Lancaster Canal Old Boathouse On East Side Of Canal Approximately 100 Metres West Of Basin Bridge

The Old Boathouse on the east side of the Lancaster Canal, located approximately 100 meters west of Basin Bridge, is a boathouse and repair workshop that dates back to around 1833. It is currently roofless and underwent repairs and consolidation around 1991. Built for the Lancaster Canal Company, the structure is made of roughly coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and has a basic rectangular plan. It features two storeys and seven bays, constructed at right angles to the canal around a narrow basin that is now silted up.

The bay closest to the canal is splayed outward to the left to allow boats to pass through a wide full-height entry, which is offset to the left. The ground-floor openings in both side walls are irregular, while the first floors have seven windows that originally contained 42 panes. In the middle bay of the left-hand side wall, both floors have a doorway with a recess for a sliding door. Between the two storeys on each side wall, there is a row of 13 narrow slots that were used to insert beams for supporting boats and a working platform during repairs.

Historically, the boathouse was built to accommodate and repair fast packet boats, including the 'Waterwitch' and 'Swiftsure', which were later joined by 'Swallow' in 1835 and 'Crewdson' in 1839. These boats operated a service between Preston and Kendal, covering 57 miles in seven and a quarter hours, from 1833 to 1842, and from Lancaster to Kendal until 1846, competing with the stagecoach. The Old Boathouse is a unique feature of the Lancaster Canal.