In 1848/58 it was described as a small, but safe harbour with mooring-place for two vessels of about 50 or 60 tons, and imports were mainly coal and timber, whilst the nearby Kingholm Quay[7] had mooring places for about twelve vessels of about 60 or 80 tons and imported coal, bones, Guano, timber, etc.

[15] Two granite moorings bollards are located on the quay itself and one on the shingle bank is made from an old iron cannon, set muzzle downwards into the ground.

The poet Robert Burns lived in Dumfries from 1791 to 1796, working as an Excise Officer or Gauger and may have visited Laghall Quay on official business as well as in his leisure time, as he often visited the then Mavis Grove estate, where his friend Colonel Arent De Peyster (1736-1822) lived.

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

[18] The stone quay itself had two sets of moorings bollards, however more were located along the shingle and mud bank upstream showing that boats could safely lie up there as well.

[20] It is not recorded when Laghall was last used for imports and exports of goods, however the mooring bollard made from an old cannon has had cement applied to strengthen it.

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.