms. A large number of people along the coast, especially at Barry. and Penarth, watched the operations. - Evening Express [135] [361] 5th August 1904.

1914 - Shortly after the commencement of WWI, in July 1914, the pubs of Penarth were served with early-closing notices in order to limit drunkenness, especially by local military elements. This order was, in general, a success but spurned a tactfully worded response from one Captain Thomas of the Penarth Head Royal Garrison Artillery. In defence of his men and the implication that they were drunkards, he responded within the Penarth Times : ‘Firstly, no men from this Battery are ever out after 7.30 p.m. ; and secondly, 60% of my men are total abstainers!' - Penarth Times [101] September 1914.

A comment within The Bristol Channel Guide of 1934 perhaps adds to the need to protect not only the local ports and infrastructure but also the fact that at Beachley, further up the River Severn, it 'was intended to be the site of one of the national shipbuilding yards, projected during the Great War, and considerable work was carried out to that end.' [1332]