National Gutters Day : Penarth

Today is National Gutters Day 2021, which has motivated me finally to write another post for this blog, to share these photos of some gutters in the Victorian seaside town of Penarth, in south Wales.

 Built originally between 1889 and 1891, then rebuilt in 1926 after a devastating fire, All Saints Church sits in a tree-filled green space in central Penarth. As you see from the photo above, its gutters are not dated so I’m not sure if they date from the late 19th century or from the more recent reconstruction.

 

Here’s another dating mystery. This gutter hopper adorns the Mortuary Chapel at Penarth Cemetery. The building itself does not appear to be listed, and a search of the Welsh newspaper archives failed to turn up any information on the building of the chapel, though I did discover that the first burial in the cemetery was in 1903. I’ve also not turned up any information on the Glaswegian foundry that made this item.
 

As you can see, this gutter on the old building at Stanwell School has not been well maintained so it’s difficult to make out its surface decoration. An article in the Weekly Mail of 23 January 1897 reported on the recent opening of Penarth Intermediate School which, though it has since changed its name and been much expanded, continues to serve the education needs of local community in the 21st century.
 

Headland School was originally the Penarth Hotel, built in 1868 by the Taff Vale Railway Company, when Penarth docks handled a lot of the exports of coal pouring down from the valley of the River Taff. The building was repurposed after World War One, when it was purchased by the widow of a war casualty, one Major J.A. Gibbs. In the Major’s memory, his wife gifted the building to the authorities who ran the National Children’s Homes, who used it from July 1921 as a nautical training school.

Doors : Penarth knockers

During this pandemic, while we’ve been under local area restrictions, I’ve used some of my daily exercise walks to get to know my town a little better. When I was checking out local houses last December for my post on Christmas wreaths and then again in January for the street numbers (House numbers, 1 to 10 and House numbers, 11 to 20), I couldn’t help admiring the knockers some house owners have adorning their front doors.

Some are old but still stylish – lions have long been a favourite of mine ...

Many are very similar to each other, the same overall size, shape and design, and were perhaps attached when the houses were first built ...

Others are simple geometric shapes, functional, practical ...

The best to my eyes – the ones I would love to have on my front door, if I had one – are the more creative designs, perhaps reflecting the house’s location – the anchor a nod to the adjacent marina, or a personal interest – the nature-lovers who chose the fox, the bee and that stunning snail.

With these delightful door knockers, the home owners have added a touch of their own personality and more than a little panache to their front doors. And what an impressive statement they make to the world.

Penarth : the old public baths

On a wet and blustery winter’s day, the idea of a swim in the sea doesn’t appeal much but how about a swim in a pool filled with heated sea water? If you had visited the south Wales seaside town of Penarth from the late nineteenth through to the mid-twentieth century, you could have indulged in just such a luxury.

The concept of public swimming baths was much discussed in Penarth in the 1870s, and took its first step to become a reality in October 1881 when the local Board of Health made the decision to proceed. Initial ideas for an open-air pool developed into something much more grand so that, when the Public Baths were opened to the public in 1884, the extensive facilities were housed within the rather magnificent building shown below.

The Western Mail of 21 July 1884 takes up the story:

The new Bath-house at Penarth, which boldly rears its front on the, as yet, unfinished esplanade and commands an uninterrupted view of the sea, forms one of the many works of improvement which have been carried out in that thriving town within the past few years. The history of the structure is worth telling.
About two years and a half ago the agent of the Windsor Estate (Mr. Robert Forrest), who ever since his appointment has manifested a laudable anxiety to make a popular watering-place of Penarth, turned his attention to the task of providing sea-water baths for the town, “dipping” in the open sea being decidedly unpopular in consequence of the roughness of the beach and the muddiness of the water. He began by instructing the Atkin’s Water Softening and Purifying Company to experiment as to the possibility of clearing the Channel water of mud without, at the same time, taking away its saline property. The experiments, which were carried out at the sole expense of Lord Windsor, proved entirely successful.

