Tank Bed

At the Council meeting on April 28th 1919 it was agreed that a World War 1 tank presented to the Town would be placed in Alexandra Park as close to the guns as possible, and that a ceremony would be held on June 3rd. The tank arrived at Penarth railway station on May 29th.[1]

There was an evening procession with thousands of people lining the streets as the tank was driven from the railway station accompanied by the Penarth Town Band. Approaching the Park in Rectory Road, excitement was provided by the knocking down of a lamp post. Then the tank negotiated a 3 foot bank into the Park, where it was driven to the place selected for it.[2] Sir Herbert Cory, Member of Parliament, formally presented the tank to the town on behalf of the War Savings Committee.

The tank was described as:[2]

28 tons in weight, 26 feet long, and carries 5 Lewis machine guns. The fighting crew was one Officer and 8 men. It is bullet proof and splinter proof but not shell proof. It possesses a four stroke 125 h.p. Daimler engine and can travel any speed up to four miles an hour on good roads.

It was placed on a square bed to the west of the main path leading from the Rectory Road entrance to the centre of the Park. The postcard view below shows the tank in that position, behind two cannon pointing out to sea in a mock fort.

A postcard showing the WW1 tank in Alexandra Park

A postcard showing the WW1 tank c.1920

At a meeting of the Parks Committee in June 1923 the Surveyor was authorised to have a fence erected around the tank at a cost of £23.[3]

The high ground on which the cannon stood was chosen as the site for the Penarth war memorial (or Cenotaph) in 1924. In a report of the official unveiling of the Cenotaph in the Penarth Times of November 13th 1924, there was a sketch showing the Cenotaph with the tank in the background. The two cannon were placed either side of the Cenotaph.

Cenotaph

Alexandra Park Cenotaph

In 1937 the Council invited tenders for the removal of the war relics from both Alexandra Park and Windsor Gardens. The highest tender of £45 was accepted and the tank and guns were sold for scrap.[4]

There is now a raised flower bed in this position, still known as the Tank Bed.

Sources of information

  1. Penarth Times 29th May 1919
  2. Penarth Times 5th June 1919
  3. Meeting of the Parks Committee 18th June 1923
  4. Penarth Times 6th May 1937 and Meeting of the Council 3rd May 1937