Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Report upon Penarth Dock - 1984 . . .

The pitched slope along the south side of the main dock was not intended to offer protection from bad weather and so it was probably quite thin, possibly as little as six inches in depth. Also the shape of the pitched slope was not consistent all the way along the south side of the main dock.

The horizontal distance between the toe of the pitched slope and the top of the slope increased towards the west end of the main dock and a number of sections of pitched slope consisted of two parts at different angles of inclination. (see figure 7a)

Figure 7a - Sections through the south side of the main dock.

When the extension to the dock was opened in 1884 the width at the extreme west end of the dock was so short that a conventional quay-wall would have been of little use and so a pitched was used instead. This pitched slope, like parts of the south side of the main dock, consisted of two sections at different angles of inclination. However, this pitched slope differed slightly from the rest since it did not extend down to the bottom of the dock. (see figure 7b).

Figure 7b - Section through the west end of the main dock.