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51°26′N3°10′W / 51.43°N 3.17°W. Penarth (/ pɛˈnɑːrθ / pen-ARTH, Welsh: [pɛnˈarθ]) is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a seaside resort in the Cardiff Urban ...
From the late 1940s through the 1950s there was a huge council house building programme and this saw large numbers of families leaving the densely crowded accommodation on Penarth ridge for the semi-detached estates of the Penarth plateau. This also started the dissolution of the social differences prevalent in the town, the town’s urbanized area doubled.
Cosmeston Medieval Village is one of Wales' leading open-air museums and a popular heritage attraction within the Vale of Glamorgan. Discover how people lived and worked in the village circa 1350 with guided tours. A family friendly gallery located in a beautiful Grade I listed building in the heart of Penarth.
11. Parks. By PebbleL. It's very quiet here and a good place to escape to when the seafront area of Penarth is busy. 6. Ffotogallery. 7. Art Galleries. Established in 1978, Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography and lens-based media in Wales.
- The top attractions to visit in Penarth are: Cosmeston Lakes Country Park Penarth Pier Pavilion Lavernock Point - Penarth nature reserve Alexandra...
- The best outdoor activities in Penarth according to Tripadvisor travelers are: Cosmeston Lakes Country Park Alexandra Park Belle Vue Park See all o...
- The most popular things to do in Penarth with kids according to Tripadvisor travelers are: Cosmeston Lakes Country Park Penarth Pier Pavilion Cosme...
- Toponymy
- History
- Economy
- Governance
- Geography
- Demography
- Regeneration of The Seafront and Town Centre
- Landmarks and Attractions
- Education
- Religious Sites
Penarth is a Welsh placename and could be a combination of pen meaning head and arth meaning bear, hence 'Head of the Bear' or 'Bear's Head'. This was the accepted translation for several hundred years and is still reflected in the town's crest which depicts bears. Modern scholars have suggested that the name is shortened from an original "Pen-y-ga...
Early history
The Penarth area has a history of human inhabitation dating back at least 5000 years. In 1956 several Neolithic stone axe heads were found in the town. A large hoard of Roman rings and coins were also discovered at nearby Sully. From the 12th century until 1543 the lands of Penarth were owned by the canons of St Augustine, Bristol. The Norman church of St Augustine (on the headland) dates from this period. After the dissolution of the monasteries the ownership transferred to the dean and chap...
Penarth Dock
The contract for the building of Penarth Dock was placed in 1859 and the dock was opened six years later, constructed by a workforce of around 1,200 mostly Irish 'navvies' under the direction of chief engineer Harrison Hayter and implementing the design of civil engineer John Hawkshaw. At the Welsh coal trade's zenith in 1913 ships carried 4,660,648 tons of coal in a single year out of Penarth docks. In 1886 Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, originally a passenger vessel but later c...
Penarth Pier
Because of the growing popularity of Penarth beach and the need for better communications with Cardiff, in 1856 the Cardiff Steam and Navigation Company started a regular ferry service between Cardiff and Penarth. This continued until 1903. Boats were loaded and unloaded at Penarth using a landing stage on wheels which was hauled up the beach. In the 1880s, an attempt was made to construct a permanent pier. This was possibly because of the need to find a safer way to unload boats. However, co...
In the Victorian era, Penarthians relied on the tourist trade, which prompted the construction of Penarth Pierin 1894. Today, Penarth's high street (Windsor Road) is the focal point and commercial area of the town. Most employers in Penarth are local services but the town is also home to some larger companies, some of which operate globally.
Town Council
Penarth is split into four electoral wards. Plymouth, Stanwell, Cornerswell and St Augustine's. The first three are named after the key spine roads, whilst the latter is named after the landmark church situate on Penarth Head. Plymouth ward and Stanwell ward are traditional locations for professional families staking a claim in Penarth's Stanwell School. Cornerswell ward contains both the Cogan community and the Poet's Estate where residents live on roads named after Wordsworth, Milton, Tenny...
