The Dock, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34

The Dock, Warrenpoint

This tidal dock on the south-west side of the Square is recorded for its historical significance to Newry's cross-channel maritime trade prior to the mid-19th century. The town of Warrenpoint was laid out around the dock and Square, and it retains importance in its historical setting, though piecemeal alterations over the years have been detrimental to its appearance. The structure and setting are not of special architectural interest, and better examples of this dock type exist elsewhere.

The dock is revetted on three sides with large random rubble masonry blocks, all laid to a slight batter and edged with larger roughly-dressed granite blocks. The seaward end of the west wall has been faced or replaced with concrete, to which a timber wharf is affixed. The remainder of the original wall running north is unaltered. Much of the West Quay that ran along its length is now dominated by a large modern warehouse. The end wall now has a concrete-coped rubble stone parapet separating it from the Square. The lower half of the east section of this face has been rendered with cement. The east wall of the dock is unaltered, as the west side. The area behind this section, formerly the East Quay, is now gravelled and planted with ornamental trees. A metal railing on a rendered dwarf wall separates it from Marine Parade, with a number of concrete-filled steel cylinder bollards along this side. The dock wall returns at the south-east back to a small section of beach. At the junction of wall and beach stands a small modern prefabricated building, formerly a customs house and subsequently used by the town boat club, now derelict. Just beyond the north-east corner of the dock, where the parapet of its north face meets the railing along its east face, is a polished granite memorial commemorating emigrants who sailed from this dock during the famine years of 1845 to 1850. Erected in 1997 by Warrenpoint Historical Society and Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, it is set on a raised platform formed by concrete blocks surfaced with granite setts to the street frontage and paved with concrete flags to the rear.

Warrenpoint originated with the construction of this dock in 1767, which received a £1,500 grant from the Irish Parliament. Two years earlier, the Newry Canal had been extended from the town to a new sea lock at Lower Fathom. However, this section of canal was relatively shallow, and the size of the lock and river channel thereto limited vessels to a maximum of 150 tons. The dock thus functioned as Newry's out-port, facilitating the development of Warrenpoint as trade and commerce increased. A regular steamer service to Liverpool commenced in 1823 and to Glasgow in 1829. In the mid-1830s, Roger Hall extended the quays out to the tidal zone of the estuary, enabling vessels to dock at half-tide rather than only at full tide as before. This extension is shown on Ordnance Survey maps. He also built a patent slip to the west, now subsumed by modern developments. In 1848, a railway opened between Newry and Warrenpoint. The following year saw completion of the deepening of the canal and its extension to the Victoria Locks at Upper Fathom, allowing vessels of up to 500 tons to reach Newry without offloading at Warrenpoint. Despite this new ship canal, Warrenpoint Dock continued to prosper, aided greatly by the railway. A short branch line ran from the railway station to and along the west quay, making it quicker for cross-channel passengers to disembark at Warrenpoint and continue to Newry by train than to await negotiation of the Victoria Lock and passage up the canal to the Albert Basin.