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 from shallow deposits for local use and by the beginning of the eighteenth century, a trade in coal was developing along the coast from such areas as Pembrokeshire, Llanelli and Swansea Bay. As surface deposits were exhausted by opencast mining, shallow pits were dug, and later bell pits, with more coal being extracted from short galleries. Soon, horizontal shafts were being dug into the hillsides and barrows manoeuvred along wooden tracks. During the Industrial Revolution, Wales was at the forefront of the development of new technologies for the mining industry. These innovations included the use of water power for winding