Barry Island is a
districtDistricts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
,
peninsulaA peninsula is a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
and seaside resort, forming part of the town of
BarryBarry is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than 7 miles SSW of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park...
in the
Vale of GlamorganThe Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in in the southern part of Glamorgan, south Wales...
, south
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the
Bristol ChannelThe Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England, and extending from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
, has the world's second highest tidal range, of . second only to
Bay of FundyThe Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
in
Eastern CanadaEastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
.
The peninsula was an
islandAn island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot, .There are two main types of islands:...
until the 1880s when it was linked to the mainland as the town of Barry expanded. This was partly due to the opening of Barry Dock by the
Barry Railway CompanyThe Barry Railway Company was a coal pit owner developed and owned railway company, formed to provide an alternate route for the sea export of coal mined in the South Wales valleys to the existing monopoly of the Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff Docks...
. Established by David Davies, the docks now link up the gap which used to form Barry Island.
Although the Barry Island used to be home to a
ButlinsButlin's Holiday Camps, presently known by the trademark Butlins, were founded by Billy Butlin to provide economical holidays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Between 1936 and 1966, nine camps were built. Three resorts remain in use by the Butlins company today in Bognor Regis, Minehead and...
Holiday Camp, it is now known more for its
beachA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobblestones...
and
Barry Island Pleasure ParkBarry Island Pleasure Park is an amusement park situated on the coast at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan, about 10 miles south west of the capital city Cardiff, Wales. The park opens annually at weekends from Easter onwards and daily during the school summer holidays, until the first weekend...
.
The area's
railway stationBarry Island railway station is a railway station serving Barry Island in Wales. Fifteen kilometres south-west of Cardiff Central, it has been the terminus - and only active station - of the Barry Island branch of the Vale of Glamorgan Line since the closure of Barry Pier station in...
serves as one of the termini on the
Vale of Glamorgan LineThe Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Bridgend via Barry, Rhoose and Llantwit Major. There are also branch lines to Penarth and Barry Island. As its names suggests, the line runs through the Vale of Glamorgan....
and connects to Cardiff, about north north east of Barry, in 33 minutes.
Prehistoric Origins
The area around Barry Island shows extensive evidence of
modern humanHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
occupation.
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
or Middle
Stone AgeThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different sorts of stone. For example, flint and chert were shaped for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground...
microlithA microlith is a small stone tool, typically knapped of flint or chert, usually about three centimetres long or less; They are typically one centimetre long and half a centimetre wide when finished. Microliths were either produced from small blades or made by snapping normal big blades in a...
flint tools have been found at Friars Point on Barry Island and near
WenvoeWenvoe is a small Welsh village between Barry and Cardiff in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Nearby is the Wenvoe Transmitter near Twyn-yr-Odyn and the old HTV national headquarters in Culverhouse Cross in the suburbs of Cardiff.-History:...
, and
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
or New Stone Age polished stone axe-heads were discovered in
St. Andrews MajorSt. Andrew's Major is a village and parish in the Vale of Glamorgan, between Barry and Cardiff in south-eastern Wales.The village has a church which is over 600 years old, a pub and a primary school. The church is dedicated to St. Andrew, and is in the Benefice of St...
. As the area was heavily wooded and movement would have been restricted, it is likely that people also came to what was to become
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
by boat, apparently from the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
. They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land. These
neolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
colonistsColonization, , occurs whenever any one or more species populate an area. The term, which is derived from the Latin colere, "to inhabit, cultivate, frequent, practice, tend, guard, respect," originally related to humans...
, who integrated with the indigenous people, gradually changed from being hunter-gatherers to settled farmers. They built the
long barrowA long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs...
s at St Lythans and
TinkinswoodTinkinswood or its full name Tinkinswood Burial Chamber , also known as Castell Carreg, Llech-y-Filiast and Maes-y-Filiast, is a megalithic burial chamber, built around 6,000 BP , during the Neolithic period, in the Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales.The structure is called a dolmen, which was...
, which date to around 6,000
BPBefore Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1 January 1950 as the arbitrary origin of the age scale...
, only and to the north of Barry Island, respectively.
