0:00:03 > 0:00:06In 1913, 11 millions tons of coal
0:00:06 > 0:00:10were exported from here to the four corners of the globe.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13This is Barry and, at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16it was the biggest coal port in the world.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Before these docks were built, there was nothing here
0:00:21 > 0:00:23but countryside and a few small hamlets.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Barry Island, just over there, was just an island
0:00:27 > 0:00:30a place best known as a destination for pilgrims.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35The docks changed all that, linking the island to the mainland
0:00:35 > 0:00:37and attracting a new type of pilgrim.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Barry Island became the Blackpool of South Wales,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43a magnet for day-trippers
0:00:43 > 0:00:48with its less holy offerings of chips...and ice cream.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53Now Gavin and Stacey has given Barry a new celebrity
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and if you asked, "Oh, what's occurrin' in Barry's history?",
0:00:57 > 0:00:59the answer would be quite a lot.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23Barry lies on the South Wales coast,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26about nine miles to the west of Cardiff.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31The town and the island together have a population of 47,000
0:01:31 > 0:01:35but how did it come to be here and what, or who, was Barry?
0:01:37 > 0:01:41So we shall follow, for this first part of our thanksgiving
0:01:41 > 0:01:44for the life of St Baruc, this short order of service, here...
0:01:46 > 0:01:51It's said that Barry is named after St Baruc, a 6th century Welsh saint
0:01:51 > 0:01:56and today, the 27th September, is St Baruc's feast day.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59On this day, every year, the faithful of Barry Island
0:01:59 > 0:02:01gather to commemorate him.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09Giraldus Cambrensis writes about the legend of St Baruc,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11a young monk who forgot one of his master's books
0:02:11 > 0:02:14and was sent back by boat to retrieve it.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19The unfortunate Baruc drowned and was washed up on Barry Island.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It's said the book was miraculously discovered inside a large salmon,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27remarkably, "free from all injury by water."
0:02:28 > 0:02:29For centuries afterwards,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33Barry Island was an important site of pilgrimage
0:02:33 > 0:02:35and thousands of bodies were brought across the sands
0:02:35 > 0:02:41at low tide to be buried on what was then an isolated, mysterious island.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45There's no actual proof that Baruc ever existed
0:02:45 > 0:02:48and his tale is more than a little fanciful
0:02:48 > 0:02:51but there is evidence that Barry had been settled
0:02:51 > 0:02:53for many thousands of years.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56The Romans were here in the 1st century,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00in the age of Hadrian, the Emperor who built the wall up north.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And just above the shoreline, here, lie the remains
0:03:03 > 0:03:06of another structure built in his time.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10It was discovered in the 1960s by a local schoolboy.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Howard Thomas was only 16 when he saw something unusual
0:03:14 > 0:03:17lying in the ground near the beach.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20I was walking past the Water's Edge Hotel,
0:03:20 > 0:03:21which was then being built,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25and I noticed on the ground there were foundation walls
0:03:25 > 0:03:27with Roman bricks lying around.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32I made a note of it and the developers,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35they got in touch with me
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and they told me that it was of no consequence.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41But the teenage Howard Thomas wouldn't let it go.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45He eventually graduated from Cambridge as an archaeologist
0:03:45 > 0:03:47and, 20 years after that first discovery,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50he took part in a full scale excavation of the site.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55It revealed a much larger building than anyone could have imagined.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58So, what have we got, Howard? A nice little Roman villa by the sea?
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It's a classic Italian house.
0:04:02 > 0:04:0722 rooms round an inner courtyard, which was surrounded by a veranda.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12It's most likely to be an official inn for travelling civil servants.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15They would probably stay overnight, have a hot bath and then horses
0:04:15 > 0:04:19would be provided and then you would gallop inland with the dispatches.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21- What's this, then? - It's a Roman tile.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26It's got a footprint of a Roman on it, the actual footprint.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- Oh, yeah.- A hobnail sandal.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32And the person walked across the brickyard
0:04:32 > 0:04:34when the bricks were still soft,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37before they were fired, and left a footprint on it.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Typical Roman hobnail sandal.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46After the Romans departed, leaving only their footprints behind,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49the big events of history passed Barry by.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53There were Viking raids and the Normans settled there
0:04:53 > 0:04:57but for centuries the area was just sparsely-populated farmland.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00There were three small villages,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Barry, Merthyr Dyfan and Cadoxton.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06There are still traces in today's modern town
0:05:06 > 0:05:09of these villages' more rural existence.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14This is Cadoxton Court, a Victorian rectory,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17right alongside, something a lot older.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32This dovecote was built in the 13th century.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35It has roosts for 1,400 birds.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38They were kept for eggs, meat and as a status symbol,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41to show off to the neighbours that you really were somebody.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49And a short dove flight away from Cadoxton Court
0:05:49 > 0:05:53is another part of Barry's hidden history.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Nestling amongst the modern seafront apartments
0:05:56 > 0:06:00is a thatched cottage dating from Tudor times.
