Foryd Harbour, Rhyl

link_to_welsh_translationlink_to_french_translationForyd Harbour, Rhyl

Rhuddlan was once the main port for the Vale of Clwyd. King Edward I ordered that the river Clwyd be made navigable so that ships could supply his new castle at Rhuddlan. As the channel silted up and Rhyl developed, the Foryd Harbour took over.

"Moryd" is Welsh for estuary (it mutates to "Foryd" after the definite article, which is omitted in this instance). Foryd Harbour would once have referred to the dock on the estuary as opposed to the river. Today Foryd is the name of a district of Rhyl.

At low tide, timbers can be seen in the silt by the harbour’s east bank. These are the remains of City of Ottawa, a large sailing ship built in Canada in 1860. It carried cargo across the globe, and was abandoned in Rhyl after sustaining storm damage in 1906.

In 1907 the 1,600-ton cruiser HMS Fearless was scrapped at Foryd Harbour. Explosives were used, and the occupants of a house called Foryd Lodge obtained a court injunction in March 1907 which prohibited explosions “catapulting metalwork” from the east side of the harbour to the west. Explosions continued, however. One, in December 1907, was so noisy that people rushed to the area in the hope of seeing a large shipwreck.

With thanks to David Bathers

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Other SHIPWRECK HiPoints in this region:
Pioneer submarine wreck, near Rhyl – The Resurgam was en route for Portsmouth in 1880
MV Carrier – cargo ship wrecked in 2012 by quarry jetty at Llanddulas

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