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Dunoon, Pier Esplanade, Pier
Pier (19th Century)
Site Name Dunoon, Pier Esplanade, Pier
Classification Pier (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Dunoon, The Pier; Dunoon Pier And Entrance Lodge
Canmore ID 150605
Site Number NS17NE 69
NGR NS 17656 76480
NGR Description Centred NS 17656 76480
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/150605
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Dunoon And Kilmun
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NS17NE 69.00 centred 17656 76480
NS17NE 69.01 NS 17645 76513 Signal Tower ('Signal Box')
NS17NE 69.02 NS 17657 76485 Waiting Rooms
NS17NE 69.03 NS 17588 76480 Ticket Office
For underwater archaeological survey (around inferred location NS c. 1762 7639) in advance of proposed ferry terminal immediately S of this pier, see NS17NE 8042.
Pier [NAT]
Ship Ferry (Vehicular & Foot) Terminal [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1980.
(Location cited as NS 176 764). Dunoon Pier, rebuilt 1896. A substantial wood-piled pier, with an ornate single storey pantile-roofed, waiting-room block with 2 cupola ventilators and a clock tower. On the seaward side are a viewing balcony (a later addition) and a signalling tower.
J R Hume 1977.
Clarke and Bell with Sir William Copland in collaboration with R A Brydon and C J M Mackintosh, 1896-98; incorporating earlier pier to N by Campbell Douglas, 1867-68; later 20th century alterations (see Notes). Rare and exceptional 19th century timber-pile ferry/steamer pier. Large, T-plan pedestrian pier adjoining earlier pier to N (currently used for vehicles - 2011). To pier-head: ornamental Victorian waiting room and pier master's office to centre; rare signal tower incorporating later tearoom to S arm of pier-head. Entrance ticket lodge located at slightly wider foot of pedestrian section.
WAITING ROOMS AND PIER MASTER'S OFFICE: single-storey, rectangular-plan, gable-ended, timber pavilion waiting-rooms including harbour master´s office. Round-arched windows to ground floor. S Elevation: 2-storey octagonal tower to centre with crowning, ogee-roofed clock cupola and weather vane; flat-roofed verandas flanking with elaborate timber doorpieces to waiting rooms. N Elevation: 3 half-timbered gables with canted window bays and timber details including timber shingles to exterior walls. Red pantiled roofs with cupola ventilators.
SIGNAL TOWER AND ADJOINING TEAROOM: ornate 4-stage, square-plan, timber signal tower (circa 1896-8); pantiled skirt and ogee-roof to 3rd stage; pierced, ogee-roofed cupola and ornamental cast-iron weathervane finial.
Tower adjoins SE corner of single-storey, flat-roofed former waiting room and tearoom building (built 1937).
TICKET LODGE: Single-storey, cruciform-plan ticket lodge (circa 1896-8 with late 20th century alterations - see Notes) at foot of pier. Bowed to E and W elevations with conical, pantiled roof.
PIER AND RAILINGS: greenheart timber piles braced in pairs and further cross-braced by diagonal timbers. Outward facing piers are battered. Rod-iron connections with external bolts. Timber decking, rails and balustrade.
Dunoon Pier is the best surviving example of a timber ferry/steamer pier in Scotland. Now extremely rare, these piers played a key role in the economic and social development of coastal and island communities in the west of Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries. Substantially retaining its character following its late 19th century programme of enlargement, the pier and its key buildings contribute significantly to the architectural and historic interest of Dunoon and to the wider maritime heritage of the West Coast.
The timber waiting room and pier master's office, located at the centre of the pierhead, is of key significance to the character of the pier and an iconic building on the Firth of Clyde coast line. Largely retaining its original form and distinctive detailing, it is the finest Victorian pier building of its type in the country. At the height of its popularity, access to the pier to non-passengers became ticketed which reflects its concurrent function as a 'pleasure pier' more commonly associated with resort towns in England. In 1937 a 220 ft long, timber and steel viewing gallery platform was built to connect the buildings on the pierhead assembly area. This structure was removed in the 1980s.
The pioneering signalling system was first installed at the pier in 1888. The tower was an early and forward thinking safety mechanism using a system of coloured discs to avoid collision of approaching steamers and to guide the operators to their designated berthing positions on each side of the pier. The signal tower was re-configured in a more decorative form as part of the 1896 rebuilding programme. It became electronically operated in later years and now, no longer in use, forms part of the 1937 tearoom addition to the S arm of the pierhead. Elements of the earlier signalling system mechanism survive inside the tower, adding significantly to the architectural and historic interest.
The 1890s entrance ticket lodge was originally an open turnstile building with covered, timber detailed walkways to either side. The building was reworked in the 1980s using a mix of traditional and non-traditional materials and broadly retaining its original cruciform plan and massing.
Dunoon was first established in the middle of the eighteenth century, with the earliest stone jetty built around 1767. The first timber pier was constructed by a joint stock company in 1835. The rail link from Glasgow to Gourock opened in 1841 leading to population swell and increasing tourism in and around the Clyde Estuary. A more substantial pier was built at Dunoon in 1845 although this was destroyed by a storm in 1848, rebuilt the following year and extended in 1867 by Douglas Campbell. In 1896, the pier was significantly enlarged to its present, inverted F-plan form.
The use of timber piling to form marine structures has a long and significant history in Scotland and on the west coast in particular. Once commonplace, they are now a rare building type. The timber piles of Dunoon Pier are braced in pairs and further braced by diagonal timbers with the outer piers battered to resist the forces of berthing ships. Structually, the pier was purposefully 'over-engineered' to account for the severity of the storms along this particular stretch of coast and the large amount of steamers and other vessels it served.
Change of category from B to A and list description revised, 2011. (Historic Scotland)
Construction (1835)
Probably originally of timber. Steam boat pier.
Information from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands'.
Modification (1867)
Extensions and improvements.
Information from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands'.
Modification (1881)
By 1881 the jetty extended almost 400 ft from the shore.
Information from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands'.
Modification (1896 - 1898)
Developed into present form in a depth of 24 feet of water.
Information from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands'.
Construction (1937)
Promenade balcony added. Now gone.
Information from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders'.
Project (2007)
This project was undertaken to input site information listed in 'Civil engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' by R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Publication Account (2007)
This pier, probably of timber, was erected in 1835 as the steam boat revolution in communications, particularly with Glasgow, was gathering momentum. Its continuing growth led to extensions and other improvements in 1867 and by 1881 the jetty extended almost 400 ft from the shore. In 1896–98 the pier head was developed to its present form in a depth of about 24 ft of water with buildings by architects Clarke & Bell. It is the terminal for the ferry to Gourock connecting with the train to Glasgow.
The buildings are extensive, much more so than their rivals at Rothesay, and give an impression of Tudor-style architecture with red-tiled roofs and timber gables. A promenade balcony was added in 1937, but this fell into disuse and has since been removed. Even today this pier still provides the shortest and fastest route to Glasgow and is in daily constant use.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
