Bute East Dock and the old crane

The old crane beside the Wharf, which was once Cardiff’s Bute East Dock

For the last year my regular walk has been around the Wharf in Cardiff Bay, alongside County Hall, where I now work. The Wharf was formerly the Bute East Dock and a crane from those days stands near the middle of the far side.

View across the Wharf to the crane

Cardiff Docks were built by wealthy aristocrat and industrialist John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, who had developed the iron and coal industries in the South Wales Valleys and then needed a sea connection to the Bristol Channel so he could export to the world.

The Marquess built the first Bute Dock (later called the West Bute Dock) in 1939, with iron and coal transported there on the new Taff Vale Railway alongside the existing Glamorganshire Canal.

John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute (1793-1848) – image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

The Marquess had seats in Scotland, Bedfordshire and Cardiff with a townhouse in Kensington, London, but although he owned Cardiff Castle he spent little time in South Wales, preferring to live in Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute, in the Firth of Clyde on the west of Scotland.

The 2nd Marquess’ son, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart (1847-1900), was the 3rd Marquess of Bute and is pictured here as a boy – image courtesy of Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales

The East Bute Dock (later renamed the Bute East Dock) was built to ease pressure on the first dock. It was opened by the 12-year-old John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, on 14 September 1859 as his father had died when the lad was a baby. I have been unable to find an easy answer to who was the driving force behind this project when the boy was still so young.

A view of Bute East Dock (looking South) showing transportation and ships Santa Eugenis, La Fontaine and Gena – the building in the distance on the right is the Pierhead Building, which still stands – image courtesy of Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Wales

The online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW), Coflein, quotes from A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of South East Wales, AIA, 2003:
Bute East Dock, Cardiff was the second dock opened by Lord Bute, in stages from 1855 to 1859. The dock was entered from the sea by a two gate lock, where there was a basin and a further lock to enter the main dock. 45 acres of water were enclosed and fifteen coal staiths erected, allowing 1 million tons of coal a year to be handled at this dock alone.

By 1890 there were 30 staiths, plus three ballast cranes and 22 hydraulic cranes. The basin and entrance to the dock has been filled in and a crane relocated cosmetically on the east side.

Looking south on the Wharf (former Bute East Dock) today – the crane is in the middle of the picture

The dock was 1,310 metres (1,432 yards) long and 152 metres (166 yards) wide and surrounded by railway sidings and large warehouses. It was closed in 1970 and the railway sidings were removed. The only original building fronting the dock to survive is the Bute Warehouse.

The Bute Warehouse today

At the base of the old crane is a plaque with these words:
15 ton capacity electric crane (No. 5) built by Messrs Stothert & Pitt Ltd in 1933 for the Great Western Railway Company and erected in the commercial dry dock Cardiff adjacent to the Roath Basin. The crane was originally used for ship repair work until being transferred to the north side of the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1970.

The quayside crane was utilised at a number of berths in the Queen Alexandra in subsequent years as a heavy lifting appliance handling a variety of general cargoes.

The appliance was adapted in 1981 as a grabbing crane to load scrap metal cargoes and was last used in January 1987 before being de-commissioned.

The quayside crane was donated to the South Glamorgan County Council in 1988 by Associated British Ports, the port authority for Cardiff.

Another view of the old crane

Development began around the disused dock in the 1980s, with the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation being set up to drive regeneration – the inspiration being Baltimore’s waterfront in the USA, the city having been revitalised in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1988 the County Council built new headquarters at Atlantic Wharf beside the dock and the area has grown – and is still growing – with new businesses and hotels, houses and apartments, some in converted warehouses.

There are other souvenirs of the old days of the working docks around the Wharf…

A mooring bollard on the footpath beside the Wharf

A metal mooring ring

And finally…

These lights on the footpath are not old but I like them and they remind me of old gas lamps

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