Foryd Harbour at the estuary of River Clwyd is a lot older than the rest of Rhyl and might have remained active until present day even if the town had never developed.
The image above would be pre-World War 1 and coloured at a later date. The big building on your left has been labelled Foryd Hall but the position looks unconvincing; it may be a pair of semi-detached hotels such as the ones demolished quite recently, one was Westcliffe Hotel.
Here is the motor boat ‘Alice’ taking passengers for a mini-cruise. This looks pre-WW1 as well, and the harbour is spelled Voryd:
The letter V does not appear in the modern Welsh alphabet, but it does crop up in some ancient Welsh texts so its use in this context may not be entirely incorrect.
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From the following monochrome photo taken not long after the Foryd Bridge was opened in 1932 it not possible to tell what colour it was. It certainly hasn’t always been blue.
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Rhyl Pavilion is not visible in the following two shots, so they must be from the late 1970s or later. Ocean Beach Fun Fair is in the background.
Rhyl Life reader Dilys Bagnall writes, “I remember when for about a shilling (less than 10p) you could take a return trip across the Foryd to Horton’s Nose in a small rowing boat.
“Also I remember the proper Romany caravan behind the fun fair in which Billy Williams’ mother-in-law Mrs. Waltzer lived. I talked for hours with her, and she showed me inside her caravan. That was a great honour for a “flattie” like me. It was beautiful inside.
"Mrs. Waltzer may not have been her real name but that’s what she was called. I worked on her daughter Sue’s hot-dog stall –I think it was the first ever in Rhyl. That was at the far end of West Parade near the Mad Mouse. The hot dogs cost a shilling and I had to chop up fresh onions so I was always crying.”
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