Charlestown Harbour, comprising the inner dock and quays; outer basin and piers; eastern breakwater; and the eastern wall

Charlestown Harbour

Charlestown Harbour is a harbour complex comprising an inner wet-dock and outer basin with associated infrastructure. It was built from 1790 for Charles Rashleigh to the designs and advice of John Smeaton. The inner dock was extended around 1871, with various later additions including a period of expansion of the china-clay infrastructure from 1906 to 1909 by Lovering & Company.

The principal construction material of the 18th-century harbour is granite moorstone, probably from the Carn Grey area. The eastern sea-wall of the outer basin is Devonian limestone. Some later structures are of shuttered concrete.

The entrance to the outer basin faces east, enclosed by a banjo pier lying east-west and a pier running north-south on the eastern side. The inner wet-dock is contained by a dock gate. It is roughly rectangular and sits within a larger area contained to the east by a high retaining-wall to Quay Road and a slope from Charlestown Road to the west, and to the north by the tall excavated face of the bedrock.

The Inner Dock

The inner dock is primarily accessed today via a slope running from and parallel to Charlestown Road. The slope is bordered with railings and about halfway along its length is a flight of granite steps up to street-level. The inner dock was quarried at first back from the line of the beach in 1796, and then around 1871 it was extended through the bedrock to the north. The line of the original extent of the inner dock is not clear, although there are changes in alignment, particularly on the eastern side.

The walls enclosing the dock area are mainly granite ashlar blocks, although the north wall is excavated rock; the dock itself is of the same material. At its inner (north) end the dock is divided into two bays separated by a central pier. The bays are finished with dressed-granite kerb stones along the tops of the quays, and there is a flight of granite steps down the end of the pier. At the inner ends of the bays the piers are decoratively curved around towards sluice points, which contain two water channels once fitted with wooden sluice gates.

Paving on the quays is mainly squared granite blocks, and some have drill marks visible on them; the southern end of the western quay has been rebuilt or resurfaced with concrete. Around the edge of the quay are mooring posts, some of which are reused sections of iron rising-mains from mines or china-clay works.

The Charlestown leat enters at the north-west corner of the retaining wall to the inner dock; a concrete launder crosses it where it emerges from a tunnel. Adjacent to this is a small flat-roofed building of granite-rubble construction with large granite quoins, and a plank door. It is built over the course of the leat and was probably associated with that function; today it is used as a store.

On the west side of the dock, below the slope from Charlestown Road, is a flat-roofed building of granite construction, with an opening to the left and a further blocked opening to the right. Set into the quayside in front is a cast-iron weighbridge. The purpose of the building is unknown.

At the north-east corner of the inner dock, an area of shuttered concrete to the retaining wall marks the location of some sheds or shelters of an unknown purpose.

The inner dock is separated from the outer basin by a single steel dock-gate inserted in 1971; a walkway runs along its top. A plaque commemorating the widening of the dock entrance and the new gate is fixed to a building on the east side of the quay.

The Outer Basin

The outer basin comprises an east-west banjo pier connected to the bottom of Charlestown Road outside the Pier House Hotel to the west; and a north-south pier to the east which at its highest point adjoins the south end of Quay Road. The floor of the outer basin is constructed of granite blocks which allowed the depth of water to be maintained.

The banjo pier (so named from its long shape with a round head at the harbour mouth), built in 1791, is constructed of granite ashlar with various areas of rebuilding following storm damage. There is a granite ashlar parapet wall along its southern side, and two flights of steps lead to the basin on the north side. Approximately half-way along the inner face of the parapet is a granite memorial stone to Thomas Penhall who died on 20 April 1887. It is unknown in what capacity Penhall served at Charlestown, but as he died at the age of 66 and worked there for 45 years, he must have spent his entire working life at Charlestown. The plaque was paid for by Augustus Crowder at a cost of £7.

Along the inner face of the parapet wall are several cast-iron mooring posts set into rectangular recesses, and there are other iron and granite bollards and posts on the quayside. The quayside is largely paved with coarsely-dressed granite blocks and kerbs, and moorstone slabs, with some areas of concrete and cobbles.

The quayside between the inner dock and outer basin on the west side of the harbour has been largely rebuilt, including walling of cast concrete resembling ashlar either side of a steep 20th-century slipway. The retaining wall to the west, below a public footpath to Crinnis Cliff battery, is constructed of a mix of granite rubble and dressed blocks; it extends to the south where there is a recess for a standpipe. To the east of the wall is a slipway with a concrete surface to the western beach, defined along its length by shaped granite blocks. At the west end of the banjo pier are the remains of a winch and the base of a derrick crane.

The north-south pier was built in 1793 and is largely of granite ashlar construction. The outer seawall on the eastern side is constructed of worked Devonian limestone (probably from Plymouth and shipped into the harbour) on a granite-block base with areas of red-brick patching. It is stepped in three sections. The head of the north-south pier is at a higher level, comprising the base of a former limekiln and seawater baths (opened 1833, demolished 1875), which is now topped with a granite-rubble parapet wall and is the site of the harbourmaster's hut. Below this, in the angle between the seawall and limekiln base, is a small urinal constructed of granite blocks with the entrance on its west side. At the south end of the pier steps lead up to the seaward head of the pier. A low breakwater is attached at a right-angle to the east side of the pier; it is constructed of granite blocks and is probably contemporary to the earliest phase of the harbour's construction.

