![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Barry-docks-office-building-1.jpg?resize=500%2C343\")
Barry docks office building<\/p><\/div>\n
At the end of the nineteenth century a group of industrialists got together under the leadership of David Davies of Llandinam and with financial investment from John Cory of T\u0177\u2019r Dyffryn, amongst others, to develop new docks in Barry for the exporting of the coal mined in their mines in the Rhondda Valley. The Chief Engineer of the docks project was John Wolfe Barry – who had also been involved in the construction of Tower Bridge in London. Interestingly, one of the other engineers who worked on the docks project was Henry Marc Brunel – the son of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.<\/p>\n
The headquarters of the Barry Docks and Railway Company was built between 1897 and 1900, designed by architect Arthur E. Bell after the style of Christopher Wren. It cost \u00a359,000 to build and an imposing bronze statue of David Davies stands in front of it today. The statue is the work of Alfred Gilbert, the man who designed the statue of Eros in London. A copy of the David Davies statue stands beside the A470 in his home village of Llandinam in mid Wales.<\/p>\n
This building exhibits many interesting and unusual features. It is one of a number of buildings which are found all over the world called \u2018calendar buildings\u2019. Other examples are Avon Tyrrell House in Hampshire, Cairness House in Aberdeenshire, Adare Manor near Limerick, Schloss Eggenberg in Graz in Austria and so on. The features seen in such buildings are a reflection of various numbers in a calendar.<\/p>\n
In our building in Barry there are 4 floors (4 seasons in a year), 52 marble fireplaces (52 weeks in a year),<\/p>\n
12 panels in the porch (12 months in a year), 2 circular windows – one on each side of the porch representing the Sun and the Moon, 7 lights behind the traceried fanlight window (7 days in a week), 365 windows (365 days in a year) and a staircase made of Portland stone, which consists of 31 stairs (31 days in most months).<\/p>\n
In 1984 much of the building was destroyed by fire, but fortunately, it was rebuilt and today can be seen in its former glory. It now houses the offices of the Vale of Glamorgan Council.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ann M. Jones<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019ve travelled along Ffordd y Mileniwm from Palmerston to the Barry Waterfront, you will have passed by one of the most iconic buildings in the area. This imposing building looks out over Barry Island – but at one time it faced the busy Barry Docks and housed the Docks Offices. At the end of the nineteenth century a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,40],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-1uv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15339,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15339","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":0},"title":"Book Review","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th April 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"BOOK REVIEW \"Barry Railway: Coal\u2019s Last Burst\" This slim volume by erstwhile civil engineer, local historian and author Stephen K Jones has been produced to serve as an overarching summary to bring together several historical strands. These chart the 1880s development and growth of the Barry Railway and Docks to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Woodhams.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13943,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13943","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":1},"title":"Valentine\u2019s Day","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th February 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"DAVID DAVIES OF LLANDINAM 1818 - 1890 The man chiefly responsible for the development of the village of Barry into the largest coal export port in the world. In last month\u2019s copy of \u2018What\u2019s On\u2019 Stephen Jones mentioned the name of David Davies of Llandinam in his article, stating that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Picture10.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3406,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3406","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":2},"title":"WENVOE RAILWAY TUNNEL","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE RAILWAY TUNNEL \u00a0 The Barry Railway Company was built to release the stranglehold of the Taff Vale Railway (from Merthyr Tydfil) and Cardiff Docks on the export of south Wales\u2019 coal. Work commenced in1885. Building with great efficiency Barry docks soon overtook Cardiff in exporting coal. This impressive achievement,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe History Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe History Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=40"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14835,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14835","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":3},"title":"A Brief History Of Barry To 1939","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A BRIEF HISTORY OF BARRY TO 1939 We all go to Barry, at least now and again, but how often do we pause to consider how the town of almost 60,000 people today became developed in a relatively short space of time? This chronology has been (mostly) taken from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Picture9.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16931,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16931","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":4},"title":"Barry Docks to Penarth Marina","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd May 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Barry Docks to Penarth Marina It was Easter weekend and we stayed local to avoid traffic. We started opposite the household waste centre in Barry, at Hayes point, on the edge of an exposed industrial area but walking through a gap in the verge we found ourselves on rocks at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Footsteps.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5500,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5500","url_meta":{"origin":5735,"position":5},"title":"Barry Dock RNLI Lifeboat Station","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Barry Dock RNLI Lifeboat Station is discreetly located in what\u2019s called \u2018The Outer Harbour\u2019 which is next to Jacksons Bay on Barry Island. 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