Site Record

The channel is shown defined by 3 buoys on its southern and eastern side, and by a compass bearing at its seaward mouth (east-southeast half east) aligning Capel Chapel and Spritsail Tor Cliff. The water depth over the Southern Bar on this bearing is noted as 9ft (2.7m). Sailing Directions dating to 1884 note 'The southern is the broadest and deepest, and passes up by Burry-holm, along the Whiteford sand, round its stony point and thence towards Llanelly. Over the bar and between several deeps or pool, not less than 18 feet water will be found at half tide springs, as far up as Whiteford point, and 14 feet above to to Llanelly, The channel is buoyed in accordance with the arrangment of the Trinity Board, black being the adopted colour on this side of the inlet, the whole colour to be left on the starboard hand entering. The positions of the buoys are, however, continually altered on account of the shifting nature of the sands, and would be therefore useless to describe that which in a short period might all be changed.'

Sources include:
Admiralty, 1884, Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel, 4th Ed, pg93-4
Historic Admiralty Chart 1167-A3, RCAHMW digital collections sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office and published in 1839
Historic Admiralty Chart 1076-B8, RCAHMW digital collections sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office and published in 1888

Maritime Office, RCAHMW, September 2014.