Cut through Smeaton's Pier in 1890, to prevent the sand from building too high; times have changed and now sand has a different priority, and so the barriers are rusting in; the sand inside the harbour has near reached the height of the boards.
The portals were put there by Smeaton when he built his extension to the original pier which ended at the first Lighthouse - if you look at the pier above those portals you will see a pair of rails where a crane once ran to lift the baulks which controlled sand level in the harbour.
The baulks can no longer be used.
Before Smeatons pier the harbour was sluiced via an underground tunnel from a reservoir behind Wheal dream - I've never found anyone who knows where this was or how it was filled.
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