A dredged channel some 470m long and 10m wide provides access in a pattern akin to the veins of a leaf to 5 quarries, each with a dock and warping/turning area at its terminus. Eastern side first, north to south: quarry 1 has a dredged channel 106m in length and has a wharf on is northern side; quarry 2 has a dredged channel some 198m in length and terminates in a complex of possibly 8 wharf frontages; quarry 3 has a channel with slight a dogleg turn some 150 in length and has a wreck at its terminus (NPRN 518821); quarry 4 has a curving channel some 100m in length. The western side comprises a single more suibstantial channel some 200m in length and 20m wide. The channel appears to provide two wharfs where its branches on the quarry floor (quarry size some 140m x 110m). This quarry is still used by small craft. The sides of the quarries have infilled with trees, but the dredged channels remain remarkably clearly defined.

Event and Historicl Information:
The leases for the Williamston quarries in the collections of Pembrokeshire Archive suggest that large scale excavation of the canal network began in the first quarter of the 19th century . A lease of 1816 stipulates that the tenant was required to keep 'the drains and canals... properly open navigeable' and also to 'clean... the banks and towing paths thereof'. The quarry is likely to have had a small fleet of barges and coastal trading vessels such as sloops and ketches. Limestone was delivered to various kilns within the Milford Haven waterways (e.g. Dale, Haverfordwest) for burning and spreading on the land for agricultural improvements. It was deliverd to Lawrenny Quay for transhipment. Loads were taken to Pembroke Dock for Naval building programmes and also to Milford Haven for the docks authorities. Blocks were used for quoins, curbs and monumental work, with smaller stones or rubble used for hardcore in roadbuilding. In the spring and summer months, the coastal trading vessels took loads of limestone for buring further afield - to Aberaeron, New Quay, Aberporth, Fishguard, Cardigan, etc. Oral testimony suggests that the quarries were not worked after the outbreak of World War II.

Sources include:
NAW aerial photography 2006-9
Notes on West Williamston Limestone Quarries from the Oral Testimony of Mr Stanley Arthur recorded 1 June 1971, RCAHMW Collections
OS 1st edition 25in mapping
Pembrokeshire Record Office for documents relating to Limestone Industry in Carew Parish, refs: D/CAR/51, 58, 63, 123, 126; D/RTP/WCA/6/23; and HDX/1449/9-11

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, March 2015.