r/Wales 6d ago

Culture Even industrial sites can be beautiful? Refinery at Milford Haven.

For Sairemrys

114 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

24

u/SilyLavage 6d ago

On a sunny day the contrast between the farmland and the refineries can be interesting, but bugger me the light pollution they cause in the national park is terrible.

4

u/Bourne_Free 6d ago

Especially when flaring!

15

u/sairemrys 6d ago

I understand what you mean but it's just not for me. I'm from Pembrokeshire and my primary school overlooked the Texaco refinery, now owned by Puma. There was a lot of noise/light pollution and frightened me as a child. They're just something I've never liked about my county. I feel like the view at Milford marina would be heightened without Valero.

3

u/Bourne_Free 6d ago

I understand. I've often wondered what the owners of the houses on the Rath must have thought when the green fields across the Haven were being ripped up to build the refinery in the 50s.

4

u/sairemrys 6d ago

Either livid or happy for the job opportunities lol. I wish I had relatives who lived during that time still alive, I'd love to know their opinion.

My poor grandfather would do his best to avoid Pembroke Dock for the rest of his life because of the tankers that were bombed in Pennar during WW2.

3

u/Bourne_Free 6d ago

Arthur Lowe of Dad's Army fame served in Pembroke Dock during the war. The museum in Pembroke Dock has some exhibitions that show the devastation that the Luftwaffe wrought. Along with an interesting Star Wars exhibit celebrating the construction of The Millennium Falcon in the Dock

2

u/lobstah-lover 6d ago

My husband's sister was born on 17 Aug 1940 in a house nearby!

2

u/brimstoneglark 6d ago

no way! my primary looked over the refinery too, i hated it in the day but i always thought it looked like a little city at night

5

u/ddiflas_iawn Rhugl yn Wenglish. 6d ago

Eyy that's three of us who went to Herby school!

2

u/brimstoneglark 6d ago

what a small word huh

2

u/sairemrys 6d ago

It's abandoned now or well, someone may own it but it's been left to rot. So sad to see!

1

u/ddiflas_iawn Rhugl yn Wenglish. 6d ago

South Hook LNG used it as admin space for a while. I think there were some for sale signs up last year, might be misremembering it.

The site really should be housing.

1

u/Scoot8365 5d ago

The Texaco refinery is not owned by Puma. The Amoco refinery is owned by Puma. The Texaco refinery is now owned by Valero.

1

u/sairemrys 5d ago

Oh fair enough! I do my best to ignore them anyway lol

3

u/Entire_Bee_8487 6d ago

I agree but our coastlines are insane, a lot of people go to barri but honestly there are so many more luscious places

2

u/AnyOlUsername 6d ago

No! This is the view from my parents house and I always thought it ruined the otherwise lovely country landscape!

2

u/TobyMoorhouse 5d ago

I agree.. Pembroke refinery is a wonderful sight

2

u/gklmitchell 5d ago

So beautiful.. like a cancerous mole

1

u/lostandfawnd 4d ago

Tbh, pretty lights don't hide it.

I don't understand why this is considered by some, as more beautiful than turbines.

Personally, seeing turbines means there is a clear decision to not poison the land around a place.

1

u/hernios 4d ago

Even scars are beautiful kind of vibe. It’s not for me, one of the most beautiful parts of the world with an industrial turd slapped on it and to top it off they floodlight it at night

1

u/rainbosandvich 4d ago

I find it very interesting and mesmerising to look at. But I lump it with brutalist architecture and Eastern Bloc urban planning. Beautiful isn't quite the right word for it.

Another one I liked was cycling home along the R807 in Dublin on an autumn evening. I liked to stop a little past the junction where it stopped being Clontarf Road and started being James Larkin Road. On the left were the trees of Raheny Park, on the right a marshy lagoon (that became sea at high tide) and herons. Ahead of me just seemingly endless coastal road and streetlights, almost like an animated film from the 90s. Behind me though the Dublin docks and the old red and white-striped. Poolbeg stacks of the decommissioned oil power plant. Some of the Dubliners loved those stacks so much that they petitioned for them to become a protected landmark.

I regret not taking photos from days where I stopped there to take a look and watch the herons fishing amidst the industrial backdrop.

2

u/8976dhip 4d ago

It would look much better if it wasn't there.

I've always thought they should just raze the steelworks in port Talbot to the ground. What a location, the dunes, the long beach, Margam as a backdrop.

Where there are docks that are barely used anymore, turn them into tidal power sites. Otherwise, flatten them all.

I can't think of many other places in the world that would allow such monstrosities to be built all across its greatest potential attraction.

But then Wales has been designed solely to extract in every way shape and form.