0:06:00 > 0:06:01The owner, Tom Kendrick,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05showed me where the original occupants left their mark.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Yes, so this is Jane Andrews,
0:06:12 > 0:06:18married to Alexander Grant in about 1585.
0:06:18 > 0:06:19The flowers?
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The flowers, they are, kind of, traditional.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Three flowers like that indicates it's a marriage portrait.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27It probably would have been the groom next to her.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30- She looks young, doesn't she? - She does, very young.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33But they married young, I think, in that period.
0:06:33 > 0:06:3515 years old, perhaps?
0:06:36 > 0:06:41There she is, Jane Andrews. 430 years old.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Preserved for posterity, yes. Very nice.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47It's one of the nice things about old houses.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58By the second half of the 1800s,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02much of the landscape of South Wales had been changed dramatically.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05The Industrial Revolution was in full flow
0:07:05 > 0:07:08but Barry and its island remained an isolated backwater.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13This is a photo taken in the early 1880s and it shows farmland,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and Barry Island surrounded by water.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21The census of 1881 reveals just 85 people living here.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26Ten years later, this landscape too had been transformed
0:07:26 > 0:07:28largely thanks to one man.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37David Davies Llandinam was a true self-made man.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Born into poverty in mid-Wales,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42he made his first fortune building railways
0:07:42 > 0:07:46before digging some of the most profitable mines in the Rhondda.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51But all of Davies' coal had to go through the docks in Cardiff,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53owned by the Marquess of Bute.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56These Cardiff docks were chock-a-block
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and Bute charged a premium, a penny a ton, to use them.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05The self-made Davies hated paying his dues to the aristocratic Bute.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08His solution was simple he'd build his own port
0:08:08 > 0:08:12and the place he chose was Barry.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Although Davies was one of the wealthiest men in Britain,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18he still had to get his plans through Parliament.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Bute and his influential friends stymied the first attempt
0:08:21 > 0:08:24but, at the second reading, the bill was passed
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and Barry Docks got the green light.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Construction started on November 14th 1884
0:08:32 > 0:08:36and, remarkably, it was completed less than five years later
0:08:36 > 0:08:39an extraordinary engineering achievement.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42A causeway was built to the island to create the docks,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44linking Barry Island to the mainland
0:08:44 > 0:08:46for the first time since the ice age.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51The official opening, in July 1889, was a grand affair,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54with David Davies welcoming over 2,000 guests.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59To keep a close eye on their business,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02the owners of Barry Docks built this imposing office,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05high on the hill above their creation.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Opened in 1898, it's supposed to be a calendar building -
0:09:09 > 0:09:12with 365 windows for the days of the year
0:09:12 > 0:09:14and 52 rooms, one for every week.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20David Davies died a year after the docks were opened
0:09:20 > 0:09:22but his audacious plan worked far better
0:09:22 > 0:09:24than even he could have imagined.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28By 1897, Barry had overtaken Cardiff
0:09:28 > 0:09:33and by 1913, it was the biggest coal port in the world,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36with 11 million tons of coal passing through
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and 4,000 ships using the docks.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42It's not hard to imagine the directors standing here,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45counting their ships in and out.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Counting their fortunes, as well.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51The docks brought thousands of people to live and work
0:09:51 > 0:09:52in the new town.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55They came from across Wales, Britain and beyond.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Historian Deirdre Beddoe was born and still lives in Barry,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04her father and grandfather worked in the docks.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08This dock was surrounded by coal hoists, 30 odd of them,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11where the coal went straight into the hulls of the ship.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14I mean, this was an exciting place.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21People came in from all over, from other parts of Wales,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26like my mother's mother, from Llandudoch, in Cardiganshire
0:10:26 > 0:10:28but her husband was from Bristol.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31His father came as well - he was a Bristolian,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35he brought his wife from Germany on his ship -
0:10:35 > 0:10:37and that's just one side of my family.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40My grandfather worked on the dock, my father worked on the dock
0:10:40 > 0:10:45and, for me, living on the sea
0:10:45 > 0:10:49meant I always seemed to look out to that wider world.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51I thought that was much more exciting.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54You know, I could tell you because I had a little book
0:10:54 > 0:10:58with all the distances given from port to port,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I could tell you in those days the distance between
0:11:00 > 0:11:04the Port of Barry and Buenos Aires or Caracas
0:11:04 > 0:11:07but I had no idea where Bangor or Bala was.
