Secret Barry Island

After much hard work, many late nights and countless cups of coffee, the authors of this blog, Mark and Jonathan Lambert, have had our first book published with Amberley Publishing. The book is devoted to the past - times of Barry Island; we take the reader deep into history through the long distant past of this once lonely tidal island turned popular tourist destination.  

During the course of many years research into the locality, which began a long time ago in a quiet corner of the library at Cardiff University whilst attempting to write an archaeological dissertation, it became clear that there was not one single publication dedicated alone to the history of Barry Island, although there was certainly scope for such a work – a vision was formed.

Previous to our book, snippets of information about the history of Barry Island could be obtained in various old and out of print publications, but nothing which formed a cohesive and accessible body of work. They all seemed to lack something whether it was detail, periods from Barry Island’s past which were omitted, or were dated in style. 

The book was originally called Saints, Smugglers and Sand - the Barry Island Story. The title was changed at the request of the publisher to fit with the Secret series Amberley produce. The original cover was also changed for a generic image which all of the books in the Secret series have. The word count was originally smaller, with the subject matter solely concerned with the island itself and the amount of images were greatly augmented due to the importunities of the publisher. 

(The original cover for Saints, Smugglers and Sand – the Barry Island Story)  

Some readers might be wondering why there is no twentieth century element to the book. We felt that the island’s post-docks history is very well known with numerous photo books available, but that the pre-docks history was inaccessible and vague for the most part. It is fortunate that during the formative years of the island’s development during the late Nineteenth Century, archaeologists such as John Storrie and John Romilly Allen took an active interest in the archaeological remains there and recorded what they could for posterity. 

We are grateful to the Cambrian Archaeological Society, the Cardiff Naturalists Society and British History Online. The Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales and Mark Lodwick were kind enough to let us reproduce images and utilise articles from within their pages. The Glamorgan Archives were also very helpful and is a great place for the historian to find material. We are also grateful to individuals such as Tom Clements, who without his kind permission to reproduce a good number of his fascinating images of old Barry, there would be no Secret Barry Island.

A nice review of Secret Barry Island by the South Wales Echo's Brian Lee:

https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/cardiff-remembered-happy-memories-of-great-days-out-at-barry-island/

©Jonathan and Mark Lambert 2017

The right of Jonathan and Mark Lambert to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted, reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic means, including social media, or mechanical, or by any other means including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the authors.