Beauty and the beast

At the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru site tour at Brunel Briton Ferry Dock yesterday evening, there was a complete absence of young civil engineers. It made me wonder why? Is it because they emphasise the state of the art current trends and the future of technology to the exclusion of history?

My view is every profession has a history that needs to be honoured and promoted. And history gives us the opportunity to learn from others past mistakes and helps us become better decision makers. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries has left Wales with many industrial scars, but through lessons learned it now gives us the opportunity to promote sustainable practices to get the green energy revolution right, and to try and integrate the past, present and future to change lives for the better. One little known and very good example of regeneration is Jersey Park in Briton Ferry. Now a haven of tranquillity it was once the inclined part of the?South Wales Mineral Railway. Here rope-hauled coal wagons delivered black gold from?Glyncorrwg to Briton Ferry Dock. Like many of us rooted in Wales, black gold has our ancestors hands on it. I can see in my family tree that my great great great grandfather William Reynolds was a coal pit fireman in 1871 and a coal mine labourer in 1881.

This is what a state of the art current trend, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT, had to say about the Dock….

..“Brunel Briton Ferry Dock was a historic dock located in Briton Ferry, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1861. The dock was an important transportation hub for the coal and iron industries in the surrounding area.

The dock was constructed with a unique hydraulic system that allowed ships to be lifted out of the water and onto a cradle, which could then be transported along rails to a dry dock for repairs. This system was innovative for its time and allowed for efficient maintenance of the ships using the dock.

The dock was in operation for over a century before it was closed in 1971 due to the decline of the local coal and iron industries. Today, the site of the former dock has been redeveloped as the Brunel Dock housing estate, but some of the original structures and features of the dock can still be seen, including the original hydraulic pump house and a restored section of the dock wall”..

According to the Coflien (the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales) website https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/34237 the Dock closed in 1959 and in 1989 was noted as largely silted up although the walls were intact. Still to be seen are the partially dismantled lock gate and, on the eastern side of the dock, the square tower of the engine house which generated hydraulic power for its operation. Also locally known as Armstrong’s tower for the hydraulic accumulator that William George Armstrong installed in the tower.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel with his keen inquiring mind, immense energy, and a supreme ability to lead, inspire and persuade others, is one of my heroes that has helped me advance in life. He is famous for many things - the Great Western Railway, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, timber viaducts and the steamships Great Western, Great Britain and Great Eastern. Yet South Wales provided the landscape in which many of his innovative works were pioneered and Brunel the engineer is represented there at virtually every stage of his career. Many of these engineering landmarks, like Briton Ferry Dock survive, and many are still in use to this day.

A big thank you to Stephen Jones a writer and lecturer on local and industrial history, including Brunel and his works, who led the tour and the Briton Ferry Dock friends’ group who kindly hosted us. I would particularly like to thank campaigner and Councillor Hugh James who has a passion to bring more beauty to Briton Ferry. The group plans to host the National Brunel Network which will help hugely to raise the profile of Briton Ferry nationally and hopefully be a catalyst to raise funds for the Docks ongoing care, restoration and adaptation. Briton Ferry Dock what was once state of the art, should be recognised as being fundamental rather than irrelevant to the latest state of the art. Suffice to say I am now a fan of both the history of engineering and ChatGPT.?

ICE Wales Cymru Mike Timothy