Post Office: Cogan

This building is a mystery. It stands on the corner of Windsor Road and Pill Street in Cogan, near Penarth, south Wales and, though it is now private accommodation, at first glance, you might well assume that the building once housed the local post office.

The corners of the rectangular addition to the building, on the side facing Windsor Road, are each adorned with impressively decorated stone half-pillars, and, in a peculiar position, down at pavement level, there's a semi-circular-shaped stone with the carved inscription 'Post Office 1881'.

However, when I checked old maps of the location on the National Library of Scotland website, in particular the 'Glamorgan Sheet XLVII', where the area was surveyed between 1878 and 1879, and the map was published in 1885, the post office in Cogan was located on Pill Street, near the corner with Hewell Street, and there were no buildings at all along Windsor Road. And, according to further information found online, the post office in Cogan remained on Pill Street until it was closed in April 2008.

By coincidence – or perhaps not? – a new post office to serve Penarth was opened on Windsor Road in July 1881, the same year as that shown on the Cogan stone inscription. The Western Mail, of 14 July 1881, reported as follows:

PENARTH. OPENING OF A NEW POST-OFFICE. – The post-office at Penarth has been removed to Windsor-road, where Mr. E. W. Jones commenced his duties as postmaster on Tuesday. The premises have been fitted in a much more convenient manner than the old office, and the public generally fully appreciate the increased postal facilities given them.

I wondered if perhaps the stonework on the Cogan building had come from the 1881 Penarth post office building (that post office was also closed and relocated in 2008). However, I found a photograph of the former Penarth post office on the Peoples Collection Wales website, and that building does not have the same stonework.

So, as I wrote at the beginning of this post, the building is a mystery. If I manage to solve this mystery at some future date, I will update this post.

Dinas Powys: stink pipes

When I first noticed them, I wasn't sure what these pipes were but the proximity of one of them to a present day utility cover in the pavement was a clue.

These are stink pipes, also known as stench pipes, once used to allow gases and noxious smells to escape safely from the sewer pipes below the ground. From what I've been reading, pipes like these were first introduced during the Victorian era. An article on the Designing Buildings website explains

The summer of 1858 was known as 'the Great Stink' in London as there was a strong smell of untreated waste throughout the city, affecting those at work in the House of Commons. Joseph Bazalgetter, the chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, proposed channelling waste through street sewers, into main intercepting sewers. These would transport waste towards the tidal part of the Thames so that it would be swept out to sea.
The network of wide sewer tunnels required venting, which is why stink pipes were incorporated into the system. Based on the concept of a blastpipe – an idea allegedly invented by a Victorian-era surgeon, chemist and engineer named Sir Goldsworthy Gurney – stink pipes were made out of cast iron and placed along main sewer routes.

Many stink pipes were much taller than those I've found, the better to catch any breeze and dissipate the noxious smells away from people at ground level. The Historic England website reports on one, in the town of Shifnal in Shropshire, that has been grade II listed due its height.

I imagine those much taller structures were the types built to release the city smells emanating from London's large sewer system, whereas the shorter pipes were more appropriate in a suburban or small town setting like Dinas Powys. Also, these local pipes are most probably Edwardian rather than Victorian, as the road and houses where they're located were built some time between 1901 and 1910, according to old maps of the area.

Bandstand: Victoria Park, Barry

My previous blog post focused on the bandstand on Barry Island; this post covers the bandstand in Victoria Park, Cadoxton, as well as reporting on one further bandstand, in Barry's Romilly Park, which, sadly, no longer survives.

I'm not sure when the idea of a bandstand in Victoria Park was first mooted but, in the Barry Dock News's 2 April 1909 report on the monthly meetings of the various council committees, it was announced that a tender of £247 17s. had been accepted from Mr H. Fisher for the bandstand's construction. And, in a few short months, building was well underway: the Barry Herald, of 23 July 1909, included information about Victoria Park in an article about newly opened bowling greens:

Victoria Park, Cadoxton, about six acres, is on a lofty eminence, commanding a wide sweep of the Bristol Channel, and is one of the breeziest spots in the district, Originally, it was common land, but it is now enclosed with wall and railings, and is being laid out with paths, gardens, and bandstand....

Just over a century later, the bandstand was receiving 'a renovation makeover'. The Barry and District News 26 March 2016 report explains what was happening, and includes the unsurprising information that the current structure is not, in fact, the original bandstand:

Over the last few years the bandstand has shown signs of water damage and some rot ...

Local craftsmen and carpenters from Woodspec Joinery Specialists are currently carrying out the repairs on the bandstand. This includes custom made stainless covers and rain channels to help prevent leaking on the upper tier.

Larger drainage pipes and renovated gutters will ensure that water flows away from the roof.

Cabinet Member for Visible and Leisure Services, Councillor Gwyn John, said: “With the old ceiling removed and work well underway sealing the upper tier, we are looking forward to seeing the finished result.

"Since the Bandstand was rebuilt in Victoria Park it has become a much loved landmark, and stage for some superb events and music concerts. It’s the centrepiece of the Cadstock Music Festival every year.

“This work will make sure that the bandstand will last for many years to come and will be ready for upcoming events, including African drumming, 2 brass band concerts, several fun-days and of course the Cadstock Festival.”

The original Victoria Park bandstand was built in 1907 by Hill and Smith of Brierley Hill, West Midlands [* incorrect – see below] and survived until the early 1970s.

During restoration of Victoria Park in early 2005 the bandstand was rebuilt as part of the Heritage Lottery funded reconstruction using the original plans, by the Heritage Engineering Company of Glasgow.

* The details about the original bandstand's construction are incorrect, the result of some sloppy journalism by the Barry and District News reporter. They have confused Barry's Victoria Park with Victoria Park, in Denton, Greater Manchester, which also has a very fine bandstand – see the History and Heritage section on the Tameside Metropolitan Borough website.

Romilly Park

There used to be one more bandstand in Barry, in Romilly Park. In the Barry Dock News of 2 April 1909, an article entitled 'Tenders for the parks' reports the acceptance of a tender by Messrs W. Ruckley and Son, for the amount of £261 7s. 3d., for the construction of a bandstand in Romilly Park. The Barry Herald, of 23 July 1909, mentioned that the Romilly Park improvements, including the bandstand, were nearing completion, and there is an article in the Barry Herald, dated 19 August 1910, that describes an illuminated concert in Romilly Park.

In a report on the Coflein website, the bandstand is described as being 'a central focal point of the park' and, further, 'From old photographs it appears to have been hexagonal, with a two-tiered ogee roof'. In fact, the domed bandstand structure is clearly visible in the centre of an undated postcard, the product of F. Frith & Co. Limited, which has been uploaded to the Peoples Collection Wales, and can be seen in several other photographs here, here and here. To my eye, the structure looks almost identical to the bandstand in Victoria Park. Sadly, the Romilly Park bandstand has not survived – the Coflein report mentioned above says the bandstand was removed some time after the Second World War.