To the majority of visitors Saundersfoot does not look like a former industrial town. In its heyday Saundersfoot was at the centre of the export trade of very high grade anthracite won from the deep pits and shafts of the Pembrokeshire coalfield. In contrast to the medieval origins of its sister resort, Tenby, the town and harbour (NPRN 34611) at Saundersfoot were largely developed during the nineteenth century. The local coalfield was first mentioned as far back as 1324, and by the middle of the seventeenth century some 30,000 tons were being exported annually from coal works around Saundersfoot, Begelly and Jeffreston to destinations as far afield as France and Holland. Despite this apparent boom, the infrastructure for mining and transport was still at its most basic, with cart loads of coal being hauled by oxen and horses along poor country roads to the sea. An exposure of intertidal peats (NPRN 524775) has been reported on the beach near Coppet Point. A limekiln (NPRN 524994) site, now a car park, is also located at the northern end of the beach, some 120m south of Coppet Hall.

Sources include:
Driver, T, 2007, Pembrokeshire: Historic Landscapes from the Air, RCAHMW, pg255.

RCAHMW, 22 May 2013