PGW(Gm)58(GLA)

Cold Knap Park  

II  

01/02/2022  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

Barry  

310148  

166372  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

Urban public park  

1920s  

Registered for its historic interest as a well preserved urban public park of the 1920s with a unified and distinctive style. The design of the park takes good advantage of its seaside position and includes a magnificent promenade from which there are fine views of the shore and Bristol Channel. The park was created from open farmland in the mid-1920s, when funding for it was obtained from the government (Unemployed Grants Committee). The park falls into three sections: the main area, which is dominated by a boating lake, a small sunken triangular area to the west, and the site of the former lido; the whole flanked on the seaward side by a broad, tarmac promenade, the main axial feature of the park. The sunken area (built post-Second World War) lies at the west end of the promenade, its sloping grass sides cut into narrow terraces with ribbon beds, flights of brick steps leading down to the floor of the garden at each corner. The main area of the park is dominated by a boating lake, fed by a small, canalised, stream at its north end, which occupies most of the southern, wider, half of the park. Built in the shape of a Welsh harp, the lake is straight-sided with a curving north-west side and a tarmac path all the way around its edge. The north end and west side of the park have more the character of a standard urban park. Aside from the canal which is flanked by paths and an iron drinking fountain, and crossed by bridges, the area is laid out informally with lawns, curving paths, informally planted trees and some island beds. The lido was located at the east end of the promenade and formed an integral part of the park. It was opened in 1926 and until 1929 was tidal. It consisted of a rectangular concrete-lined swimming pool. A paddling pool was added after the War, with a dolphin statue in the middle. The semicircular arrangement of changing rooms was added in 1937, designed by the borough surveyor, Major Hinchsliff. The lido closed in 1996 and the pool has since been filled in, the buildings demolished and the area landscaped. Two pavilions are built against the promenade. Three wide flights of concrete steps are built between, and at either end of, the pavilions and link the promenade with the park. The flat roofs of the pavilions are bound with concrete balustrading and form two wide viewing platforms extending out into the park from the promenade. Plantings in the park are mostly post-War and include pine, Cupressus macrocarpa, poplar, lime, sycamore and elm, and salt-tolerant shrubs. Sources: Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)58(GLA)).