As children, myself and my sister used to be taken on walks around the Knap Lake with our parents and grandparents, and it has since those many years ago always been a favourite place of mine to visit in town. Of course in those days next to the lake was the fantastic Knap Swimming Pool, a huge outdoor swimming pool that was closed in the late 1990s. To quote a phrase used on Tom Clemett's History of Barry, the Knap Pool was closed by "an uncaring and unlistening council" and pool was demolished and the area landscaped. However this was not done properly, as the area continued to flood back into the shape of the old pool for several years after...a reminder of what it used to be. I'll find some old pics and post them here....watch this space. The heyday of the pool and lake was the 50's, when over 3,000 people visited the pool daily on Bank Holiday weekends, and over 1,500 daily during the school holidays. Most of these were "locals" who considered the pool to be theirs. It was often said that "Barry Island was for Trippers, but that Porthkerry and The Knap were ours". A sentiment that is still considered these days.

These are some more recent pictures of the Knap Lake, and some quite rare ones of when the council have drained the lake, to fill it in and build even more houses on it, no seriously, to be cleaned out. Enjoy them!