Plas Dinam POWYS
When coal was king, much of the black gold extracted from collieries in the Rhondda Valley was carried by endless lines of steam locomotives down to Barry Docks for export worldwide. The docks were founded in the 1880s by a group of colliery owners, led by Welsh industrialist David Davies of Llandinam, in response to the congestion and expense of using the Taff Vale Railway to transport highly sought-after steam coal from Davies’ collieries in the Rhondda to nearby Cardiff Docks.
The creation of Barry Docks, and with it more efficient access routes for coal coming from mines under the ownership of Davies’ Ocean Coal Company, resulted in a huge expansion of the South Wales Coalfield, one which would last into the next century.
In 1913, some 23 years after David Davies’ death, Barry Docks exported just over 11m long
