The Solway Firth proper starts about 1.5 miles or 2.4 Kilometre below Kelton Harbour and at this point the Nith frequently shifts its Channel.

[11] In 1851 it was recorded that Kelton had a small harbour, the depth rising to fifteen feet at spring tides, permitting anchorage for ships of ninety tons to berth at all times.

[13] Farm produce, especially grain and potatoes[12] was the main export from these Nith-side harbours, with heavy taxes having to be paid on certain imported goods, resulting 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 Kelton Quay Excise post on official business or in connection with the 'Rosamond' incident.

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

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.

In connection with the local trade the Ordnance Survey records state that a few 'Coastal Vessels' were still being built at a Kelton boatyard as late as 1849.

On 29 February 1792 Robert Burns and excise colleagues were involved in an incident at Sarkfoot, south-east of Dumfries, near Gretna on the Solway Firth.

The smugglers had fired a 'carronade' through the ship's hull, however the excise employed two carpenters and four sailors who made her seaworthy again and she was taken to a berth at Kelton Harbour to be unloaded.

This method of fishing is believed to have been brought to Britain by the Vikings over a thousand years ago and to have been practised in the Solway Firth since that time.

The Dumfriesshire OS Name Books, 1848-1858 record that "Steel but being little cared for they have little or no repute The villages are Gasstoun, Lochbriggs, Georgetown and Kelton all of minor..."[20] It is irregularly built and the houses are in bad repair, which are occupied by working people.

In it is one Public house also a small Shipbuilding yard, but wherein a visiter to realize its pretensions would be taxed to Launch the imaginative germe to find a burthen for its stocks.

[22] In 1851 Samuel Lewis's "A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland" stated that Kelton had 154 inhabitants and that at one time considerable trade through the village involved the export of grain and potatoes.