Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
20201
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
28/07/1998
Date of Amendment
28/07/1998
Name of Property
Kidwelly Quay
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Carmarthenshire
Community
Kidwelly
Town
Kidwelly
Locality
Kidwelly Quay
Easting
239730
Northing
206399
Street Side
Location
On the Gwendraeth Fach. Reached along a by-road running W from level crossing to SW of town centre.
Description
Broad Class
Maritime
Period
History
Built c1768 by Thomas Kymer to export anthracite brought down by his canal from the Gwendraeth Fawr. Trade declined after 1800 because of silting and the opening of Burry Port harbour in 1832. In 1873 a branch of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway was laid on the canal towpath. Occasional shipments of coal continued until final closure of Kidwelly Quay in 1934. In 1980s, repairs were done to the dock walls and the canal basin was remade.
Exterior
Pair of coursed rubble quays linked around a small tidal dock leading off the E side of the Gwendraeth Fach estuary. The larger, rectangular E quay lies at the end of Quay Road with the reconstructed canal basin adjoining on inland direction. Approx 5m high walls with battered profile rise from the estuary mud and continue with curved angles into the dock and return at nearly straight angles to meet W quay. This is narrower and rounded at outer end from where masonry walls run for a short distance into the natural foreshore. The top 2m are recently rebuilt with proud pointing and act as uncapped parapets to wharfage space on top of the quays; the larger quay was formerly accessed by railway sidings. There is one set of steps let into the upper E side of the dock. A modern ramp leads down to the river on W side of the quay.
Interior
Reason for designation
A substantial masonry dock of C18 date with important historical connections to Kymer's Canal, the earliest canal of any length in Wales.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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