Taking coal to market from the Lake was a problem as the channel was shallow, often silted up and changed direction regularly. To over come this rock walls in the channel and  break walls at the heads had to be built.  A Pilot Station was built on the headland to guide shipping; it has been replaced by a Marine Rescue Base.

 

For the break walls, rock was quarried in the hill behind Swansea High and the village there was called “Monkey Town” . “Powder Monkeys” was the term used for the miners who used blasting powder to break up the rock.