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

The centre of the old ecclesiastical manor and later parish of Cogan was at St Peter's Church which was roofless at that time. The growth of the 'new' Cogan meant that the church and old manor house site became known as "Old Cogan".

A brickworks was established near where the Cogan railway station is now to provide the bricks for the new houses. The grand Station Hotel which was leased to a Mrs. Ann Jones in 1879 was built of these bricks. The lease between Hon. Robert Charles Herbert and the Earl of Bradford to Mrs. Ann Jones dated 11th October 1877 states, "ground in Parish of Llandough at junction of Windsor Road and Pill Street has recently been erected and covered in an hotel and stables." [1172]

Ships using the ports of Cardiff and Penarth needed pilots who were familiar with local approaches and currents to bring vessels safely into dock. The Ely Tidal Harbour and Railway Act, 1856, amended by the Penarth Harbour Dock and Railway Act, 1857, authorised a separate system of pilotage for Penarth.

Until the Bristol Channel Pilotage Act, 1861, established a separate system of pilotage for the ports of Cardiff, Newport and Gloucester, and authorised a Pilotage Board, Cardiff pilots operated under licences granted by the Port of Bristol.

In 1806 Bristol had been given jurisdiction over the pilotage of the Bristol Channel. At that time there were five Cardiff Pilots. By 1859 there were 40 Cardiff Pilots holding licences from Bristol and the number of foreign going vessels using Cardiff numbered 4,434, whilst Bristol only numbered 984. [614]

Previously, in 1840, the Cardiff Town Council had tried to obtain powers to licence pilots at the Port of Cardiff but they were unsuccessful. [1163]  The 1861 Act gave Cardiff these powers and a Pilotage Board was set up comprising the Mayor of Cardiff, three representatives of Cardiff Town Council, one from the Glamorgan Canal Company, three of the Bute Trustees, and two of the Penarth Dock Company.

The Bristol Channel Pilotage (Cardiff) Act, 1880, showed that the Penarth Dock Company had agreed that the pilots of Cardiff could also act as pilots for Penarth. Penarth Pilots had had separate licences since 1857.