Footsteps across the sand

12/8/2013

The original text for this post has been removed as an expanded version of it will appear in Planet, The Welsh Internationalist in Autumn 2015.

For more about wrecks strewn across Baglan Sands and the mouth of the River Nedd see A. Leslie Evans' The Story of Baglan (Port Talbot).

For more information about the Floating Docks* at Briton Ferry see Philip Adams' A Most Industrious Town, Briton Ferry and its people 1814 - 2014.

*Brunel was appointed to construct the docks in 1853 but he died in 1859, two years before completion. The docks closed in 1959 and fell into disuse but what remains of them is now protected by CADW together with the accumulator tower that powered the lock gates and cranes, not far from the new offices of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council at The Quays in the Baglan Energy Park.

13 Comments

Peter Ross

12/8/2013 03:55:31 am

Lynn, there are times when you disturb my equilibrium with your prose. As I read these blogs, I get thrown back into memories from years ago (some of which I wish would stay buried! lol) I wish I had your gift for words. :-) Keep up the good work please.

Lynne link

13/8/2013 04:30:03 am

Thanks so much, Peter. Hope to catch up with you in October.

Darren Elkins

12/8/2013 05:07:00 am

I felt i was there whilst reading this. Sometimes imagination fills in for memory. Beautiful Lynne.

Lynne link

13/8/2013 04:31:28 am

Thank you, Darren. It means a lot when a writer knows their words have touched other people.

Vance Broad

14/8/2013 01:51:28 am

From 1951, when we moved from Taibach to live on Aberavon Beach, my brother and I played in the rusted steel compartmented bulkheads (approximatey one metre square each) which comprised the keel of HMS Sylph. The wreck was all that remained of the 'R' Class destroyer which broke her tow three decades before. HMS Sylph came aground on the beach which is now overlooked by old age home - at the new Zebra Crossing where Princess Margaret Way comes nearest to the beach. Tides reached Sylpihfor a few days only each fortnight and left a wealth of marine life to find. Often covered over by wind blown sand, the wreck was eventually dug out and cut up with acetylyne torches to be removed by a local scrap merchant before your time Lynne, but her ghost remains in folklore.

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09:20

Vance Broad

It was called HMS Sylph not Sylphii.

http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/Port%20Talbot%20Wrecks%20&%20Groundings2.htm

Lynne Rees link

14/8/2013 02:17:13 am

Thanks so much for posting that information, Vance. Great to have it clarified.

Janet Griffiths

21/8/2013 01:52:42 pm

Loved that piece..it is last night's memory and today my aching calves still reminding me of the long walk across the wavy sand on the dunes side..for me to forage for shells and driftwood, for which I was fairly well rewarded.

The landscape last night resembled a lost and barren land, it almost looked like an invaded and forgotten area, abandoned ,used and abused by an audience with no memory or conscience of a youth that was reminded to 'take your litter home'.

Lynne link

21/8/2013 02:32:22 pm

Thanks, Janet. I'm pleased you enjoyed it. And thanks too for posting your own eloquent, lyrical response.

STEPHEN KNIGHT

20/2/2021 05:08:19 am

I have recently found a 3 feet square piece of the ship--- a brass riveted plate on the metal reads..
" TURBINE, SPARE BRASSES, HMS SYLPH.
IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN DISTURBED BY THE RECENT SHORE PROTECTION WORK.. LOCATED NEAR THE NEW SLIP

Lynne Rees

20/2/2021 11:11:54 am

What a fabulous find, Stephen. Do you have a photo of it you could share on one of the PT Facebook groups. I'm sure there'd be a lot of interest.

STEPHEN KNIGHT

28/3/2021 08:34:28 pm

Lynne, more than happy to get the photos to you, dont do facebook.. let me know your e mail and i will forward on to you.. i have the steel plate at my home in Aberavon....

Lynne Rees

29/3/2021 08:18:13 am

Thanks, Stephen - email is [email protected]

STEPHEN KNIGHT

31/3/2021 04:40:44 am

CHEERS LYNNE, WILL GET THEM TO YOU SOON..

Lynne Rees

Lynne Rees was born and grew up in Port Talbot and blogs as 'the hungry writer' at www.lynnerees.com. Her book, Real Port Talbot, an upbeat and offbeat account of the town and surrounding area, from Bryn to Sandfields, from Margam to Baglan Bay, and everything in between, is published by Seren Books.

Footsteps across the sand

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