Isambard Kingdom Brunel had strong associations with South Wales; chief engineer of the GWR at just 27, he was the same for the South Wales Railway Co., taking the railways across South Wales. This illustrated history focuses on Brunel's contribution to the maritime world, from his work on dry docks and shipping facilities to his steamships, including his 'great leviathan'.


For PSS Great Eastern, Brunel chose Milford Haven as a home port where she would spend many years, still the largest ship in the world but sadly without work after her pioneering role laying telegraph cables under the world's oceans. The Great Britain steamship sailed from Penarth, a dock associated with the later work of Brunel's son, Henry Marc Brunel who would be responsible for the largest dock system built in Wales, at Barry. Other dock works include Briton Ferry which Brunel designed to handle the output of the VNR and the SWMR. One of his last engineering projects was a steam railway ferry across the river Severn, a unique work that was superseded with the opening of the Severn Tunnel. This illustrated history delves deep into Brunel's legacy.