The Watch House

Pier Master's Watch House and store, built in 1764 onto the quay wall and steps for Whitehaven Harbour Trustees.

The original Watch House is constructed of large ashlar blocks of buff sandstone, similar in character to the nearby Watch Tower. A later bay, added in the mid-19th century to the south-west, is built in coursed squared rubble of buff and red sandstone. The building is two storeys tall, originally three bays with a hipped roof, extended by one further bay. The hipped roof employs king post trusses and through purlin construction, with underboarded Cumbrian and Welsh slate covering, Staffordshire blue clay ridge and hip tiles, and a roof structure with two trusses featuring square section king posts with chamfered edges and run out stops.

The original building's ground floor contains two large stone-lintelled openings with massive jambs fitted with iron pintles (four to each side) for sturdy doors. One opening is now blocked with brickwork; the other is half blocked with sandstone masonry. Two casement windows above these openings light the upper floor. The original side walls contained two windows stacked vertically, now all blocked. Although the quay wall itself is straight, the north wall on the first floor, which sits atop the quay wall, is cranked. Each face of this cranked wall has a blocked window that originally provided sightlines up and down the coast. At the junction of the cranked wall stands a fireplace with a diagonally set stone stack, capped with a bolection moulding and detailed with simple square-cut jambs and lintel. Access to the first floor originally was via external steps aligned parallel with the sea wall steps; these were later rebuilt against the end wall of the Watch House.

The later extension presents a stone elevation in narrower courses of squared but rough-faced red and buff sandstone. The south elevation facing the town has a ground floor door and first floor window, both detailed with narrow chamfered jambs and lintels (the window having square-cut stonework). The first floor is accessed by sandstone steps. A first floor door and window on the side wall employ similar detailing; the window retains its original upper sash, though others have been lost. Both the ground floor and first floor of the extension are single rooms with no interconnection to the original building. The ground floor serves as storage, with quay steps running through its length; the only internal features are narrow sandstone pillars supporting the hearth above. The first floor contains a fireplace set against the side wall of the original Watch House, detailed with decorative timber corbels to its mantlepiece and plain square-cut stone jambs and lintel. A yellow brick chimneystack projects through the ridge of the collared rafter roof. A half-blocked window appears on the north side of the first floor. Windows and doors throughout feature moulded architraves. Stone steps stand at each end of the building.

The original Watch House was built to provide secure storage for the Pier Master's equipment and materials—hawsers, capstan bars and other harbour equipment—together with a room for the resort of the Pier Master and the Harbour Boatman. There is evidence suggesting part of the Watch House may have served as a public house, whilst the later extension possibly provided a workshop with a chamber above for the Pier Master's personal use.

The Watch House holds important group value with the Watch Tower and the Old Quay, forming a significant component of Whitehaven's historic harbour.