Barry, Vale of Glamorgan dock basin was opened in 1889 to be followed by two other docks and extensive port installations. The Barry Railway brought coal down from the South Wales Valleys to the new docks whose trade grew from one million tons in the first year, to over nine million tons by 1903. The port was crowded with ships and had flourishing ship repair yards, cold stores, flour mills and an ice factory. By 1913, Barry was the largest coal exporting port in the world. Behind the docks rose the terraced houses of Barry which, with Cadoxton, soon formed a sizeable town. The
Coal industry in Wales gear, the provision of mine ventilation, the use of steam engines for both winding and pumping and the use of underground tramways and canals for transport. Welsh mine-owners pioneered the use of horse-drawn and later steam railways to transport coal to the docks. The transfer from wood to coal as fuel that occurred during the Industrial Revolution was heavily influenced by Welsh innovations. The land under which coal could be found was generally in private ownership. John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute was a large landowner in South Wales and developed the coal and iron industries in Glamorganshire in the