0:11:08 > 0:11:1319th century Barry was full of shops, grand houses and schools,
0:11:13 > 0:11:18all built at, "Almost American speed," according to a local paper.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Even though it was a boom town, Barry was built to last
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and its late Victorian splendour is still visible today.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30The Tabernacle Chapel, built in 1894 was, and remains,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33the heart of the town's Welsh speaking community.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37The grandest of Barry's civic buildings
0:11:37 > 0:11:40is the town hall and library, opened in 1903,
0:11:40 > 0:11:45but what sort of town was Barry at the beginning of the 20th century?
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Historian and broadcaster Dai Smith went to school in Barry
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and still lives there today.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Barry's expansion at the end of the 19th century is truly incredible.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57400 people, a sleepy little village,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01the docks come, 40,000 people within 20 years.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05It is dynamic, it is radical, it is rough, it is tough
0:12:05 > 0:12:09but it's also a place looking for a deeper sense of belonging
0:12:09 > 0:12:12and that is, I think, what makes Barry unique.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15It's a town out of time, in that sense.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17It's a meteor that flashes across the Welsh sky.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20It's different from the growth of the Welsh valleys
0:12:20 > 0:12:23because that's over a longer period of time.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24Barry just happens.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28The railway was crucial to the history of the town, bringing
0:12:28 > 0:12:32millions of tons of coal down from the valleys and out to the world.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36It's said that in those days you could walk all the way from Barry
0:12:36 > 0:12:40to Pontypridd along the tops of coal wagons waiting to be unloaded.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Nowadays there's very little left of the railway traffic
0:12:43 > 0:12:45that used to be crammed into the docks
0:12:45 > 0:12:47but these locomotives waiting to be restored
0:12:47 > 0:12:49give a glimpse of the age of steam -
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and it wasn't just coal that they pulled into Barry.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54They also brought people.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02For centuries it had only been possible to get
0:13:02 > 0:13:05to Barry Island at low tide
0:13:05 > 0:13:10but when a railway connection was made in 1896, all that changed.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12The beaches were now accessible to anyone
0:13:12 > 0:13:15who wanted a cheap day out by the sea -
0:13:15 > 0:13:17and come they did in their thousands.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24The First World War put a stop to the fun but in 1920s and 1930s,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27with the advent of paid holiday leave,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29numbers went through the roof.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36In the basement of Barry Library is the archive
0:13:36 > 0:13:39of The Barry and District News, which gives a first-hand account
0:13:39 > 0:13:43of the impact on the town of this new mass tourism.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Local papers always paint a good portrait of what was going on.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51A few letters expressing outrage at the beaches
0:13:51 > 0:13:53being left knee-deep in litter
0:13:53 > 0:13:58but here we have August 1937, "Record Crowds At Barry.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03"120,000 in just one day on a bank holiday in August.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07"They stocked up with lemonade and orange juice
0:14:07 > 0:14:10"and one trader was much dismayed to find it was absolutely
0:14:10 > 0:14:13"annihilated in two hours on a Sunday.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16"He thought he had bought enough to last the week."
0:14:16 > 0:14:17Postcards, too.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Here we have Barry Island in all its splendour.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Did they have a good time?
0:14:22 > 0:14:26"Dear Lily, we are having a fine time and the weather, lovely.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27"Love from Alice."
