Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - A History of Penarth Dock by Roy Thorne . . .

There was so much construction work being done at this time and the masons knew they could find work elsewhere, but the Company were in a weak position because the dock was still not finished fifteen months after the original contracted time.

There had been a greater influx of people during the decade 1851 to 1861. The population of the five parishes Leckwith, Llandough, Cogan, Penarth and Lavernock rose from 466 people in 1851 to 1,959 in 1861. People had come from all parts of the British Isles to work at the docks at Cardiff and Penarth, and the occupations given in the 1861 census show how the rural atmosphere was changing : -

This does not account for all the men constructing the Dock, because in the strike of November 1863 there were "214 masons and 84 gantrymen out", so it must be assumed that many of the men employed at the dock lived in Grangetown and Canton as the accident to William Brian occurred in October 1858 showed.