1839? - Coal drops at The Bute Ship Canal, Cardiff. - The upper image [1403] [405] has been copied and cleaned up using AI . The resultant lower image shows the detail of the coal tips more clearly. [AIX]

I have a reservation regarding the date of 1839 since the Taff Vale Railway did not lease the dock from the Marquis of Bute until 1841. These tips were clearly intended for tipping coal from the tram or railway trucks into the hold of vessels below, whereas, the Glamorganshire Canal boats would presumably transfer their coal to the awaiting vessel's holds using britches-arse steam!

Further, the description of Bute ship-canal below, published in 1840, does not include a description of the above quayside facilities, and hence, adds further doubt : -

The Marquess of Bute, possessing lands in this neighbourhood, obtained, in 1830, an act for constructing a new harbour, to be called the Bute ship-canal, and completed the work at his own expense. The great advantages of this enterprise are a straight, open channel from Cardiff-roads to the new sea-gates, which are forty-five feet wide, with a depth of seventeen feet at neap, and thirty feet at spring-tide. On passing the sea-gate, vessels enter a capacious basin, having an area of about an acre and a half, sufficient to accommodate large trading-vessels and steamers. Quays are erected along the side of the canal, finished with strong granite coping, and comprising more than a mile of wharfs, with ample space for warehouses, exclusive of the wharfs at the outer basin. This great work was finished in the summer of 1839, at an expense to the proprietor of three hundred thousand pounds. [1402]