The harbourmaster's hut was built in around 1885. It is octagonal in plan, probably of killas construction, rendered, with a conical Delabole-slate roof. It has four-pane sash windows and a four-panel door facing landwards. The harbourmaster assisted by a pilot took over the role of dockmaster in 1910 and the role survived until 1999. To the east of the hut is the base and anchoring rings for a flagpole used to signal ships into the outer basin; the flagpole was removed in the 2000s.

To the north-east of the hut is a flight of granite steps with a 20th-century handrail which lead down to the east beach; at the bottom of the steps is a portal to an arched tunnel leading onto the eastern quay of the inner dock. It was probably rebuilt in the early 20th century and is lined with red brick with substantial granite lintels at the east end. On the seaward side is a slot for shutter (missing) to prevent sea water coming into the dock. It has been suggested that the tunnel was originally built of granite, was square in profile and had a slipway connecting its eastern portal to the beach which was washed away in 1959. The steps and sea-facing wall here is constructed of large worked granite blocks, probably part of the rebuilding after a storm in 1892.

To the west of the harbourmaster's hut a short flight of granite steps with a spearheaded wrought-iron gate leads to the lower quay of the outer basin, which links in turn to the north-south pier. The quay is laid with large cobbles (probably ballast and similar in style to the surviving copper-ore floor by the Rashleigh Arms) with areas of concrete patching and large granite-block kerb stones. A late-19th-century lean-to building on the east side of the lower quay is of granite construction with a Delabole rag-slate roof, six-pane window and plank door; inside a single hearth from the earlier limekiln is said to survive. Along the quay edge are several cast-iron bollards, including the upturned barrel of a small cannon. A flight of granite steps leads to the basin.

At the end of both piers at the harbour mouth are iron uprights and bases marking the location of capstans (made at Charlestown Foundry, and now in the beer garden of the Rashleigh Arms), used to bring in and send out ships when the tide or wind was wrong.

The Eastern Wall

The retaining wall above the eastern inner-dock quay is constructed principally of granite blocks. At its north end, just below road level, is a concrete portal arch from the 1906-08 underground tramway from Lovering's Dry. This leads out onto a viewing platform; this was historically part of a late-19th-century elevated tramway which ran the length of the eastern side of the harbour, was covered over in around 1908, removed in 1968, and of which some structural aspects can still be seen.

Moving south, the wall projects slightly with a section of shuttered-concrete construction possibly dating to the 1930s. This interrupts the line of the tramway and appears to have been built to support timber chutes inserted to allow china clay to be tipped from lorries into hoppers on Quay Road directly onto ships. Only one chute survives; it is of timber and steel construction and at the top is a 20th-century hopper structure built of concrete block with a galvanised lid and gantry which retains a winding mechanism.

To the south of this is a pier used to support the tramway, and to the south again are four 19th-century china-clay cellars which rise from the eastern quay to street level at Quay Road; they were originally taller with a monopitch roof. Substantially built of granite to withstand the weight of the clay, granite is also used for quoins, jambs and lintels. Dried china-clay was tipped into the cellars from the Quay Road side; this was at first done by hand, unloaded from carts, and then from 1906 they were connected to the tramway from Lovering's dry which ran through the top of the cellars and used small trucks to tip the clay. At the base of the cellars are openings which, with shutters released partway up the cellar and above the openings, allowed a quantity of china clay to be released and loaded onto ships; it is unknown to what extent this mechanism survives.

To the south are a further three bays each containing two cellars, of reinforced-concrete construction and probably dating to 1906-08; it appears that they were enclosed in the mid-20th century with steel hatches at their base. Above on Quay Road, each cellar has a rectangular opening (now covered with steel plates) where dried china clay was tipped down into the cellar from small trucks on a continuation of the tramway. Tramway rails survive for a distance of approximately 45 metres in this location.

To the south again are stone and concrete piers which supported the tramway. At the far south end are the remains of early-19th-century ore hutches, constructed against the retaining wall with two granite-rubble dividing walls; they were used to store consignments of copper ore before shipment. A lean-to building within the hutches was probably constructed in the mid-20th century and is built of concrete block with a corrugated sheet roof, single door and eight-pane window. At the very far end of the eastern wall a tunnel leads to the eastern beach; this is described above under the Outer Basin.

Subsidiary Features

At the head of the harbour on the western side and on the eastern, lower part of Quay Road are wrought-iron railings, probably forged in the port. They comprise split granite posts (some set in concrete bases) with iron pintails leaded into them, with iron railings bolted into the pintails. In other locations on the eastern wall railing uprights have been fashioned from re-used sections of tramway rails; and throughout the harbour there are other examples of hand-forged railings.

Prior to the introduction of piped water directly into houses, in the late 19th century Charlestown had a piped water-supply to street standpipes. An example of this is located in the inner dock, where a distinctive dressed-granite frame and lintel is set into the eastern wall.