0:14:33 > 0:14:37There were fortunes to be made from this new mass tourism.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39The first owners of the Pleasure Park
0:14:39 > 0:14:41were the White Brothers in the 1920s
0:14:41 > 0:14:45but in a rollercoaster turf war they were outbid
0:14:45 > 0:14:49by fairground owner Pat Collins, who took over in 1929
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and the White Brothers were relegated to this smaller site.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58The sign is still here, the trouble is, it's just not very cosy.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02The Collins family ran the Pleasure Park until the 1990s
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and Pat Collins' grandson, also called Pat,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07still runs the rides on the promenade.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14The island is the nearest seaside resort to Birmingham
0:15:14 > 0:15:15in the country...
0:15:17 > 0:15:19..that is why my grandfather actually thought,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21"Yeah, we'll have a crack at that."
0:15:21 > 0:15:25And that was it. And then it was unbelievable.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28People say, "Oh, there were hundreds and thousands of people."
0:15:28 > 0:15:31There were. There were. Literally.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Then, in September 1939,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40the crowds were suddenly absent from Barry Island.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43With fear of invasion, the beaches and funfair were closed...
0:15:45 > 0:15:48..but, as a major port, Barry and its people had a vital role
0:15:48 > 0:15:50to play in the war effort.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53With its docks and maritime tradition, it was natural
0:15:53 > 0:15:58that between 1939 and 1945, many men from Barry went to sea.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Most joined the Merchant Navy, bringing supplies to Britain,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05running the gauntlet of German U-boats.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07The cost in human lives was great.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Proportionally, more merchant seamen from Barry died
0:16:11 > 0:16:14during the Second World War than from any other seaport in Britain.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19This is a memorial to nearly 500 men from Barry and the surrounding area
0:16:19 > 0:16:21who never returned home.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28In 1943 and 1944 Barry's docks were crucial in the build-up
0:16:28 > 0:16:30for the D-Day landings.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35More than 8,000 American soldiers lived in camps around the town.
0:16:35 > 0:16:4017-year-old Pearl Beaudette worked for the Americans in the docks.
0:16:42 > 0:16:48They were homesick, a long way from their family, from their friends,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50in a perfectly strange country.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53I mean, they had landed from the land of plenty
0:16:53 > 0:16:58into austerity, rationing, blackout.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01There were many black soldiers in Barry.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Pearl was shocked by the discrimination they faced
0:17:04 > 0:17:06from their fellow Americans.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Of course, being a gregarious Taff, we always wanted to say,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13"Hello, how are you?", and we got told off...
0:17:14 > 0:17:17..you know, you weren't supposed to talk to them.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Of course, that didn't go down very well with us, coming from Barry.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27I mean, our school friends had had a different colour skin to us.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30One American meant more to Pearl than any other.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Gerald Beaudette was a warrant officer
0:17:32 > 0:17:34who she met through her work.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39You know, when we did have any time off, we'd go to the pictures
0:17:39 > 0:17:42but it was obvious...
0:17:44 > 0:17:49..we were getting very attached to each other and...
0:17:52 > 0:17:55..he was a very special person.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Pearl and Gerald were married
0:17:57 > 0:18:01but soon afterwards he had to leave to take part in the D-Day landings.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06Despite the secrecy, he got a message back to her.
0:18:06 > 0:18:07He phoned me in the office.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11Of course, we'd been sworn to no contact, no...
0:18:11 > 0:18:16So, that was the 6th...June.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20He rang because my birthday is the 7th June,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23so he'd rang up to wish me happy birthday.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27But that was the last time Pearl, who was expecting Gerald's child,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30ever spoke to her husband.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Like many wartime marriages, it was short-lived.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39And Rhoose Airport, near Cardiff,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42is easily the most important airport in Wales.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The Second World War had another lasting effect on Barry.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50In 1942, Rhoose had been selected as a training station
0:18:50 > 0:18:54for Spitfire pilots and, by the 1950s was established as Wales'
0:18:54 > 0:18:58first airport, with flights to Ireland and France.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01But, for most, foreign holidays were a far off dream
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and Barry Island was busier than ever.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15When we used to have the miners' fortnight,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17you couldn't count the people.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20There would be 200 coaches in the car park.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23There would be rail excursions coming from everywhere, even England -
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Manchester, Liverpool, London, or from the Valleys.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28I don't know how this island didn't sink,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31under the amount of people that were here.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Still we had the railway,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36which was bringing in train loads and train loads.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42Even I can witness it, on a bank holiday Monday, in the early '60s.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44I would stand on the top of the Scenic Railway
0:19:44 > 0:19:50and watch lines of trains coming in, dropping off, pulling back out.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55In, out, in, out. It was...mind blowing.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00These thousands of people needed feeding
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and what else would they eat but fish and chips?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06The O'Shea family having been selling fish and chips
0:20:06 > 0:20:09on Barry Island since 1946.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Barbara O'Shea remembers the early days.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16They'd get off the bus and it was like a tidal wave.