New cultures
In common with the people living all over Great Britain, over the following centuries the people living around what is now known as Barry assimilated new immigrants and exchanged ideas of the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
and
Iron AgeIn archaeology, the Iron Age is the prehistoric period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles.The...
Celtic cultures. Together with the approximate areas now known as
BrecknockshireBrecknockshire , also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county.-Geography:...
,
MonmouthshireMonmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a larger area.-Historic county:...
and the rest of
GlamorganGlamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying names and boundaries until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three preserved...
, Barry Island was settled by a Celtic British tribe called the
SiluresThe Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales.- Origins :...
. There have been five Bronze Age burial mounds, or
cairnA cairn is a manmade pile of stones, often in a conical form. They are usually found in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops or near waterways.-Purpose:...
s, recorded on Friars Point.
Although the
Roman occupationRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
left no physical impression on Barry Island, there were
Romano BritishSub-Roman Britain is a term derived from archaeologists' label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity. "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a higher...
settlements nearby - in
Barry-Places:Antarctica* Barry Island Australia* Barry, New South WalesCanada* Barry Islands, NunavutFrance* Barry, Hautes-PyrénéesUnited Kingdom* Barry, Angus, Scotland** Barry Mill, a watermill* Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales...
and
LlandoughLlandough is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.- Location :...
. These people embraced the Roman religion of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
and dedicated a chapel to St Baruc, a disciple of Saint
CadocSaint Cadoc or Cadog , Abbot of Llancarfan, was one of the 6th century Welsh saints, whose vita twice mentions King Arthur. The Abbey of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorganshire, which he founded circa 518, became famous as a centre of learning...
. Having forgotten to bring St Cadoc's reading matter with him, on a journey from the island of
Flat HolmFlat Holm is a limestone island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, but in the City and County of Cardiff. It includes the most southerly point of Wales....
, St Baruc was sent back and he drowned in the
Bristol ChannelThe Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England, and extending from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
on the return journey. He was buried on Barry Island and the ruins of the chapel that was dedicated to him can still be seen in Friars Road. His feast day is on 27 September.
The
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
s launched raids in the area and Barry Island was known to be a raider base in 1087.
Gerallt Cymro, (c.1146 – c.1223)
The famous
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
/
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
chronicler Gerallt Cymro (c.1146 – c.1223), described the origin of his family name in his 'The Itinerary of
ArchbishopAlso see Leaders of ChristianityThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the see that churches must be in communion with in order to be...
BaldwinBaldwin of Exeter was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. Son of a clergyman, he studied both canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugenius III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter...
through Wales' (also known as 'The Journey through Wales'). Gerallt Cymro, also known as , and , wrote "Not far from Caerdyf (sic) is a small island situated near the shore of the Severn, called Barri, from St. Baroc, who formerly lived there, and whose remains are deposited in a chapel overgrown with ivy, having been transferred to a coffin. From hence a noble family, of the maritime parts of South Wales, who owned this island and the adjoining estates, received the name of de Barri." Going on to describe the island's well, he wrote: "It is remarkable that, in a rock near the entrance of the island, there is a small cavity, to which, if the ear is applied, a noise is heard like that of smiths at work, the blowing of bellows, strokes of hammers, grinding of tools, and roaring of furnaces ; and it might easily be imagined that such noises, which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides, were occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of the rocks."
The 1908,
EverymanEveryman's Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published by Alfred A. Knopf and separately, in paperback, by J. M. Dent in the United Kingdom....
edition contains a brief description of Barry Island by the Benedictine monk,
Hugh Paulinus de CressyHugh Paulinus de Cressy was an English Benedictine monk, whose religious name was Serenus. He was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, about 1605....
(c.1605-1674): "Barri Island is situated on the coast of Glamorganshire; and, according to Cressy, took its name from St. Baruc, the hermit, who resided, and was buried there. The Barrys in Ireland, as well as the family of Giraldus, who were lords of it, are said to have derived their names from this island. John Leland, in speaking of this island, says, " The passage into Barrey isle at ful se is a flite shot over, as much as the Tamise is above the bridge. At low water, there is a broken causey to go over, or els over the shalow streamelet of Barrey-brook on the sands. The isle is about a mile in cumpace, and hath very good corne, grasse, and sum wood; the ferme of it worth aio a yere. There ys no dwelling in the isle, but there is in the middle of it a fair little chapel of St. Barrok, where much pilgrimage was usid." Ernest Rhys, the Editor, adds in 1908: "The "fair little chapel " has disappeared, and "Barry Island" is now, since the construction of the great dock, connected with the mainland, it is covered with houses, and its estimated capital value is now £250,000."
