Coordinates: 51°26′N 3°10′W / 51.43°N 3.17°W / 51.43; -3.17
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan (Welsh: Bro Morgannwg ), Wales (Welsh: Cymru ) 5.2 miles (8.4 kilometres) south west from the Welsh capital city of Cardiff (Welsh: Caerdydd ) and lying on the north shore of the Severn estuary (Welsh: Afon Hafren ) at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is the second largest town in the Vale of Glamorgan, next only to the administrative centre of Barry (Welsh: Y Barri ).
During the Victorian era Penarth was a highly popular holiday destination, promoted nationally as “The Garden by the Sea” and was packed by visitors from the Midlands and the West Country as well as day trippers from the South Wales valleys mostly arriving by train. Today the town and its traditional seafront continues to be a regular summer holiday destination, for predominantly older visitors, but in nowhere near the numbers that were common from Victorian times until the 1960s when cheap overseas package holidays were first introduced.
Although the number of holiday visitors has greatly declined, the town retains a substantial retired population, representing over 25% of residents, but Penarth is now predominantly a dormitory town for Cardiff commuters. The town’s population was recorded as being 23,245 in the United Kingdom Census 2001 although further growth has taken place since then.
The town retains extensive surviving Victorian and Edwardian architecture in many traditional parts of the town and house prices are usually significantly higher than similar properties in nearby Cardiff.
History
Name, insignia and early history
Penarth is a Welsh name and could be a combination of the word: pen meaning head and arth meaning bear, hence ‘Head of the Bear’ or ‘Bear’s Head’. This was the accepted translation for several hundred years and is still reflected in the town’s crest which depicts bears. Modern scholars have suggested that the name is shortened from an original “Pen-y-garth”, where garth means cliff, hence ‘Head of the cliff’ or ‘Clifftops’. and the Welsh-English dictionary Y Geiriadur Mawr (The Big Dictionary: Gomer Press) reveals that penardd/penarth eb (feminine noun) means 'promontory'.
The town civic insignia and crest was drawn by a Cardiff architect in the late 1890s from a detailed brief prepared by the Town Board. It features the aforementioned and now somewhat suspect bear's head above a shield supported by two further bears standing. The shield contains a Welsh 'ddraig' to denote that the town is in Wales and a sailing vessel recognising Penarth's long association with sea commerce.
Penarth's medieval walled Sherrif's Pound, an early form of multi purpose gaol, remained in use until the late 1700s as a place to retain stray sheep, cattle and pigs or to imprison thieves, rustlers and vagabonds. It was located roughly where the car park now stands at the rear of the Natwest Bank in Plymouth Road.
In 1803 Penarth is recorded as having between 800 - 900 acres (3.6 km 2 ) of land under cultivation as several farms. In the 1801 census there were just 72 people living in the Manor. Even as late as 1851 Penarth was little more than a small rural farming and fishing village since medieval times with just 24 houses and 105 residents being one of five parishes contained within the Hundred of Dinas Powys, with a combined population of just over 300. Before the pier and dock were built there was a tiny fleet of local sail-powered fishing vessels based on the main town beach that tied up on the seafront quayside.
The manor lands had belonged to St. Augustine's Priory on Penarth Head and later the Cathedral in Bristol, but had been leased to then later acquired by the Earl of Plymouth of St. Fagans Castle. The Plymouth estate office retained control over the planning, building and development of the new town, offering 99-year leases and remaining the ground landlord. All householders in Penarth were tenants of the Plymouth Estates and paying an annual grount rent. The situation would not change until the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 that gave householders the choice of purchasing their freehold or negotiating 999 year extensions on their short leases.
The earliest homes built in the town were streets of terraced houses with busy corner shops and public houses on almost every corner, following the contours of the headland and in the rapidly expanding Cogan area near to the docks. Local grey limestone, all quarried from what is now Cwrt-y-vil playing fields, gave a particular character to the older buildings of the town that can still be seen. To the south of the town centre, imposing detached villa residences along the cliff tops looked across the Channel to the Somerset coast and the islands of Flat Holm (Welsh: Ynys Echni ) and Steep Holm, built by wealthy shipping and dock owners from Cardiff, who were moving out of the industrialised city to establish a more genteel and sophisticated lifestyle.
Victorian developments
The contract for the building of Penarth Dock was placed in 1859 and the dock was opened six years later, constructed by a workforce of around 1,200 mostly Irish 'navvies' under the direction of chief engineer Harrison Hayter and implementing the design of renowned architect Sir John Hawkshaw . At the Welsh coal trade's zenith in 1913 ships carried 4,660,648 tons of coal in a single year out of Penarth docks. In 1886 Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, originally a passenger vessel but later converted as a coal trader departed from Penarth Dock on what would become its final voyage. A disastrous fire during the voyage all but destroyed the vessel and she foundered on the Falkland Islands, where she remained until salvaged and returned to Bristol Docks for restoration in the 1970s.
By 1861 the number of people in the five parishes had increased to 1,898 and to 3,382 by 1871. In 1875 three of the constituent parishes - Penarth, Cogan, and Llandough - were merged together into the Penarth Local Board, giving a population of 6,228 persons by 1881. This figure had doubled by 1891 with the opening of the railway and had increased even further by 1901 to 14,228 persons.
The town of Penarth thus owes its development to the massive expansion of the South Wales coalfield in the 19th century. Its proximity to Cardiff, which was the natural outlet for the industrial valleys of Glamorgan, and its natural waterfront meant that Penarth was ideally situated to contribute in meeting the world’s demand for Welsh coal through the construction of the docks.
One feature of Penarth Dock long forgotten today is the tunnel underpass that connected Penarth to Grangetown under the River Ely (Welsh: Afon Elai ). Not quite wide enough for motor vehicles it was used by commuting pedestrians and cyclists as a short cut to work in Cardiff. The circular tunnel was about half a mile long with an entrance foyer at each end. Lined with cream and green coloured ceramic tiles the route was lit originally by gaslight and later by electricity. Built in 1902 the tunnel remained in use until 1965 when it was closed and the ends bricked up, after a series of violent muggings, repeated vandalism and the cost of maintenance became uneconomical. The tunnel entrance at the Penarth end was located near the lock gates between the outer basin and the number one dock. This historic short cut route was 'almost' replicated and replaced in June 2008 with the opening of a pedestrian and cycle route across the new Cardiff Bay Barrage.
The development of the town continued to be rapid and Penarth soon became self sufficient with its own local government, a thriving shopping centre and many new community facilities. What is now the main shopping area of Windsor Road was originally residential housing, but the owners sacrificed their front gardens to build shop extensions although the original house architecture can still be seen above the current shops. Most of the town's fine architectural features owe their origin to the landowners of the time and the results of their vision can be seen by the many grand buildings and parks which make Penarth what it is today. Thanks to the generosity of those far sighted landowners, Penarth earned its wide reputation as "The Garden by the Sea" because of its beautiful parks and open spaces. Furthermore, many of the buildings and features of the town have led to a substantial part of the town being designated as a Conservation Area because of its Victor
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