Burry Port, originally known as Pembrey New Harbour, was designed by Sir Joseph Banks and, after great difficulties with the design and construction work, opened in 1832 and was served by tramroads from the Kidwelly and Llanelly canal. It superceded Pembrey Old Harbour which had opened in 1819, and was necessitated by the development of anthracite mines in the Gwendraeth Valley, to which the new harbour was linked via the canal. The harbour was also linked to the Carmarthenshire Dock at Llanelli. The initial harbour consisted of a tidal channel, scoured from the sand dunes by the River Derwydd and lined by a stone wharf, with the eventual adaption of a weir and breakwaters in the outer harbour. Although opened in 1832 it continued to have problems and in 1833 another engineer, James Green, engineer of the Kidwelly and Lanelli canal was brought in. He introduced the design of a scouring resevoir, but was then dismissed in 1836 and silting of the outer harbour remained a problem.

In 1840 the east dock was constructed as a floating dock, and by 1888 the west dock was formed from the earlier scouring reservoir. Much of its bank is formed by copper slag taken from the Pembrey Copperworks which was built on the east side of the docks in 1849. On the east side of the east breakwater is a line of iron tub boats, said to have been seized from the Carway Colliery in 1870 to recover a debt owing to the railway company. The harbour reached its peak of activity in the second half of the 19th century, and went into decline after the First World War. This accelerated after World War II, and today there remains no intensive commercial use, the harbour is mainly used by small fishing boats and pleasure craft. During the 1980s mainy of the harbour fitttings were removed.

The port consists of an outer and two inner harbours (the east and west docks) the entrance to the outer harbour protected by breakwaters, and the inner harbours seperated from the outer harbour by lock gates. The outer harbour is tidal, being around 15 acres in extent forming an irregular rectangle. The construction is mainly of battered rubble stone with render, with earlier vertical masonry above. The east breakwater curves sharply inwards towards the harbour, the outer side having the row of iron tubs, while on the west breakwater is a row of thin stone slabs set on edge together with a harbour light. Between these a harbour entrance has been created by the construction of newer walls.

The outer harbour has a landing stage on the west side. The innner dock has a lock at the entrance to the west dock, built of coursed freestone and with rebates for the lock gates and slots for stop gates and with a footbridge over it. Part of the dock is constructed of freestone, but much of it consists of crushed copper slag forming a bank. The east dock is built entirely of stone, either rock faced or battered rubble.

(sources: CADW Listing description, Carmarthenshire CC consultants)
S Fielding RCAHMW 06/06/2005