Sketch, Western Mail, 21 July 1884

About this time the Penarth Local Board, being moved thereto by Mr. T. R. Thompson, one of its members, took the matter up in the interests of the public and resolved to construct a bath. With this object they obtained from Lord Windsor a lease of a piece of land on the corner of Bridgman-road, fronting the beach and running some distance up the hill behind. Designs for a swimming bath 50 feet long were then prepared and the board applied to the Local Government Board for permission to borrow the money necessary to carry out the work. Mr. J. Thornhill Harrison, a Government inspector, was thereupon sent to Penarth to hold an inquiry into the matter. The project was opposed by some of the ratepayers, but the inspector decided to report in its favour, and at the same time to recommend the addition of a second swimming bath.
This recommendation led to a re-consideration of the whole scheme, and the board subsequently instructed Mr. H. C. Harris, A.I.B.A., their surveyor, and Mr. Harry Snell, the architect and surveyor to the Windsor Estate, to prepare a joint design for a first and second class swimming baths – Lord Windsor having generously consented to defray the cost of the former – and a number of slipper baths. From these plans the baths were built by Mr. John Jones, of Arcot-street, Penarth, who has carried out his contract on the most efficient and satisfactory manner. The total cost has been £7,500, the amount paid by Lord Windsor being about £3,000.

The article continues with a description of the exterior of the building, which, unfortunately, now lacks some of its distinguishing features:

The exterior is designed in the Renaissance style, the elevation being decidedly handsome. The structure is composed of blue lias stone, with Bath stone and white brick dressings. From the south-west corner rises a rather imposing octagonal tower, surmounted by a cupola. This tower is in reality nothing more than a glorified chimney stack, for its sole use is to carry away the smoke ascending from the boiler fires. The architects are to be congratulated on the success of their expedient for preserving the ornate appearance of the building, which would have been sadly marred by such an unsightly object as an ordinary chimney stack.
The upper stage of the masonry portion of the tower is enriched by sgraffito work, an effective kind of decoration, of which this is said to be the only example in South Wales. The subject of the design in each of the eight panels is the same – a boy driving a pair of dolphins – but the details are varied in every instance. The sgraffito work was executed by Mr. H. Wormleighton, of Lower Cathedral-road, Cardiff, who also sculpted an elaborate nautical design on the tympanum over the large front window.

Sadly, the boys and dolphins have now disappeared from their panels, though the nautical design on the main front tympanum still exists and is quite splendid. There are also sculptural designs in the tympanums over the side entrance to the building and above two front windows, though these have all been much eroded by the weather in the 125-plus years since they were carved.

Now for the Western Mail’s description of the interior of the building:

After mounting the flight of broad stone steps which leads up to the entrance the visitor finds himself standing in a lobby, and before him a pair of swinging doors with stained-glass panels, made by Messrs. Bell, of College Green, Bristol. Passing through these doors he enters the hall. The ticket-office will then be directly in front of him, while the first-class slipper and swimming baths will be on his right hand and the second-class baths on his left. The roof of this hall and the woodwork of the ticket-office, as well as the partitions and doors of the slipper baths, which stand on either side, are of varnished pitch pine. There are three hot and cold water (or slipper) baths of the first-class, fitted with lavatories and other conveniences, and four of the second class. All these baths are made of Stourbridge ware, and can be kept scrupulously clean without any trouble. The basement underneath the entrance-hall contains the engine and boiler room, the well containing the pumps and a chamber for washing and drying towels. The manager’s residence is on the south side of the building.

Sketch, Western Mail, 21 July 1884

Unfortunately, I have not been inside the building so have no personal photographs to share but there is a delightful series of watercolours by artist Mary Traynor in the collection of Glamorgan Archives, some of which you can view in a blog on their website. 

The plug was finally pulled on Penarth’s old Public Baths in the 1980s when a modern leisure centre, with swimming pool, was built in neighbouring Cogan. For a few years, the old baths became a pub and restaurant, the nattily named ‘Inn at the Deep End’ but, when that closed, the building fell gradually into disrepair until it was converted into four separate apartments sometime in the early 21st century. Fortunately, many of the original interior features were retained during the conversion, as you can see in the gallery of images that accompanies this WalesOnline article from March 2013.

