Cold Knap Park is located towards the south, coastal, edge of Barry. It is a small, well-preserved urban public park of the 1920s with a unified and distinctive style. Its design takes good advantage of the seaside position and includes a magnificent promenade from which there are fine views of the shore and Bristol Channel.
The park was created from open farmland in the mid-1920s when funding was obtained from the government (Unemployed Grants Committee). It falls into three sections: the main area, which is dominated by a boating lake, a small sunken triangular area to the west, and the lido; the whole flanked on the seaward side by a broad, tarmac promenade, the main axial feature of the park.

The sunken area (built post-Second World War) lies at the west end of the promenade, its sloping grass sides cut into narrow terraces with ribbon beds, flights of brick steps leading down to the floor of the garden at each corner.
The main area of the park is dominated by a boating lake, fed by a small, canalised, stream at its north end, which occupies most of the southern, wider, half of the park. Built in the shape of a Welsh harp, the lake is straight-sided with a curving north-west side and a tarmac path all the way around its edge.
The north end and west side of the park have more the character of a standard urban park. Aside from the canal which is flanked by paths and an iron drinking fountain, and crossed by bridges, the area is laid out informally with lawns, curving paths, informally planted trees and some island beds.

The lido is at the east end of the promenade, integral with the park though now separated from it by fences and buildings. It consists of a rectangular concrete-lined swimming pool, orientated west-north-west by east-south-east, a paddling pool added after the War, and a dolphin statue in the middle (306974). Until 1929 it was tidal. At the centre of the long sides are semicircular changing rooms (date:1937). Two pavilions lie at this end of the promenade.

Plantings in the park are mostly post-War and include pine, Cupressus macrocarpa, poplar, lime, sycamore and elm, and salt-tolerant shrubs.

Sources:
Cadw 2000: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Glamorgan (ref: PGW(Gm)58(GLA)).

RCAHMW, 6 July 2022