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Barry Island has a key place in the social history of south Wales. This is because from the 1890s until the recent development of mass foreign tourism it was the focus of day trips to the seaside from the communities of the coalfield, and beyond. But the island is more than this. It is a distinctive part of a dock and railway town that grew up rapidly from 1884. Dock and town were designed to break the monopoly of Cardiff Docks over coal exports from south Wales. By 1913, Barry was the world’s premier coal exporting port. It was, of necessity, a new community, which attracted migrants from across the British Isles, and its cosmopolitan dockland reflected its global reach.
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