Penarth : Skytown Gateway

I’m several months late to the party but today I’d like to celebrate the fact that this year Penarth has gained a new public artwork, and, though I think it fails in its aspirations, I rather like the piece itself. 

You might, justifiably, wonder how the Vale of Glamorgan Council managed to fund something like this given the financial challenges of the current global pandemic. In fact, this was part of the development deal, the obligations negotiated under the Section 106 agreement, when Council granted planning permission for the Penarth Heights housing development. 

The Skytown Gateway sits above the central entrance to Dingle Park, on Windsor Road in Penarth. According to the Council’s website, the park’s ‘entrances and boundary railings were considered to be unsightly’ so were ‘identified as requiring an upgrade in order to provide a visually impressive, exciting and high quality gateway into the town.’ A well-meaning sentiment perhaps, and the railings do look much better since they’ve been refurbished, but neither the lower nor upper entrances to the park have changed at all and they are, in fact, the entrances that get most use. And, though I do think the gateway artwork is impressive, its effect as a town rather than a park gateway is lost by its position immediately adjacent to a roundabout, which drivers of passing traffic are, hopefully, concentrating on negotiating rather than glancing around at the scenery. Also, as there is nowhere nearby to park, visitors to the town are unlikely to stop to admire the artwork, so as a ‘gateway into the town’, it fails. 

As a ‘visually impressive’ gateway, though, I think it’s a winner, and the makers, a company called Cod Steaks from Bristol, have done a great job of capturing the character of the town. The Council website page about the Skytown Gateway project includes a link to a report from Cod Steaks on their creation process, including consultations with the local community and workshops with local school children to develop the ideas behind the finished artwork. It’s interesting to note that their workshops initially focused on the local flora and fauna, as you might expect from a gateway to a park, but the end product refers only to the built heritage of the town with no reference at all to the natural environment, a missed opportunity but presumably a deliberate decision by the Council. 

As you can see in my photographs, the gateway includes references to many well-known local buildings and to the town’s maritime history. Residents will recognise St Augustine’s Church, the Penarth Pier Pavilion, the former public swimming baths, and the old Custom House, as well as generic terraced houses and a town house, the town clock and the lamp standards that run along the Esplanade. From the surrounding maritime landscape, there are the lighthouse on the island of Flat Holm and the Pink Shed, formerly used for yachting race officials, that sits on an arm of the Cardiff Barrage, and a tug boat. And representing local tourism and recreational facilities, the artwork includes a yacht and a caravan. 

The Cod Steaks project report notes that the artwork has been constructed from over 4000 pieces of precision-cut steel, finished with blue paint, and includes low-level LED lighting within the buildings, which must look quite lovely at night – I have yet to visit in the evenings so have no visuals of the ‘diffused, charming glow’ of the lighting effects. When I do get some photos, I’ll add one or two to this post.

Clocks : Penarth

It’s time for more time pieces, this time my local clocks here in Penarth, south Wales.

Town Clock

First up is our official Town Clock. Located in the centre of a busy roundabout at the junction of Penarth’s main street and four other roads, this four-faced clock was designed to coordinate with the Victorian architecture for which Penarth is well known (the town rose to fame as a seaside escape for busy Cardiffians during the Victorian era). 

The clock, manufactured by renowned clockmakers J. B. Joyce & Co of Shropshire, was presented to Penarth by the local Rotary Club to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their local presence in 1987.

However, the current clock is not that clock. After ticking away for 20 years or so, the original clock started to lose time, showed different times on its different faces, and developed a degree of unreliability that locals found irksome. 

Apparently, the local water company stepped up to fund the purchase of a replacement town clock, which looks exactly the same as the old one and which was installed on Sunday 4 November 2018.

But what became of the old clock? Well, imagine my surprise when, just a couple of days after I had read the details of this replacement, my daily walk took me past Penarth Cemetery and there, plonked on the tarmac next to the old chapel buildings, was the clock. I have no idea what its long-term fate will be but the cemetery chapel is due to be renovated shortly so perhaps the old clock is being incorporated in that renovation in some manner.

Old Town Clock on the left, new on the right

Pier Pavilion clock

This is another tale of clocks being replaced. The original round Art Deco clock on the front of Penarth’s pier pavilion was presented to the District Council, in 1929, by a Mrs Esther Harris, partly in memory of her husband Hyman, who had long run a pawnbroker’s business in the town, and also in memory of her son Stewart, known as Solly, who was a casualty of the First World War. Private Stewart Ernest Harris, 8th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, was killed at Ypres on 26 August 1915, aged just 22.

The new, square clock was installed when the pier pavilion was refurbished in 2013, thanks to the generosity of locals Paul and Geraldine Twamley. This clock, which also has a pleasing Art Deco look, in keeping with the design of the pavilion, was made by Smith of Derby, clockmakers to the nation since 1856.

Public Library clock  

Penarth’s Public Library is a handsome building, built mainly of Pennant stone with Bath stone dressings, and it boasts the striking addition of a clock tower.

According to an article in The Cardiff Times, Saturday 17 September 1904, which was reporting the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone for the new public library (on 10 September), the District Council had ‘already voted a sum of money to provide a handsome tower clock in the tower, and Mr Robert Forrest has also generously expressed his intention of providing the necessary bell and striking apparatus.’ When the library opened on 30 August 1905, The Cardiff Times again reported the event (on 2 September 1905), including confirmation that Mr Robert Forrest had indeed ‘generously contributed £100 towards the cost of the clock in the tower.’

If you’re particularly fascinated by this clock, you can watch a very short video of it on YouTube, including its chiming of the hour. Prior to moving to Penarth, I looked at buying a flat in an old building opposite Penarth Library. The flat was nice, if small, and had a peep-of-the-sea view but I’m now very glad I didn’t buy it because I think the sound of the library clock striking not only every hour of every day, but also every quarter hour, might well have become very annoying.