[Extracts from the Donaghadee and Portpatrick list by Hugh Dixon with Kenneth Kenmuir and Jill Kennett, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1977.]
There has been a haven for ships at Donaghadee for centuries.
The history of the port has been discussed in detail by Professor
E.R.R. Green, and only those developments which involved building
work need be rehearsed here. Viscount Montgomery's harbour (1626;
improved 1640), superseding what had hitherto been probably only
a small Jetty, was built and maintained as a result of the Royal
Warrant of 1616 which limited travel between the Ards and the
Rhins of Galloway to this port, and that at Portpatrick also owned
by Montgomery. It was described by Harris in 1744 as 'a curving
quay about 400 feet long and 22 feet wide built of uncemented
stones'. It ran from the shore at the north end of the Parade
in a broad arc, bent against the open sea, towards the southern
end of the present north pier. Much patched and decrepit, the
quay was virtually rebuilt, though along the original line, between
1775 and 1785 by the landlord, Daniel Delacherois, probably with
the help of John Smeaton, the distinguished civil engineer who
had apparently made earlier more elaborate plans for extending
the harbour, and who had just rebuilt Portpatrick harbour. The
old quay remained until after the completion of the new harbour,
and then, despite its continued favour by local fishermen, was
removed for local wall building about 1833. (It appears in the
1832 drawing but not on the first O.S. map of 1834).
The foundation stone of the new harbour was laid by the Marquis
of Downshire on 1st August, 1821. The initial plans and surveys
for this ambitious undertaking had been made by John Rennie, Senior,
the celebrated engineer whose works included Waterloo, Southwark
and London Bridges over the Thames. He, however, died within two
months of work beginning, and was succeeded by his son, John,
later Sir John Rennie, who had as his resident engineer a fellow
Scot, the seasoned marine builder, David Logan, who had assisted
Robert Stevenson at the Bell Rock Lighthouse (1807-1810). The
new harbour had to have greater depth to accommodate steam packets.
Rock blasted from the sea bed, within the harbour area and further
south in what became known as the Quarry Hole at Meetinghouse
Point was used to form the outer slopes of the two piers; but
the inner faces were built of limestone from the Moelfre quarries
of Anglesea. This 'Anglesea marble' lends itself to the finest
ashlar dressing and the new piers remain a triumph of stone carving.
The flights of steps display special skill in the deep diagonal
binding of each solid step, providing a typically robust engineer's
response to the wear of seaboots and waves alike. The harbour
consists of two independent piers running north westwards out
to sea; parallel nearer the shore, they converge at the outer
ends to form a harbour mouth 150 feet wide. At low tide the water
in the harbour is fifteen feet deep.
A : The North pier, sundered from the shore at high tide is a bluff bulwark of wrought stone, 430 feet long, defended on the outer face by a sloping glacis of giant rubble and at each end by a great grey drum-shaped bastion. With the simple strength and grandeur of slightly earlier Martello fortifications, it is the harbour's shield against angry seas.
A : The South pier, though of the same size and with similar defences, appears less formidable, extending the line of the Parade, its moorings busy with fishing boats attended by noisy gulls, pleasure boats, sailing yachts and small craft. As on the north pier, the top is sheltered by a rampart wall on the seaward side, though here it is punctuated in the middle by a gazebo for the Harbour Master. One of the big black cranes clearly visible in the 1832 view is still in position, and apparently still in use.
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A : Completed November 1834; Sir John Rennie, engineer. The tapering cylindrical tower, standing on the north bastion of the south pier, shares the v-jointed, Anglesea masonry of the harbour, but stands out serene and white on its black base. Still very much in action, it has undergone several changes and modifications in its lighting apparatus since it was originally equipped with a stationary red light. Quite apart from its functional importance to mariners, it provides a characterful focus in views of the harbour and sea from the town, as well as a destination for unhurried holiday strollers. The massive Government expenditure was never justified because of the initial failure to recognise the many disadvantages of Portpatrick as a port. The Post Office service was withdrawn in 1849 to the advantage of Belfast, and in spite of subsequent attempts to re establish a permanent link between the towns (including that involving the building of the railway lines), the route was officially abandoned in 1867. After this time visits by ships of any size were increasingly infrequent, the harbour at Donaghadee never realised its full potential, nor like the majority of its contemporaries was it later extended and remodelled out of all recognition. Thus, by chance, it has become a rare and important survival, a late Georgian harbour more or less as it was built.
Refs: E.R.R. Green, Industrial Archaeology of County Down, 1963, 75-77; MacHaffie, ch. 1-4; Pollock, 18-21
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