Abercorn Factory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A prominently sited four-storey brick former shirt factory of L-shaped plan built for Robert Sinclair & Co, shirt and collar manufacturers, in 1863. The factory is located at the corner of Abercorn Road and Wapping Lane, near to the Craigavon roundabout on the west bank of the river Foyle. Its principal section is aligned E-W along the former, with a shorter block aligned approx N-S on to the latter.
It has double-pile natural slate roofs to both its S and E sections. The rainwater gutters and down pipes are mostly replacement plastic, but there are vestiges of earlier cast-metal down pipes.
The walls are of exposed handmade red brick; the GF of the S elevation is painted, although the paint has worn off on the three bays nearest to the corner. The S, SE and E elevations are delineated by painted vee-jointed sandstone quoins. The S and SE sections also have slightly advanced base courses coped with chamfered machine-made cream brick. Paired rafter tails protrude from the plain brick eaves along both elevations.
All openings have square brick heads and jambs, and are now sheeted over with plastic panels to mimic timber doors and 6/6 sliding sash windows. The window openings have finely dressed sandstone cills.

Abercorn Road section
The S elevation of this section is 12 openings wide; all regularly spaced and of similar size. There are two pedestrian entrances along the GF, and also a slightly wider one. The latter has a three-centred arched head and is trimmed with toothed and vee-jointed sandstone blocks.
The double-pile W gable of this section has two blocked-up windows to GF, one blocked-up and two partly boarded-up windows to FF, two windows to SF, and a partly bricked-up window to TF. One of the SF windows is a 6/6 sliding sash, but the others are replacement casements.
There is a modern steel gate at this end of the building giving access to the yard behind.

SE corner
The corner of the building is rounded and one opening wide; as noted above, it is delineated to the left and right by stone quoins. Two concrete steps lead up to a GF doorway set into a segmental-arched opening trimmed with cream brick. There is a single window to each of the upper floors.
The top rises above the eaves as a segmental-headed pediment to accommodate a clock in a circular opening, trimmed with brick headers. There is a scrolled end-stop over a decorative square panel at each end of the pediment and a moulded coping and finial over; all these decorative elements are of finely-dressed sandstone. Two pattress plates and metal rods brace this section of wall to the roof behind.

Wapping Lane section
The E elevation of this section is seven openings wide (also of regular spacing and size), with the road gradually rising up in front of it. At the extreme N end is a doorway which extends though to the FF.
The double-pile N gable of this section is abutted by a two-storey end-of-terrace house, with tall chimney to factory rising over; the red brick to the chimney is replacement. The rear half of the exposed portion of this end is smooth rendered; small square brick chimney rises from its NW corner.

Rear elevations
The GFs of both sections of the building are abutted by a double-pile, double-hipped roofed single-storey building aligned E-W. It has a natural slate roof and rubble masonry walls, with some block-work repairs visible to the W elevation. Its openings are now infilled with concrete blockwork and corrugated sheet metal now spans over continuous roof-lights on both N facing roof slopes.
The back (N) elevation of the Abercorn Rd portion of the building is also abutted by a hipped roof brick projecting bay. It has small circular openings on its N elevation and a square chimney to its NW corner; it may have been a toilet stack originally. To the right of this stack is a steel fire escape.
The rear (W) elevation of the Wapping Lane section has a single-bay hipped roof abutment at left and was probably a toilet stack originally.
There is also a small single-bay block rising up the inside corner between the two main sections, the top of which has been reconfigured in concrete blockwork to a monopitched roof profile.
The exposed walling on both sections has regularly spaced windows, similar to those on the frontage, and all now boarded over.
The yard once contained additional buildings, all now demolished and only their footprints survive.

Setting
Tillie & Henderson's massive shirt factory formerly sat on the opposite side of Abercorn Road until it was demolished; a children's playground is now in its place. Terraces of two-storey houses continue up Abercorn Road to W of the factory.
The N section of the factory is abutted by a terrace of two-storey brick houses which continues up the steeply slope of Wapping Lane. There is also a pair of detached two-storey houses on the opposite corner (NE) of this street.

Roof: Natural slate.
RWG: Half-round metal and plastic.
Walling: Red Brick (Painted to GF - South) / some render to N gable.
Doors: Not visible
Windows: 6/6 timber sliding sash, all now boarded up / some replacement casements to W end.

Historical information

The Abercorn Factory was designed and erected by local builder Alexander McElwee at a cost of £10,000 for Robert Sinclair & Co, shirt and collar manufacturers. This firm was established in 1851 and had its headquarters in Glasgow.
The enterprise is first cited in the 1864 Valuation Revision book, being described as "warehouse, shirt factory, offices and yard", all valued at £220.
The premises are captioned "shirt factory" on the 1873 OS map. A large rectilinear block is shown along with a chimney along its N side (indicating that the yard block is probably contemporary with the front sections). There are no significant changes to the buildings' footprints on subsequent OS maps of 1904, 1932, 1949, and 1953.
Around 1882, Messrs Sinclair appear to have sublet part of the ground floor to Hugh Lyle. By 1889 their tenant had expanded into an adjoining premises, but retained the Sinclair's top floor as a laundry. A gas engine house and caretaker's house are also noted on the premises at this time. Messrs Sinclair and Hugh Lyle appear to have vacated the premises in 1910.
However, it continued to be used by others as a shirt factory, being explicitly captioned as such on the 1949 OS map. Occupants included Messrs Jaques, Purkins & Coleman in 1950.

In 1970, the UAHS described the Abercorn Factory as being “one of the earlier factories, with a very pleasantly weathered coloured brick. The fenestration is handled in an austere simple Georgian manner. The sweep of the building from Abercorn Road to Wapping Lane is interestingly achieved and punctuated with ground floor entrance and clock tower at top”.

By 1993, it appeared in the catalogue of Buildings at Risk, Vol. 1, p. 99 and was described as 'Former Ben Sherman Factory' and it was 'only partially occupied'.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11D. Valuation revision books 1864-65, p.347.
2. PRONI OS/8/18/1/27. OS 1:500 town map, sheet 20-7-5 (1873).
3. VAL/12/B/32/11Q. Valuation revision books 1879-83, pp 471, 476.
4. VAL/12/B/32/11V. Valuation revision books 1885-91, pp 503, 508.
5. VAL/12/B/32/11ZD. Valuation revision books 1892-97, p.546.
6. VAL/12/B/33/1A. Valuation revision books 1897-1910, p.104.
7. VAL/12/B/33/1B. Valuation revision books 1911-29, p.200.
8. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/1. First edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1904).
9. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/2. Second edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1932).
10. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/3. Third edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1949).
11. Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1950, p.1556.
12. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/4. Fourth edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1953).

References - Secondary Sources:
1. D. Calley, City of Derry - An Historical Gazetteer of the Buildings of Londonderry, pp 2-3 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013).
2. W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, Historic Buildings in the City of Derry, p.46 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970).
3. Buildings at Risk, Vol. 1, p. 99. (Belfast: EHS / Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993).

References - Online Sources:
1. Website .

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

The Abercorn factory, a four storey building designed in 1863 by local architect A. McElwee, is located on a prominent corner site near the NW end of Craigavon roundabout. Together with McIntyre & Hogg's factory on Queen Street (HB01/21/007), it is one of the city’s earliest surviving shirt factories. However, in contrast to the relatively ornate Queen's St factory, the Abercorn Factory is of plain Georgian style. Its utilitarian function is reflected in regular fenestration, (giving even light) and open floor plan (giving space for tables, sewing machines etc for cutting cloth and making up shirts) and the building fabric is authentic in terms of original brick wall and openings. Historically, the Abercorn Factory is of social and economic importance, having given employment to many generations of women and being one of a number of shirt factories which made Londonderry the 'shirt capital of the world'. As one of the last remaining links to the city’s industrial past, it takes on even greater significance.