Penarth : the billiard room with a view

I’ve always wondered about this ruin. It sits on the cliffs of Penarth Head and must have spectacular views over the port of Cardiff and Cardiff Bay, but looks to be sited in an incredibly precarious location, especially as the Penarth Head cliffs seem to be constantly crumbling.

So what was it? Well, it used to be a summerhouse-cum-billiard room for a mansion sited further up the cliff. The mansion was, rather appropriately, called Northcliff and, according to one of several articles about this location on the Penarth News website, ‘It was originally the home of one of the Batchelor brothers who had a shipbuilding business in Cardiff Docks.’ The Batchelor brother was John Batchelor, a renowned but controversial figure in 19th-century Cardiff (you can read more about him here).      

The location of John Batchelor’s former home is also attracting controversy in the 21st century. The original mansion was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with a rather ugly development of flats, as shown in the photo above. And late last year, Northcliff Lodge, a five-bedroom annex to the mansion, was also demolished and is once again being replaced with a controversial construction of ugly box-like apartments, much to the disgust of many local people and despite strenuous efforts to halt the development in the planning stages. It’s such a shame that so little value is placed on the history and heritage of Penarth ... and don’t even get me started on the horrendous environmental impact of the new development!

As to that billiard room with the incredible views ... well, it’s at risk of falling down the cliff at any moment but no one seems particularly bothered about that. There was a serious rock fall in the area in May 2013, which prompted the Cardiff Harbour Authority to erect some mesh-fencing to keep the public back from the bottom of the cliff. But the fencing is flimsy and the path is still within a couple of metres of the cliff bottom – if the structure above did fall while anyone was walking past, I doubt they’d live to tell the tale. Until it does fall, only the birds get to enjoy the billiard room with the million-dollar views.

Penarth : the opening of the pier

One hundred and twenty-four years ago this month, on 6 April 1895, the Penarth Pier was officially opened for marine passenger traffic.

The idea of a pier had been mooted for some time and there appear to have been several false starts. The article that accompanied the above sketch of the proposed pier, in the Western Mail of 29 September 1888, reported that ‘The present scheme is not by any means the first, for several projects for meeting this long-felt want—it is a want—have been conceived, and each in turn relegated to “lie in dead oblivion"’ but the Penarth Promenade and Landing Pier Company, a syndicate of London gentlemen, had ‘taken the matter in hand’. The design was ambitious:

The pier, which will extend from a point on the esplanade nearly opposite the swimming baths and the new Esplanade Hotel, will be constructed of cast-iron piles and columns, carrying wrought iron girders, deck planking, and ornamental iron railings. It will contain entrance lodges, shops, refreshment rooms, shelter places, lavatories, and a handsome pavilion, suitable for vocal and instrumental concerts and dramatic performances. The total length will be 600 feet, with a clear width of 30 feet between the railings, the head being 150 feet Iong, with a "T" end having an ordinary width of 50 feet. At the end of the pier, and communicating with the upper deck by easy steps, landing stages will be provided at different levels, so as to enable passengers to embark in or disembark from steamers, sailing craft, and boats at almost any state of the tide.
At the entrance lodges there is to be a collector's office, piermaster's office, cloak-room, and other rooms, and a kind of shelter-place for invalids waiting for carriages or chairs, whilst the shops —four in number will occupy a place 300 feet away, or about the middle of the pier, this part being widened out to a width of 50 feet. The refreshment and dining rooms are to be erected at the head, in the T end. The pier, in short, is to be constructed much after the model of the Brighton pier, so far as promenade purposes are concerned but, in addition to this, the Penarth pier will prove a powerful adjunct in landing from and embarking in vessels.

