Longhope Lifeboat Station, Walls, Hoy

Longhope Lifeboat Station, built between 1905 and 1906, was likely designed by William Tregarthen Douglass. It is a lifeboat station comprising a large, rectangular boatshed supported by a pier and substructure, partially inclined to act as a slipway. The boatshed’s exterior is clad in corrugated metal, painted grey with blue trim, and has a segmental-arched roof. The pier is tarred timber, supported on closely spaced vertical tarred timber posts with full-height timber cross braces, all resting on square concrete plinths sunk into the shore.

The pier is oriented northeast/southwest, at a right angle to the shoreline. A narrow walkway connects the pier to the land, supported at its centre by braced vertical posts. The lower part of the slipway is slightly narrower than the main section, and the main section is largely inclined, with a horizontal platform at the southwest end, closest to the shoreline. A timber handrail, painted white and red, runs along the walkway and the northwest side of the main platform, and at the far end of the southeast side. There are two slightly inclined timber-framed hull supports with metal grilles in the lower part of the slipway, below the boatshed, with a keel track in between.

The southwest elevation of the boatshed features a lean-to section that projects across the entire width, with a centrally located entrance featuring a red-painted, timber-boarded door, flanked by windows. A recessed window is positioned above the door within the curve of the roof. The northeast elevation has a large central entrance for the lifeboat and a boarded, multi-panel hinged and sliding timber door. Above, a large segmental-headed, eight-light mullioned and transomed window is centred, also within the curve of the roof. The northwest and southeast elevations each have three regularly placed mullioned and transomed tripartite windows, set at different levels to accommodate the incline of the slipway. These windows are mainly timber casements with three and two panes of glass. The roof is a segmentally arched corrugated metal structure with a central rooflight.

Inside, most original fixtures and fittings remain. The roof is supported by braced steel trusses and finished with timber sarking, and the walls have a similar facing. A timber loft is located at the upper (southwest) end. A recessed section of the slipway features timber and cast-iron hull supports and a central keel track with rollers and a winding flex. A cast-iron winding machine is positioned at the apex of the slipway to pull the lifeboat up over the rollers, powered by an adjacent petrol-powered engine. Timber boards listing the names of lifeboat crews are affixed to the walls, alongside a timber plaque displaying a running total of lives saved (623 as of 2000).