Shed at Ardglass Harbour

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey Belfast Truss-roofed fishermens’ harbour-side store in whitewashed rubble and brick, which may have assumed its present appearance in c.1900 when the brick upper storey was added to an earlier rubble structure. The building is located on the S side of Ardglass Harbour, backing on to the N boundary wall of the former Ardglass Castle.

The property is square in plan and measures roughly 7.5m x 7.5. The lower storey is in rubble with the upper storey in brick and the whole of the façade whitewashed. To the front (N) elevation there is a vehicle doorway and a window to the ground floor with two windows and a cental loft door to the upper floor. The E and W (gabled) elevations are blank, with that to E overlooking a walled yard and with a stone staircase rising against that to W (this stair rises to a laneway further to the S). To the S the building backs directly on to a high rubble wall (belonging to the former Ardglass Castle) and has no openings. The curved roof is felt-covered.

Historical information

The Belfast truss was developed in the mid-nineteenth century to meet the demand for efficient, lightweight and long span roofs brought about by the industrial revolution. A detailed description of the historical development of the Belfast truss is included in the record for HB18/08/139. In brief, the first known reference to a curved wooden felted roof structure supported by bowstring girders is in an advertisement in the Dublin Builder for 1866 by the Belfast firm of felt-makers, McTear & Co. McTear’s continued making trusses until they went out of business in 1908.

A second Belfast felt supplier, Anderson & Co., began to produce trusses, to a slightly different design, in 1886. In 1896, Anderson’s launched their Mk II version; promoted as maximising long spans whilst maintaining light weight. This model was subsequently used by other companies, and is referred to by historians as the Belfast truss, although this term is widely used to apply to all timber bowstring trusses where the internal bracing members meet not on the bottom of the truss as was the convention but on the top curved member.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
F. Structural System
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two storey fisherman’s harbour-side store, fronting directly onto the quay with its rear forming part of the boundary wall to the former Ardglass Castle. The brick upper floor was added, c.1900, to an earlier single storey rubble structure. The building contains an open space to the ground floor with a staircase leading to an upper single room. The felted roof comprises two ‘McTear’ Belfast trusses. The building is unaltered in character, and is a good example of a small, and relatively early Belfast roofed building still used for its original purpose and within a good setting.

General comments

Surveyed as part of the Belfast Roof Truss survey.