GM445

Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry  

23/05/1991  

Designated  

Neath Port Talbot  

Briton Ferry  

273643  

193602  

Maritime  

Dockyard  

Post Medieval/Modern  

The monument consists of the remains of a dock on the east side of the River Neath designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Briton Ferry Dock Act was enacted in 1851, and it was built between 1858 and 1861; Brunel died in 1859 before its completion. In its nineteenth century form, the dock comprised an outer tidal basin (Item A) leading to an inner floating dock (Item C). The outer tidal basin was accessed from the river at its south-west end with its entrance protected by a pair of outer jetties. The inner floating dock was accessed from the north-east end of the outer tidal basin via a hydraulically powered lock gate (Item B) set into a masonry dock wall formed by two quays. The hydro-accumulator building (Item D) that powered the gate was located to the south-east of the dock gate. Both sides of the floating dock were accessed via railway sidings serving a variety of cranes, staithes and coal stages. An 1882 plan showed that the floating dock measured 512m by 131m and its slag rubble sides impounded an area of 5.6 ha. The tidal basin, also embanked with slag rubble, measured 4 ha in area. The dock walls separating the floating dock and tidal basin were built from snecked sandstone with large dressed coping stones. There was a large square quay on the west side, measuring 80m NE-SW by 70m. The opposite quay was narrower, measuring 48m NW-SE by 16m. Historic mapping depicts an office, signalling equipment, railway sidings, winches, mooring posts, stages and cranes on the quay and dock sides. The lock gate was an innovative buoyant wrought iron design measuring 17m in length and 9.6m in height which could be opened at high tide and swung out of the way into a bespoke recess. The hydro-accumulator building provided hydraulic power to operate the lock gate. It was located to the south-east of the dock entrance and comprised a three-stage roofed tower which was square in plan and built from snecked stone. The east face featured a ground floor doorway. There were first storey windows on the east and west faces. The hydro-accumulator building survives as a roofed ruin. The north jetty was built of battered, coursed sandstone with large coping stones, terminating in a wider rounded bastion. The corresponding jetty on the south side was built from a timber framework containing slag rubble. The dock closed in 1959 and survives as described above except that the northern part of the floating dock was infilled to support the foundations of the high-level A48 and M4 built above. The office, railway sidings, cranes, stages and signalling equipment were removed, although there is potential for their foundations to survive. Only the lower part of the dock gate survives. The south jetty survives in ruinous but legible condition. Briton Ferry Dock is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of industrial and modern maritime economy and transport. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits, particularly buried in the mud of the silted floating dock and tidal basin. The monument’s significance is enhanced by its association with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a key historical figure ranking amongst an elite group of engineers and inventors and who provided the impetus for Britain’s industrial growth during the nineteenth century. The monument is notable for the innovative use of hydraulically powered buoyancy chambers in its lock gate. The surviving components retain important group value, which is enhanced by surviving documentation and plans. The monument shares group value with the Ynysmaerdy Railway Incline (GM489), which was also designed by Brunel and linked the dock to the collieries of the upper Afan Valley. Briton Ferry Dock is the sole example of a Brunel-designed dock in Wales, and one of a small number in Britain. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. Originally scheduled in 1991 as Briton Ferry Dock Entrance, the scheduled area has been extended to cover the exposed part of the floating dock, quay sides, the entire tidal basin and piers, which were all parts of Brunel’s original design. Consequently, the scheduled monument has been renamed as Remains of Brunel Dock, Briton Ferry. The scheduled area is an irregular polygon centred on OS NGR 273551 193582 and measures 650m NE-SW by 160m transversely.