Island Warehouse

The Island Warehouse is a Grade II listed building located at Ellesmere Port & Neston Docks Basin, built in 1871. This large, rectangular, two-storey warehouse was originally used for the storage of grain for trans-shipment and has since been converted into a Boat Museum. It is constructed of brown brick, featuring blue brick projecting piers and bands on the northwest, northeast, and southeast sides. The building has corbelled eaves, cornices, and gable parapets made of blue brick with stone copings, shaped finials, and kneelers. The roof is covered with grey slate and has three parallel ridges that end in gables on the southeast and northwest.

The first floor of the southwestern structural bay extends over a covered loading bay that runs the full length of the building, through which one arm of the canal passes. The loading bay is supported by 15 cast iron columns with bell capitals and square bases, positioned between blue brick corner piers. There are external stairways at the west and south corners, with the steps replaced in concrete and the west stair altered. The lower storey has framed and boarded double loading doors on the northwest side, and both storeys have loading balconies of timber on the southwest side. The building features stone cills and lintels, some accented by blue brick camber arches, and small-pane cast iron fixed-light recessed windows on the upper storey, along with circular vents in the gables.

Inside, the timber first floor is supported by heavy queen-post roof trusses that rest on two rows of cast iron columns. The undercloak is diagonally boarded, and there are plain iron-framed skylights. The interior has undergone significant non-structural alterations due to its conversion into a museum.