The Pier

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A wooden pier measuring 3.5m wide by upwards of 100m long. Pairs of diagonally-braced uprights support longitudinal members on which the gently sloping deck is laid; some of this timberwork is replacement Iroko. A steeply sloping underwater shelf at the bottom end of the pier enables boats to tie up at all states of the tide. There are a series of taller timber uprights on either side of the deck at this end. These give lateral strength to the structure and also mark its extent when submerged at high water (there are no markings on the transoms across the tops of these uprights to suggest that they ever supported an upper deck). A chain-link fence held by cast-iron posts (some replaced with galvanised steel) runs down each side.

At the top of the pier is the former ferry agent’s house and ticket office, now modernised as a private dwelling.

Historical information

This pier was opened by the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway Company in 1880 to ferry foot passengers 2km across Carlingford Lough to the Greenore terminus of the Holyhead ferry. This terminus was also serviced by a railway operated by the same company from Newry (opened 1876). The boundary of the company’s land ownership around the pier is marked by small cast-iron posts (ref. HB16/04/020). Passenger services to Holyhead were discontinued in 1926. The pier is now in private ownership and used by fishing boats.

Secondary Source:
1. D.S.M. Barrie, ‘The Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway’ (1980).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Although wooden piers such as this were once common, this may be the only survival in the province still in operational use. It is strategically sited in relation to an all-tide berth and is associated with nearby boundary markers. It is linked historically with the railway company and was of considerable local significance as a ferry terminal between Mourne and Greenore.