Where is the mysterious missing Barry ‘meteorite’ stone?

Gareth Tyley used to work as a groundsman at Romily Park back in the late 60s and 70s he told us that he remembers a large green stone being present in the park and then disappearing suddenly without a trace.

He said: “Back in 1969 I worked for the Barry Borough Council on the parks department, I was sent to Romilly Park.  It was my job to mow the lawns around the boating lake and the band stand at Cold Knap also the Parade Gardens.

“There was a very large stone almost dark green, no one seemed to know where it came from, but it was rumoured to be a meteorite.”

Alan Williams sat on the 'meteorite' (Image: Gareth Tyley)

Gareth described the object

“It was four foot long three feet wide, I’d never seen any stones like it before ever. I think it’s a meteorite it can’t be anything else it was in Romily Park and then it just mysteriously disappeared-someone out there knows where it is.”

According to Gareth this isn’t the only historical recording of the stone available. He says it was first recorded in a sketch of the ruins of Barry Castle in 1833 by Mary Elizabeth Conybeare daughter of the Rev, William Daniel Conybeare of Sully.

The sketch shows the ruins of the gatehouse viewed from the south, and in front of it to the right is a very large stone which was once referred to as a thunderbolt, these are sometimes known in mythology “as a weapon thrown to earth by the gods”

Historic Records provided by Gareth (Image: Gareth Tyley)

The stone on display with a ww1 shell (Image: Gareth Tyley)

Gareth said that at some point the stone was moved to Romily Park where it was displayed next to a WW1 shell but now its mysterious whereabouts are unknown.