west. The lighthouse at the entrance to the channel leading to the docks is just visible. Barry island on the skyline

The Old Harbour, Barry, looking east towards the causeway that was built to Barry Island
Barry in 1871 was a village on the north shore of the Bristol Channel a few miles west of Cardiff with a population of about 100, few of whom had been born there.[1] Most of the people in Barry and the nearby villages of Cadoxton and Merthyr Dyfan earned a living as farmers, craftsmen or tradesmen.[2] Barry Island, just offshore, was popular with day trippers. They could reach it over stepping stones at low tide or by boat at other times. An estimated 12,000 people visited the island in 1876.[3]

Barry Sound lay between the island and the mainland, sheltered from storms by the island and by Friar's point. It had been a port in Medieval times.[4] The island was about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and .5 miles (0.80 km) wide, with a height of 120 feet (37 m) above mean sea level. The mainland slopes up to the north, so the sound was well sheltered from the wind.[5] No rivers or streams ran into the sound.[6]

The Bristol Channel is known for the range of its tides. During normal spring tides there is a range in water level of 36 feet (11 m), and during normal neap tides a range of 19.5 feet (5.9 m). At low water during spring tides there is a depth of 25 feet (7.6 m) at a distance of 2,100 feet (640 m) from the site of the dock entrance.[7]

Background[edit]
For most of the 19th century Cardiff was the main port for exporting South Wales coal.[8] Cardiff shipped 998,000 tons of coal in 1859, 1.9 million tons in 1867 and 7.7 million tons of coal in 1889.[9] John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute (1793–1848) had built the Cardiff Docks, which remained in the possession of his son. Other coal mine owners had no choice but to use these docks and the Taff Vale Railway to export their product under terms dictated by Bute.[8] They complained about delays and congestion at the port, and said that Bute was charging extortionate fees.[9]

A scheme to build a dock at Barry dated back as early as 1865, when John Thomas, a retired farmer of Barry island, proposed a Glamorgan Coast Railroad to link Pencoed, Llansannor, Cowbridge and Aberthaw with Barry, and a further line to Cogan, where the Penarth Dock and the Grangetown line was alread