0:20:16 > 0:20:17They used to come down the road
0:20:17 > 0:20:20where they'd stop and buy their posh hats,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23with "Kiss Me Quick" on and that sort of thing.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25We had just come out of a war.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29For the vast majority of people, it was like coming to heaven.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Before we finished the day's work,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38we then had to sit down by a great big zinc bath
0:20:38 > 0:20:42and hand-peel potatoes ready for the next day because we had no peelers!
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- All by hand?- All by hand.- And chip. - We didn't even have a chipper.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50- A hand chipper.- You know, the old-fashioned hand chippers?- Yeah.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Business got even better when Butlins arrived in 1966,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57and an extra 7,000 people stayed on the island every week.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Broadcaster and writer Gwyn Thomas caught the appeal of Barry
0:21:03 > 0:21:06perfectly in this BBC film from 1969.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11This place to which we came once a year for one day,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14as a reward for Sunday school obedience,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18glowed like a healing radium through all our dreams.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Here, the sea hinted at a possible escape into infinity.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Hills did not block out the sky,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26men did not vanish into holes in the ground.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29To my eyes and ears,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Barry Island still wears the past like a robe of rustling laughter.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Thomas was a teacher at the town's grammar school.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Barry's schools were renowned,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43both for the quality of their staff and the success of their pupils.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47And the great headmaster of Barry Grammar School from the 1890s,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Edgar Jones, and his daughter
0:21:49 > 0:21:52who then runs the girls' grammar school
0:21:52 > 0:21:55was one of Wales' great educationalists
0:21:55 > 0:22:00and he runs that school for the next 20-30 years as if it's an Eton.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06And in very many senses, Barry, I do think, was one of the most important
0:22:06 > 0:22:08schools in Wales for over a generation.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10- SPEAKER:- Gwynfor Richard Evans...
0:22:10 > 0:22:13One of the school's most famous old boys was Gwynfor Evans,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17son of Dan Evans, owner of the town's department store.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Born in Barry 100 years ago in 1912, he became Plaid Cymru's
0:22:21 > 0:22:26first MP when he famously won the Carmarthen by-election in 1966.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29CHEERING
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Another Barry institution was founded in the same year
0:22:32 > 0:22:35as Gwynfor Evans' birth.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38This is Jenner Park, home of Barry Town Football Club.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43Founded in 1912, they were regular winners of the Welsh League and Cup.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47But their most memorable games were reserved for European competition,
0:22:47 > 0:22:52like the time they beat Portuguese giants Porto 3-1 in the Champions League.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54COMMENTATOR: Certainly at the moment they're playing
0:22:54 > 0:22:55with a great deal of pride.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58There's another opportunity as well! CHEERING
0:22:58 > 0:22:59And the header goes in and they're ahead!
