Disused Stations: Fishguard & Goodwick Station

An aerial view over Fishguard harbour in 1929 showing, bottom left, Fishguard & Goodwick station and, towards top left, Fishguard Harbour station. The cottages on the left and above the railway are part of the Harbour Village, erected for the men (and their families) working on harbour construction. Similar provision was made at Fishguard, to the right and out of view, but apparently for railway workers. All land visible in this view is actually Goodwick. At the top of the picture is the North, or Pen Cw Breakwater, around 850m long and with a lighthouse at its extremity. This once had a railway track, leading from Harbour station, which approached the breakwater on a sharp curve. Its purpose was the loading of munitions onto naval vessels. At the bottom of the picture is the site of the original Fishguard port, its travelling gantries with cranes perched on top having long gone. Similar gantries and cranes could be found at the new port and in all probability were the same ones relocated. On the right is the East Breakwater. Below it, on The Parrog (Promenade), an abutment of the bridge which had carried the only completed part of the New Line to the breakwater can be seen*. This line was reached via a spur from the original line, the site of the spur being off the picture at bottom left. Inland of the former bridge can be seen part of the embankment which took the line south towards Dyffryn and where the track which had been laid ended. Maps from the 1930s show this embankment in situ but the nothing south of it until Dyffryn where earthworks reappeared and remain to this day. The East Breakwater, which was never built to its intended length, also had a light, referred to today as the Light Centre.[ *It remains unclear if the standard gauge New Line actually continued onto the breakwater or if there was some kind of transhipment point from which materials were taken onto the breakwater by narrow gauge railway. The apparent difference in levels between embankment and breakwater would suggest the latter.
Copyright photo from Britain From Above