History in Structure

British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot, Shropshire Union Canal (South East Side) (Llangollen Branch) British Waterways Board Offices and Dry Dock, British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance De

A Grade II* Listed Building in Ellesmere Rural, Shropshire

We don't have any photos of this building yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

Coordinates

Latitude: 52.9021 / 52°54'7"N

Longitude: -2.8926 / 2°53'33"W

OS Eastings: 340057

OS Northings: 334227

OS Grid: SJ400342

Mapcode National: GBR 79.PCVF

Mapcode Global: WH89S.JBS0

Plus Code: 9C4VW424+VX

Entry Name: British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance Depot, Shropshire Union Canal (South East Side) (Llangollen Branch) British Waterways Board Offices and Dry Dock, British Waterways Board Canal Maintenance De

Listing Date: 25 April 1988

Grade: II*

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1366122

English Heritage Legacy ID: 260795

ID on this website: 101366122

Location: Ellesmere, Shropshire, SY12

County: Shropshire

Civil Parish: Ellesmere Rural

Traditional County: Shropshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Shropshire

Church of England Parish: Ellesmere St Mary

Church of England Diocese: Lichfield

Tagged with: Architectural structure

Find accommodation in
Ellesmere

Description


1585/18/95;
ELLESMERE RURAL,
BIRCH,
BRITISH WATERWAYS BOARD OFFICES AND DRY DOCK, BRITISH WATERWAYS BOARD CANAL MAINTENANCE DEPOT, SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL

BIRCH,
BRITISH WATERWAYS BOARD CANAL MAINTENANCE DEPOT, SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL (SOUTH-EAST SIDE) (LLANGOLLEN BRANCH)

17-SEP-02

GV

II*

Stables and stores, now offices, and dry dock. Circa 1806 adjoining William Jessop's and Thomas Telford's Ellesmere Canal with minor later additions and alterations.
Roughly coursed sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings; hipped slate
roof. Long building on canal side of canal depot with dry dock at south-
west end. Two storeys. Six horizontal sliding sashes directly below eaves
and four with segmental heads to ground floor. Segmental-headed boarded doors
to left and right with three wide segmental-headed double doors to right of
centre. Round-headed arch to south-west end gives access to dry dock.
Open lean-to supported on wooden posts to canal side. Rectangular ventilated
louvre to ridge has weathervane in shape of narrow boat.

INTERIOR: Dry
dock has king-post roof with raking struts from walls to tie beams on canal
side. Stone sett floor with mooring rings surrounding dock. In the dock boats were formerly built, repaired and 'indexed'. To empty the dock of water a temporary dam was built across the entrance by dropping 'stop-planks' into iron-shod grooves. The water was then drained out, the boat coming to nest on baulks of timber in the now-dry dock.

This range, with its attached covered dry dock for the manufacture and repair of canal barges, is of great significance in relationship to the canal industry, for it comprises one of the key functional buildings in what is now acknowledged to be the best-preserved canal workshop site in Britain. The dry dock, which has access direct to the canal, comprises an exceptionally early example of such a structure. Dry docks were first employed in the naval dockyards, the introduction (based on Swedish precedent) of the first wide-span roofs to enable the protection of ships under construction not taking place until the first decade of the 19th century. This covered dry dock predates the grade I and II* covered slips at Devonport and Chatham, partly no doubt on account of the fact that its much narrower span did not present a major engineering challenge.

It was very probably built to the designs of Telford and Jessop, canal engineers being traditionally responsible for a wide range of structures from the trim (lettering and mileposts) to locks and keepers' houses. All canal companies had maintenance yards for work on boats, locks, paddle gearing and other aspects of the working fabric of inland waterways.

(Edward Wilson, The Ellesmere and Llangollen Canal (1975), pp. 53-7).

SJ4005734225

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

Other nearby listed buildings

BritishListedBuildings.co.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact BritishListedBuildings.co.uk for any queries related to any individual listed building, planning permission related to listed buildings or the listing process itself.

British Listed Buildings is a Good Stuff website.