0:22:59 > 0:23:04The goal is scored by Mike Flynn
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and Barry Town lead the Portuguese side.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Since then, well, it has been a struggle with
0:23:11 > 0:23:14the ownership of the club changing hands several times.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Now, it's the supporters who run the club
0:23:17 > 0:23:20and everyone here hopes that the good times will return.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27The town of Barry has also suffered its ups and downs.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30The docks went in to slow decline after the Second World War
0:23:30 > 0:23:36and the railway became better known as a graveyard for steam engines.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40From 1959 Geest did import bananas to Barry from the West Indies
0:23:40 > 0:23:43but it left in the '80s.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Where there were once thousands of ships,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49nowadays the arrival of one boat can be seen as a bit of an event.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54But the docks are by no means dead.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58The long-standing Dow Corning chemical works employs 600 people
0:23:58 > 0:24:03and its products still go through the docks to far-flung destinations.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05And Barry, like docklands everywhere,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07has its waterfront developments.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09And so it is that the coal trucks have been
0:24:09 > 0:24:11replaced by supermarket trolleys
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and where they used to rumble by,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16there are now car parks and balconies.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24Barry Island also suffered. Butlins finally closed in 1996.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27The Pleasure Park is a shadow of its glory days,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30with the famous log flume now closed down,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34no longer ringing with the screams of terrified day-trippers.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40But just when it seemed that Barry was no more than a faded
0:24:40 > 0:24:44postcard of holidays past, it was given a new moment in the sun.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Yes, Gavin And Stacey. Essex boy meets Barry girl,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52one of the most popular British comedies in recent years.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54You can feel its effect everywhere
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and once again people are coming from all over the world
0:24:57 > 0:25:01to visit film locations here on the island and in town.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06This is Number 47, Trinity Street. Home of Stacey's mum, Gwen.
0:25:06 > 0:25:07It's only small
0:25:07 > 0:25:11but it's one of the biggest tourist attractions in Barry.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16# Tell me tomorrow I'll wait by the window for you. #
0:25:16 > 0:25:20When Glenda Kenyon's house became a key location for the series,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24she couldn't have imagined how it would change her life.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Oh, my word. Look at this.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33- Glenda, this is your shrine to Gavin And Stacey!- Yes.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38- This is a museum, it's a shrine, it's a place of pilgrimage.- Yes.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43- They come and they sign?- Yep. - Do you count them in?- Yes, yes.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49I'm up to 10,185 people.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53It is. There are people from all over the world.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Australia, India, Africa, New Zealand,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59London, Bristol, my estate...
0:25:59 > 0:26:01- Essex?- Yep.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06- Hiya, Mum.- Hiya, love. Was that Doris out?- Yeah.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07How's her leg?
0:26:07 > 0:26:12- Fine.- That's a nice top.- TK Maxx. Five quid down from ten.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- Can't go wrong. Fancy an omelette?- Aye, go on then.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19- Ness will be here at six.- Will she want an omelette?- I don't know.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26- I guess this is it.- The famous frying pan.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29- Do you use it?- Not for omelettes!
0:26:29 > 0:26:30HE LAUGHS
0:26:30 > 0:26:34- Oh, hi, Ness.- All right, Bryn. - How's it going down the slots?
0:26:34 > 0:26:36I won't lie to you, Bryn, I hates it.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Barry Island's not what it used to be, but what can you do?
0:26:38 > 0:26:40Times change, people move on.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45But Gavin And Stacey HAS changed Barry
0:26:45 > 0:26:49bringing tens of thousands of new visitors in its wake.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52And now with talk of plans to demolish the old funfair
0:26:52 > 0:26:54and replace it with a new leisure complex,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57people here are positive about the future.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05I'm back where I started, on the floor talking to people
0:27:05 > 0:27:11and the amount of different accents I am hearing now -
0:27:11 > 0:27:17Japan, Australia, Germany, Ireland, all over -
0:27:17 > 0:27:19which before, we never used to hear.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23Barry's back on the map,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and we'll benefit from that for a number of years.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30It depends on what happens with the developments around,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34on Barry Island. The fairground, the old Butlins site
0:27:34 > 0:27:37but hopefully something positive will happen there
0:27:37 > 0:27:41and we'll be here for another 50-odd, 60 years.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49What's next now is to make Barry Island an experience.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50There's a lot of planning,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52a lot of money want to be investing and signing.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55We've got the roads, we've got the railways,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57we've got the infrastructure.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00People are interested and want to invest on Barry Island.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01So it's got to be a winner.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Barry's heyday - those extraordinary years at the end of the 19th
0:28:07 > 0:28:11century when entrepreneurial drive could lead to fortunes being
0:28:11 > 0:28:14made through coal, or could lead to this place becoming
0:28:14 > 0:28:18a paradise for day-trippers - well, those days are gone.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21But Barry is more than just hanging on in there.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Something has been born again here and...well,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Barry and its island are happening places.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Things are occurring here once more.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd