Canal Warehouse, Gortnacarrow, Newtownbutler, Co Frmanagh, BT92 8GW

Canal Warehouse at Gortnacarrow, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh

This is an unusual complex of canal-related buildings comprising a large store and adjoining house, aligned east-west on the south side of the former Ulster Canal. The buildings are Grade B1 listed and are of exceptional historical and architectural interest.

The Store

The store is a large two-storey, single-bay building with a pitched natural slate roof and dressed limestone verges and kneelers. The walls are of random rubble limestone brought to courses, with stepped dressed quoins and advanced eaves. The principal elevation faces south towards the road. At ground floor centre is a wide doorway with dressed stone jambs and a segmental brick head, flanked on each side by a shuttered window opening. All window openings have flat brick heads, brick jambs, sandstone cills and wrought-iron security bars. At first floor centre is a narrower loading door with brick jambs and head, similarly flanked by window openings on either side. There appear to have been no rainwater gutters to this elevation, or their brackets have disappeared.

The left gable is abutted by the adjoining house. The north elevation was originally exposed at first floor level only, with the canal bed formerly running against the outside face of the ground floor. The bed has since been removed to reveal the facing wall beneath. At first floor centre of the north elevation is a wide segmental door detailed as the ground floor front, flanked by windows and with support brackets for rainwater gutters and a cast-iron downpipe at left. The right gable is blank.

The House

This two-storey, two-bay building has roof and walls detailed exactly as the store, although some slates are missing to the rear pitch. Remnants of a chimney survive on the west gable apex. The principal elevation faces south, with all openings featuring flat brick heads and stepped brick jambs. The windows have sandstone cills but no security bars. A tongued-and-grooved door sits at the right-hand end of the left bay, with a window to its left and two windows to its right (1/1 sashes with horns). Four regularly spaced windows occupy the first floor, in line with those below: all are 1/1 sashes except one which is 3/1. The left gable is blank. The canal formerly ran along the outside ground floor face of the rear elevation; the soil has been removed to reveal the stonework. The first floor rear is blank. The right gable abuts the store.

Setting and Boundaries

The complex is enclosed to east, west and south by a random rubble wall. In the centre of the south wall, directly opposite the doorway into the store, is an opening flanked by square dressed stone gate pillars with shallow pyramidal caps. The left pillar has been damaged and the gate removed. The banks which formerly enclosed the canal have been removed.

Historical Context

The Ulster Canal was constructed between Charlemont in County Armagh and Wattle Bridge in County Fermanagh between 1825 and 1842. The consulting engineer was William Cubitt, and the principal contractor was William Dargan, better known for his railway engineering. This building does not appear on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map and must therefore date to later in the same decade. It is cited in the 1862 second Valuation as "caretaker's house and stores" with the comparatively high valuation of £12. The canal was closed in 1931.

The large store is of particular interest on account of its door configuration in relation to the canal and road, its internal spaciousness, flagging and first floor beam arrangement. Its functional relationship to the former canal is clearly evident. Few canal-related stores in Northern Ireland are in such pristine condition, and only a small number survive on the Ulster Canal itself. The complex is of considerable industrial archaeological interest and group value.