11/04/25

Work to protect and renovate Flat Holm island's historic foghorn station and Victorian cholera hospital is underway.

The old cholera hospital. Credit: Flat Holm Society

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund alongside investment from the island's owners Cardiff Council, with in-kind support from partner organisations including the Flat Holm Society and RSPB Cymru, the work has required all materials and machinery to be shipped out to the isolated island, which sits in the Bristol Channel approximately five miles from Cardiff's coastline.

Construction equipment being unloaded on the beach at Flat Holm. Credit Cardiff Council

Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: "Flat Holm island is steeped in history and we want to make sure these important heritage buildings are protected and preserved for future generations to learn from and enjoy.

"Flat Holm's isolated location adds a layer of complexity to the project, but these buildings are a key part of the island's story and central to helping us achieve our aim of attracting more visitors to this special place."

The work, which is being carried out by Knox & Wells, forms part of the wider £3 million Flat Holm: A Walk Through Time project, which has already seen:
 

• initiatives to improve habitats for the island's colony of lesser black-backed gulls delivered.
• the production of engraved ceramic panels for a Walking Through Time trail (to be installed this summer).
• a range of on-island activities, including volunteer conservation experiences, Bioblitz events, wellbeing retreats and creative writing workshops.
• engagement activities on the mainland, including a new sculpture on Cardiff Bay Barrage with accompanying arts website, educational workshops in schools, and talks at community centres.

Aimed at protecting the mainland from a cholera epidemic, tented cholera isolation wards were first set up on Flat Holm in 1884, with a farm building adapted to create a cholera hospital in 1886. This proved too small, so a new hospital, consisting of two six-bed wards was built in 1896. A laundry, crematorium and doctors' quarters were also constructed, and the existing adapted building was converted to provide four extra beds. The main hospital building was finally condemned by the Ministry of Health in 1935, and its ruins are now in need of stabilisation.

Built in 1908, the foghorn compound comprises two buildings: a foghorn station housing a powerful compressed air fog signal, and a keepers' cottage which has been converted into fully furnished, self-catering accommodation for visitors. The work will see the foghorn station aesthetically restored.

Flat Holm island is a Local Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and home to The Gull & Leek - the most southerly pub in Wales.