To allow for the delivery of stores from boats on the river, a new gate was made in the curtain wall to the east of the Great Hall. A section of the canal was cut below the riverside curtain wall. Short stretches of canal allowed boats bringing supplies to the castle to avoid dangers like rocks on the river. Inside the River Gate a passage was cut through the bedrock to the door of the cellar of the Great Hall. The boats could be moored in the wide harbour with its pier and stairway to the apartments in the solar.