Aerial view of Barry Docks taken in 2006.
David Davies' ambitious Barry Docks and Railway scheme was promoted by the Rhondda, Ogmore and Llynfi valley coal owners when Cardiff's Bute Docks proposed increasing their rates by 1d per ton - hence 'the dock built for a penny.' The first (No.1) dock opened in 1889, measuring some 1036m in length and up to 335m wide. Construction of a second dock, to the east, was completed in 1898: No.2 dock is 1017m in length and between 122m and 182m wide. The peak of the coal exporting trade was reached at Barry in 1913, when over 11 million tonnes of coal and coke passed through the port. Extensive railway sidings served coal hoists at the quaysides. The magnificent Wren-style dock offices are on the town side with a statue of David Davies outside. Much remains in the docks, including a hydraulic pump house and machinery, a sliding bridge between Nos.1 and 3 docks, dry docks (e.g. Bailey's Graving Dock), the sea lock railway approaches and surviving stone plinths of the dockside coal hoists.
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