Modern Times
Until 1896, when a rail link was completed from the mainland via a 250 yard long pier structure, the only access to Barry Island had been either by foot across the sand and mud at low tide, or when the tide was in, by Yellow Funnel Line
paddle steamerA paddle steamer is a ship or boat driven by a steam engine that uses one or more paddle wheels to develop thrust for propulsion. It is also a type of steamboat. Boats with paddle wheels on the sides are termed sidewheelers, while those with a single wheel on the stern are known as sternwheelers....
. Over 150,000 visitors were recorded arriving one August Bank Holiday weekend, mostly by train. Further tourist attractions were developed on the island, and by 1934 the number of visitors to the fairground during the August Bank Holiday week was over 400,000.
The ashes of
Fred WestFrederick Walter Stephen West , better known as Fred West, was an English serial killer.Between 1967 and 1987, he and his wife Rosemary tortured, raped and murdered at least 12 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September...
, British serial killer, were scattered on Barry Island after his body had been cremated on 29th of March, 1995.
British champion rollerblader and Barry native
Rich TaylorRichard Taylor was a Welsh inline skating and freestyle skiing champion.Taylor, from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, learned to skate because he wanted to become a stuntman. He turned professional at the age of 15 after winning the World Amateur International Inline Skate Series and qualifying 6th in...
died after a skating accident in a Barry street on the 2nd August 2004.
On July 25 2008,
Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the BBC which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock or interviews. It is aimed...
featured Barry Island in one of their summer events, broadcasting a special edition of
The Scott Mills ShowThe Scott Mills Show is a Sony Radio Academy Award-winning drive time radio show, broadcast every week-day on BBC Radio 1 from 4:00 pm until 7:00 pm, with a short break at 5:45 pm for Newsbeat...
live from the island as part of the show's regular "Barryoke" theme, with songs such as 'Smooth Barry', a twist on the song 'Smooth Criminal' by Michael Jackson with a tour of Barry Island..
The Pleasure Park Now Has On Official Radio Station Based Within The Grounds Called Taff Air Radio.
Butlins
Billy ButlinSir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin, , was the founder of Butlins Holiday Camps.-Early life:...
's inspiration for his holiday empire came from a (less than happy) holiday to Barry Island in his youth, when he'd been locked out of his B&B all day by his landlady. He finally decided to build, what was to become, the last and smallest of the
ButlinsButlin's Holiday Camps, presently known by the trademark Butlins, were founded by Billy Butlin to provide economical holidays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Between 1936 and 1966, nine camps were built. Three resorts remain in use by the Butlins company today in Bognor Regis, Minehead and...
Holiday CampsHoliday camp, in Britain, generally refers to a resort with a boundary that includes accommodation, entertainment and other facilities.As distinct from camping, accommodation typically consisted of chalets - rather like small flats/apartments arranged in blocks of three or four storeys, and...
at Barry Island in 1965.
The Rank OrganisationThe Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. Its film division once distributed Universal Pictures releases in the UK...
, Butlin's owners, took out a 99-year lease on the headland at Nell's Point, in 1966. Building work began there in the winter and the gates opened to campers on 18 June 1966.
Barry Island holiday camp contained all the tried and tested Butlins ingredients: the famous
Butlins' RedcoatsRedcoats is the name given to the entertainment staff at Butlins holiday camps.-Uniform:When Sir Billy Butlin opened his first holiday camp he realised that the entertainment was the very heart of Butlins. In order to make the camp entertainers stand out he ordered them to wear red blazers and the...
