Warehouse to rear of 10 Basin Quay, Newry, Co Down, BT35 6HX

Warehouse to Rear of 10 Basin Quay, Newry

A three-storey warehouse standing on the west side of the former canal basin, just east of Sugar Island Quay, aligned approximately east to west with its principal gable façade facing east. The building dates to between 1875 and 1881, though its precise construction date remains uncertain. It originally formed part of the industrial complex at 5 Sugar House Quay and belonged to Hugh Emerson, who operated a stone dressing concern—likely for shaping building stones rather than dressing millstones. An engine house containing a 12 hp steam engine was recorded on the site in 1875, with a new chimney added in 1880. The building itself first appears on the Valuation Revision map in 1881, when the site was revalued from £26 to £33. Its exact function is not entirely clear, though its association with industrial processes suggests it functioned as a factory.

The main east façade is unusually well embellished but has been greatly degraded by modern additions. It is three openings wide and constructed of red brick, now strap-pointed at ground and first floor levels, with band rusticated quoins rising from the first floor upwards. The ground floor right contains a finely dressed granite doorway with stop-end chamfered jambs and an imposed semicircular head, now largely enclosed by a two-storey modern building abutting the front. A projecting plain granite string course runs above this doorway. Modern stairs rise up the left side of the façade, obscuring original window openings, all of which have been infilled and replaced with three modern openings above the stairs' quarter landing. The first floor right features a doorway identical to the one below. To its left are the semicircular heads of two windows, both matching the door head design. Each has a timber-infilled head with a decorative punched roundel and flanking triangular openings, linked by a projecting string course at the arch imposts. Three further semicircular-headed window openings of similar design are exposed above the abutting building at second floor level; all have been infilled in the same manner. A finely dressed flush-mounted granite platband runs above these windows, with a dentiled granite cornice at eaves level. The pedimented gable rises slightly above the roof apex and features a raking dentiled cornice with antefixae and acroterion, all of finely dressed granite. A large circular opening at the apex, trimmed in granite but now infilled, is flanked by similarly trimmed and infilled triangular openings.

The roof is of artificial slate, hipped at the west end, with a partially raised parapet at the east. Half-round plastic gutters run throughout.

The south elevation was originally abutted by a two-storey building, now demolished, thus exposing the unrendered random rubble granite wall beneath. The ground and first floors have no openings. The second floor wall has been largely demolished and rebuilt in modern brick, with only a short section of the original wall surviving at right. The rear gable is smooth cement-rendered, with unrendered random rubble exposed up its left side, which projects slightly from the general wall line. Modern fire escape doors are present at ground and top floor level, with a steel fire escape staircase positioned at right.

The north elevation is partly abutted at ground and first floor by the modern front building's continuation. The wall above this abutting section is wet-dashed. The right half of the wall is partly abutted by a modern garage, with the exposed section above comprising unrendered random rubble.

The building is of industrial archaeological interest and is located within a conservation area. It currently serves as a recreational club.