[1] Glencaple was enlarged in the 19th century to become a subsidiary port to that of Dumfries for the use of vessels that were unable to reach the burgh due to their size and draught.

Larger ships were able to unload their cargoes here and local carriers were employed to transport the items by cart, via the shore side road to Dumfries.

The Solway Firth proper starts about 1.5 miles or 2.4 Kilometres below Glencaple Quay and at this point the Nith frequently shifts its Channel.

Newspapers at the time advertised ships sailing regularly from Glencaple and Carsethorn and these returned with cargoes of salted fish and timber.

[1][13] Farm produce was the main export, such as potatoes, with heavy taxes having to be paid on certain imported goods, which resulted in a very active smuggling trade and the poet Robert Burns who lived in Dumfries from 1791 to 1796, working as an Excise Officer or Gauger, may have visited Glencaple Quay on official business.

[14] Burns's friend and physician Dr William Maxwell had been brought up at Kirconnell House, on the west bank of the Nith, with its own private jetty.

A Small Schooner called the 'Clys' belonging to a Cumberland trader was wrecked and sank on the South Side of the Blackshaw Bank.

[15] The shipping trade in the area declined rapidly throughout the late 19th century and WWI saw the port of Dumfries come to a virtual standstill and by WW2 only some older vessels were laying-up at Glencaple.

The incoming tide is forced by the shape of the land to form a wave of water that travels against the current up this funnel-shaped river.