The Dock

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Tidal dock on SW side of the Square. Revetted to three sites with large random rubble masonry blocks, all to a slight batter, and edged with larger roughly-dressed granite blocks.

The seaward end of the W wall of the dock has been faced (or replaced) with concrete, to which a timber wharf has been affixed. The remainder of the original wall (running N) is unaltered. Much of the West Quay, which ran along its length, is now dominated by a large modern warehouse.

The end wall now has a concrete-coped rubble stone parapet to separate it from the Square. The lower half of the E section of this face of the dock has been rendered with cement.

The east wall of the dock is as the unaltered W side. The area behind this section, which was once the East Quay, is gravelled and planted with ornamental trees. A metal railing on a rendered dwarf wall separates it from Marine Parade. There are a number of bollards (concrete-filled steel cylinders) along this side. This side of the dock returns at SE back to a small section of beach. At the junction of the wall and beach is a small modern pre-fabricated building. This was formerly a customs house and was subsequently used by the town boat club; it is now derelict.

Just beyond the NE corner of the dock, where the parapet of its N face meets the railing along its E face, is a polished granite memorial commemorating the emigrants who sailed from this dock during the famine years (1845-50). It was erected in 1997 by Warrenpoint Historical Society and Warrenpoint Harbour Authority. It is set on a raised platform formed by concrete blocks which have been surfaced with granite setts to the street frontage and paved with concrete flags to rear.

Historical information

Warrenpoint owes its origin to the creation of this dock, constructed in 1767 with a £1500 grant from the Irish parliament. Two years previously, the Newry Canal had been extended from the town to a new sea lock at Lower Fathom. However, this section of canal was relatively shallow and the size of the lock and the river channel thereto limited vessels to a maximum of 150 tons. The dock thus functioned as Newry’s out-port, the consequence of which was the development of the town as its trade and commerce increased. A regular steamer service to Liverpool commenced in 1823, and to Glasgow in 1829. In the mid 1830s, Roger Hall extended the quays out to the tidal zone of the estuary, and it is in this form that the dock is shown on the OS maps. This enabled vessels to dock at half-tide (rather than only at full tide as before). He also built a patent slip to the west (now subsumed by more modern developments).

In 1848, a railway opened between Newry and Warrenpoint. However, the following year saw the completion of the deepening of the canal and its extension to the Victoria Locks at Upper Fathom. Vessels of up to 500 tons could now reach Newry without having to offload at Warrenpoint.

Despite the new ship canal, Warrenpoint Dock continued to prosper. The railway greatly assisted in this regard, there being a short branch line from the railway station (HB16/11/047) to, and along, the W quay. This made it quicker for cross-channel passengers to disembark at Warrenpoint and continue to Newry by train than to await negotiation of the Victoria Lock and passage up the canal to he Albert Basin.

Primary sources:
1. Valuation town map, 1834 (PRONI, VAL/1D/3/2).
2. Ordnance Survey Memoir, Warrenpoint Parish, 1836.

Secondary sources:
1. F.H. Bell, ‘Newry, Warrenpoint & Rostrevor’ (Belfast, 1989), p.30.
2. E.R.R. Green, ‘The Industrial Archaeology of Co Down (Belfast, 1993), p.80.
3. F.W. Hamond, ‘Communications in Co Down’, in L. Proudfoot (ed), Down – History and Society (Dublin, 1997), pp.611-612.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This dock is of historical significance with regard to Newry’s cross-channel maritime trade prior to the mid 1800s and was the raison d’être for Warrenpoint itself. As the town was laid out around the dock and the Square, it retains some significance in its historical setting. Piecemeal alterations over the years have been detrimental to its appearance. The structure and setting of the Dock are not of special architectural interest and there are other, better examples of this type.