Erratic boulders of dolerite were used in the earliest phases of sea wall construction, to provide a solid foundation.
This slipway is made partly of dolerite boulders collected locally, and partly of slate slabs from the sea quarries.
Here we can see that an old set of steps has been abandoned as the height of the wall has been increased. Also, lines of new boulders were brought in to prevent the wall from being undercut by wave erosion.
The Parrog sea defences are rather fascinating! They were built mostly in the early 1800s in the heyday of the port, when vessels were coming and going on almost every tide. Some of them were actually built as trading quays, designed for vessels to tie up alongside, but they were hardly ever used as intended, because except at extreme spring tides there was never an adequate depth of water. So vessels were mostly loaded and unloaded as they lay on the sandbanks around the river mouth, held up with props, with horses and carts carrying the goods in and out of the Parrog warehousers and to the storage area now occupied by the car park.
Originally there was a spit of land projecting from the south shore of the estuary, and the Barony of Cemais agreed to requests in the 1700s for the building of storehouses and lime kilns. Then, in the early 1800's private landowners and the Barony combined to provide a protective wall of slate slabs, to raise the level of the old spit to make it secure from storms and spring tides, and to add more warehouses and other buildings close to the double lime kiln (which still exists).
They also had to protect the shoreline to the west, where assorted fishermen's and seamen's cottages were very vulnerable to the waves especially when the wind was in the north.
So the defences were built, using slate or meta mudstone slabs from the sea quarries between Parrog and Cwm yr Eglwys. It's obvious from examining the walls that there were many phases of construction and many changes of plans. There are slipways giving access down onto the sandy shore, drainage piped and gullies, buttresses, old flights of steps and a great deal more. There is even a little dock next to the Boat Club, where vessels could be hauled up at high tide. One day somebody will elucidate what was built, and why, and when.........