I’m not sure what stopped the 1888 venture from proceeding but the pier didn’t materialise and it wasn’t until 1893 that the project reared its head again. This time construction finally went ahead. The design is very similar to that proposed in 1888, as you can see from this new sketch (above) and article from the Evening Express of 1 December 1893:

The Penarth Pier is at last to be proceeded with, and the prospectus in connection with it will shortly be issued. A company has been formed, with a very influential directorate. The share capital will be £10,000, and debentures £5,000. The pier (of which a sketch is given) will be 653ft. long by 23ft. wide in the narrow portions. It will be constructed of cast-iron piles and wrought-iron or steel girders, with a timber deck, and will widen out at points to admit of the erection of shops, refreshment-rooms, and a grand pavilion, designed to seat 430 people. The pier will have its starting point from the Esplanade opposite the baths and Esplanade Hotel. The plans, we understand, are ready, the necessary powers have been obtained, and the contractor is now awaiting the signing of the contract. There will be a strong timber landing-stage, and it has been arranged for Messrs. Edwards and Robertson’s steamers to call regularly at the pier. It is expected that the total expenditure of the company will not exceed £14,000. The undertaking is one of considerable importance to Penarth, and will add considerably to the attractions of that increasingly popular seaside resort.

Photo taken in March 2016

By early 1895, the pier had been completed and was in use for promenading but it wasn’t until Saturday 6 April that the first passenger vessels called at the new landing stages. Break out the bunting and get that band playing! Here’s the report from the following Monday’s Evening Express (8 April 1895):

PENARTH PIER. OPENED ON SATURDAY FOR PASSENGER STEAMERS.
On Saturday the Penarth Pier, which has been already described in these columns, was opened for marine passenger traffic, and the Boonie Doon and Waverley stopped there on their way across the Channel, and on their return. Unfortunately, the weather was most unfavourable for the opening of the excursion season, rain falling incessantly, and a stiff breeze making the trips anything but pleasant. A good number, however, braved the elements. The Bonnie Doon left the Pier-head at Cardiff about 2.15, and was the first steamer to go alongside the new pier where there was a liberal display of bunting, and the approach of the steamer was announced by the discharge of rockets, to which the captain responded by blowing the steamer's hooter. A large crowd had assembled on the pier, where the Cogan Military Band played a selection of music. The first to step on to the pier from the boat was Mrs. Edwards, wife of Mr. Fred Edwards, who is one of the directors of the company. Mr. Edmund Handcock, jun., was the only other director present. A few minutes later the Waverley came alongside, and was received in similar fashion. The pier, as well as forming a pleasant promenade for the residents of Penarth and visitors to that popular watering place, will be a great convenience to those who desire to make excursions to the more distant points to which the boats run during the summer. In the past people living in Penarth have been unable to avail themselves as fully as they otherwise would of the marine trips, because they were unable to catch the last train to the suburb on their return to Cardiff, and had to take cabs home. At present there are only two shops on the pier, and those are situated at the shore end. One is for refreshments, and the other is a daintily-fitted fruit and flower shop.

The Waverley still occasionally calls at Penarth Pier. This photo was taken (through shrubbery so slightly obscured) in September 2018.

Photo taken in March 2017

Now, the astute amongst you may notice that the pier in my more recent photos does not exactly resemble the proposed pier in the 1893 sketch above. That’s because the pier, like so many such exposed structures, has suffered the occasional disaster during its lifetime but that’s a story for another day, another blog ...

Penarth: St Augustine’s Church, 1

I’m sure this will be just the first of many posts about St Augustine’s Church and today’s is just a quickie as I’m still caught up in the moving / getting settled process. Designed by renowned architect William Butterfield and completed in 1866, St Augustine’s sits on the highest part of Penarth Head so is visible for miles around (the photo below was taken from the other side of Cardiff Bay). The church is Grade I listed and, for those interested in the architectural details, this magnificent tower is described thus on the British Listed buildings website: ‘Weathercock finial to W gable of four-storey tower with corbelled saddle, twin re-used lancets to bell openings, triple arcades to lower storey, corner buttresses.’