1. The Smith's Canal was built by John Smith of Gwernllwynwith who had a one-fifth interest in Chauncey Townsend's Llansamlet Colliery (pit sunk in 1750) and who bought a further three-fifths interest before his death in 1797. The canal was built in about 1784 to replace Townsend's wagonway and ran from the colliery down the Tawe to Foxhole, replacing an earlier tramroad. The canal was three miles long and began at Gwernllwynwith House, serving a number of other collieries along its line. The traffic over it was directed to the wharf at Birchgrove, the spelter works at of the Dillwyns, the Middle-bank works of the Grenfells, and Vivian's White Rock works as well as some smaller works en route. Its southern terminus was below Kilvey church and opposite the Swansea Canal wharves near where these tipping staiths are located. Its traffic must have been considerable, Llansamlet Colliery alone having an output of 200-300 tons a day in 1810. The canal remained in use until the 1850s.

C.Hadfield (1967), "The Canals of South Wales and the Border", p.45
S.Hughes & P.Reynolds (1992), "Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region", p.33

2. The remains of three staithes on the sloping west bank of the Smith's Canal near its southern terminus, constructed mainly of rubble sandstone with some copper slag block quoins and backed by earthwork banks. Two of the staithes consist of single walls while the third retains three additional stone piers towards the river; all would have formerly supported wooden superstructures. The staithes, which were used to load coal onto boats using the canal, are likely contemporary with the construction of the canal, c.1783?5 and may be the only surviving example of tipping staithes dating from the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution on any Welsh river.

(Sources: Cadw Scheduling File for GM482, NMRW Archive; Cadw SAM database, GM482; Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, HER, PRN 02926w)
A.N. Coward, RCAHMW, 09.01.2018