Barry Island (Welsh: Ynys y Barri) is a district, peninsula and seaside resort, forming part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It is named after the 6th century Saint Baruc. Barry's stretch of coast, on the Bristol Channel, has the world's second highest tidal range of 15 metres (49 ft), second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada.
The peninsula was an island until the 1880s when it was linked to the mainland as the town of Barry expanded. This was partly due to the opening of Barry Dock by the Barry Railway Company. Established by David Davies, the docks now link up the gap which used to form Barry Island.
Although the Barry Island used to be home to a Butlins Holiday Camp, it is now known more for its beach and Barry Island Pleasure Park.
The area's railway station serves as one of the termini on the Vale of Glamorgan Line and connects to Cardiff, about 9 miles (14 km) north north east of Barry, in 33 minutes.
Read more about Barry Island: Holiday Camp, Film and Barry Island, Notable Residents
Famous quotes containing the words barry and/or island:
“But whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle’s van,
The fittest place where man can die
Is where he dies for man.”
—Michael J. Barry (1817–1889)
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)