DOI: 10.7925/drs1.ucdlib_255943
title: Boatstrand Harbour, County Waterford (Minor Harbours of Ireland)
title: Dunbrattin Harbour, County Waterford

description: This collection contains files which describe the construction and evolution of Boat Strand Harbour, County Waterford, from its earliest structure to its current form.
description: Biographical/historical information: Boatstrand is one of four harbours built by the Yorkshire contractor Thomas Ingham Dixon in the 1880s, which included Carnsore, Co. Wexford, Cheekpoint, Co. Waterford and Liscannor in Co. Clare. The works at Boatstrand, which as a natural cove had long been in use, first for smuggling tobacco (Editor 1976) and more latterly for small fishing vessels (UAU 2002), involved the most substantive plans of the three, including a new pier and a groyne wall, or breakwater, in addition to a quay and landing slip (Office of Public Works 1884). Works on the approach road were also supervised by Dixon under a contract of 1886 (Office of Public Works 1884/86). It is one of 30 harbours engineered by Robert Manning, Chief Engineer for the OPW, in the 1880s that made use of a new standardised specification, which, though it contained provisions for stone construction, predominantly had clauses detailing the use of precast concrete blocks for foundation works under the low water mark and cast-in-situ mass concrete above (Office of Public Works 1884/86). The development and use of such a document is evidence of a shift in attitudes towards the relatively new material of concrete that had, prior to work by Bindon Blood Stoney on the North Wall quay extension at Dublin Port, simply not been considered as a credible material for maritime applications (Shotton 2017). The foundation of the pier and 125 feet of the seaward edge of the groyne were constructed with precast concrete elements (Office of Public Works 1884). Though described as 'concrete blocks' in the specifications, they were not comparable to what are presently understand as concrete blocks but rather concrete slabs, containing, according to the specifications, a minimum of 70-85 cubic feet (2.4 cubic meters) of material, with dimensions varying between 5ft (1.5m) and 13ft (3.9m) in depth, 2ft 6 inches (0.79m) in width and no less than 2ft (0.60m) thick (Office of Public Works 1884/86). Once the two courses were set in place by crane, the structures were safely above the line of low water and construction using cast-in-situ concrete could commence. This consisted, for the pier, of two parallel walls of cast-in-situ mass concrete with a cross wall tying them together, infilled with hand-packed rubble stone, while the groyne was cast as a single mass concrete element. In the earliest harbour built by Dixon and Manning at Cheekpoint, concessions to aesthetic concerns were addressed by facing the walls with dressed stone. In contrast, the work at Boatstrand made no effort to conceal the true nature of the concrete walls, although the pier edge was finished with dressed granite stonework as coping and stairs while the deck surface is composed of limestone cobbles set into concrete. Though modest alterations and repairs were made during the course of the 20th century, the harbour remained largely intact in its original condition until 2013 when Waterford County Council employed the engineering firm of Malachy Walsh and Partners to undertake substantial remedial works due to the highly eroded nature of the concrete. These works, started in 2014 and scheduled for completion in late 2016, involved an encasing of the original elements with 250-400mm reinforced concrete as well as the addition of further quay walls and slip (Malachy Walsh 2013).
description: : Alternative Names: Boat Strand, Dunbrattin, Dunabrattin.
description: : County: Waterford.
description: : Irish National Grid Coordinates: 247750, 98560.
description: : National Monuments Service/National Inventory of Architectural Heritage reference: none.
description: : Geomorphological: Rocky foreshore.
description: : Date of Construction: 1885-86; 1886 approach road works; rebuilt 2014-16.
description: : Form: Pier, quay, slip and groyne form the harbour.
description: : Builder: Thomas Ingham Dixon [1885-86].
description: : Engineer: Robert Manning, OPW [1885-86]; Malachy Walsh Partners [2014-16].
description: : Ownership: Waterford County Council.
description: : Building Material: Precast Concrete block work for foundations to pier and groyne, surmounted by mass Concrete Cast-in-Situ for remainder. Pier construction includes rubble stone hearting, Granite coping stones at edge and concrete deck surfaced with Limestone setts. Renovations in 2014-16 consisted of reinforced Concrete Cast-in-Situ, of 300-400mm in depth, on outer surface of pre-existing works and the addition of a quay, stairs and ramps at the western end of the harbour.
description: Keywords: Harbours, Ireland, Maritime, Engineering, Heritage at Risk, LiDAR, Transportable Data, Boat Strand, Dunbrattin, Dunabrattin, 19th century, 21st century, Thomas Ingham Dixon, Robert Manning, concrete, Waterford County Council, Waterford.
description: Funding: Funder: Irish Research Council ; funder identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002081 ; award number: R15353.