Vale of Glamorgan Council
Penarth's four wards elect county councillors to the Vale of Glamorgan Council. St Augustine's ward is represented by Cllr Neil Thomas (Labour) and Cllr Ruba (Labour). Plymouth Ward is represented by Cllr Kathryn McCaffer (Independent ) & Cllr Ben Grey (Independent). Cornerswell Ward is represented by Cllrs Rhiannon Birch (Labour) & Peter King (Labour). Stanwell Ward is represented by Cllr Mark Wilson (Labour) & Cllr Lis Burnett (Labour)
Westminster
The MP for Penarth is Stephen Doughty (Labour & Co-operative Party) who was re-elected on 10 December 2019.
Sea shore
Penarth lies 5.2 mi (8.4 km) southwest of Cardiff by road and has a road infrastructure that has been much improved in recent years, together with a traditional rail link. The Cardiff Bay Barrage between Penarth Head and Grangetown was completed in 1999 and came into operation shortly afterwards. The impounding of the River Taff and River Elyhas created 220.35 ha (544.5 acres) of freshwater lake in the Cardiff Bay. The promised pedestrian and cyclist short cut to Cardiff across the barrage fi...
Soils
The general underlying sub-strata below the land and fields surrounding Penarth is of a limestone that was laid down under a prehistoric warm sea and subsequently ground down by ice age glaciers approximately 18,000 years ago. This produced the rich, brown and dry soil that provided an ideal growing medium for cereal crops during the medieval farming history of the area. The abundance of limestone was exploited for nearly a hundred years at the Cosmeston quarry that fed the Snocem cementfacto...
Cliffs
The town is located at the top of cliffs that have a distinctive strata rock formation that is world known and referred to as the Penarth Group of rocks or Penarth coeval strata wherever it appears in Britain. The Penarth cliffs are made of interspersed layers of limestone and alabaster, both of which are dry and crumbly rocks. The Penarth cliffs contain the largest known outcrop of naturally occurring Pink Alabaster anywhere in the world but, although decorative and highly prized by local ga...
The demographic figures date from the United Kingdom Census 2001are as follows: 1. Population: 23,245 2. Male: 11,031 3. Female: 12,214 4. Average age: 42 5. Retired: 5,904 6. Immigrants: 2,814 7. Degree educated 7,457 8. Living in households: 22,805 9. Living in communal establishments: 440 10. Students away from home: 339
Despite town centre improvements, since the 1980s Penarth seafront has seen many Victorian hotels and houses demolished in favour of modern apartment blocks. The theatre and bars on the town's pier were allowed to fall into neglect and disrepair, although the pier itself remains open to the public. In August 2008 plans for the development of the pi...
Cosmeston Lakes Country Park has been a popular attraction, throughout the years since it was developed in 1970. Apart from the lake and a wide range of water fowlthere are acres of pleasant walks in woodlands and on the heath. Cosmeston Medieval Village is open daily and features historical re-enactments during the summer weekends and on bank holi...
Secondary schools
St Cyres Comprehensive School, formerly Penarth County Secondary School has employed a keen focus on its Welsh Baccalaureate programme, where it has led the way in delivering this new qualification, associated to the International Baccalaureate programme. Spread over two sites with years seven to nine located in both Penarth and nearby Dinas Powys, and years ten to thirteen on just Penarth, the bigger of the two sites. St Cyres had hoped to see building work completed in 2011 on its brand new...
Junior and nursery provision
Primary schools include Cogan County Primary, Ysgol Pen-y-garth (Welsh medium), St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary and Nursery School, Fairfield County Primary, Victoria Primary, Albert Road Primary, Evenlode Primary and Llandough Primary School.
Local church sites are: 1. St Augustine's Church is just off Church Place on Penarth Headland. The Penarth parish church of Saint Augustine stands on the headland site of a much earlier church probably dating from 1240. The original church was demolished in 1865 and the new much larger church built in 1866 at a cost of £10,000, financed by Harriet ...
Click on the map for other historical maps of this place. In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Penarth like this: PENARTH, a sea-port and a parish in Cardiff district, Glamorgan. The sea-port adjoins Penarth-head, 3 miles S of Cardiff; is practically a suburb and a sub-port of Cardiff; communicates ...
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