; funfair; early morning wake up with Radio Butlin; dining hall (with the cheers going up when a waitress drops a plate); indoor and outdoor swimming pools; ballroom; boating lake; tennis courts; sports field; table tennis and snooker tables; amusement arcade; medical centre; theatre; arcades of shops; the Pig and Whistle Showbar, etc. A 430 m chairlift system was opened In 1967. There were 800 chalets, all very basic, 'no-frills' and designed to modern 1960s standards, which, on the outside, meant wooden panels and flat roofs.
The camp continued to be enormously successful throughout the 1970s. But, on 29 October 1986 Butlins announced that Barry Island holiday camp would have no place in the company's future and would close after Christmas. The last campers left on 27 December 1986, with the camp officially closing on 31 December 1986.
Majestic Holidays
The camp was sold to Majestic Holidays and re-opened on 23 May 1987 as Majestic Barry Island, and subsequently renamed Barry Island Resort. Majestic's plans to completely demolish and rebuild the site didn't reach fruition and only amounted to the refurbishment of the entertainment complex, completely replacing the swimming pools and removing the chairlift. Majestic's continued with their Redcoats until 1993, but they became Bluecoats in 1994, following Butlins' threat of legal action over the name.
Maintenance had now become such an issue, especially with the chalets' flat roofs and wooden paneling, that a clause was added to the booking conditions limiting legal action to 20% of the cost of the holiday. Following numerous complaints about the camp, the BBC TV show
That's Life-Music:*That's Life **"That's Life" , title song of the album *That's Life *That's Life by Victory...
investigated. The report aired In January 1989 and tore Barry Island Resort apart. The report, called "It's Barry Awful, Its Barry Hell" ended with the presenter,
Esther RantzenEsther Louise Rantzen CBE is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for presenting That's Life! and her child protection activities as founder of the charity ChildLine. Rantzen also advocates the work of the Burma Campaign UK...
, saying "If you're off to Barry Island this summer, send us a postcard". They did. By the time the summer ended in 1989, That's Life had received about 8,000 postcards in praise of the holiday camp, with only about 40 complaints. Majestic Holidays' owner, Rick Wright, sued and Majestic received £500,000 damages.
By 1996, with storm damage causing more maintenance problems,
Vale of Glamorgan CouncilThe Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It is run by the Conservative Party after the United Kingdom local elections, 2008, taking over the council from no overall control....
threatened to refuse renewal of Barry Island Resort's entertainments license, unless work was carried out to improve the now 30-year-old site. Majestic's now trading company, Insurebowls Ltd, continued through the summer, but closed the camp for good on 7 November 1996, owing local companies thousands of pounds in unpaid bills, although they had originally intended to reopen the following year.
Closure
The holiday camp site was sold for £2.25m to
Vale of Glamorgan CouncilThe Vale of Glamorgan Council is the governing body for the Vale of Glamorgan, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. It is run by the Conservative Party after the United Kingdom local elections, 2008, taking over the council from no overall control....
, in October 1997, who demolished the camp and sold it to
Bovis HomesBovis Homes Group plc is a second tier national British housebuilding company based in New Ash Green, Kent. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
for housing development. Now known as Bryn Llongwr, two, three, four and five bedroom houses were built on the site between 2002 and 2003, with the remaining two original camp buildings and outdoor pool being demolished in early 2005.
Film and Barry Island
Between Butlins' closure and Majestic's reopening the camp was used as for filming scenes in the "Shangri-La" holiday camp from the
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
serial
Delta and the BannermenDelta and the Bannermen is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in three weekly parts from November 2 to November 16, 1987.-Synopsis:...
.
The island was also used for location shooting for
Doctor Who, in the 2005 series episodes "
The Empty Child"The Empty Child" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 21, 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, "The Doctor Dances", was broadcast on May 28...
" and "
The Doctor Dances"The Doctor Dances" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 28, 2005. It is the second of a two-part story and saw Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, join the Doctor as a companion. The first part, "The Empty Child", was...
", standing in for a bomb site in 1941
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
.
The
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
television series
Gavin & StaceyGavin & Stacey is a BBC comedy-drama starring Mathew Horne and Joanna Page as the title characters. The series is written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, who also co-star in the show as Gavin and Stacey's friends Smithy and Nessa...
, is partly set and filmed in Barry.
The Island also served as the setting for "Pleasure Park", on ITV Wales as part of the It's My Shout short film series.
External links