Monument record MWX202 - Warehouse and ropewalk, 1 St Michael's Trading Estate, Bridport

Two-storied three-bay late 19th century warehouse, in red brick. The site of attached open ropewalk to the west, now part obscured, with an intact later corrugated iron ropewalk along the north side. There is a raised transverse skylight to the east end of the ropewalk. The warehouse may have been part powered, there is a blocked shaftbox to the south end. At the north end of the building is an iron wall crane and first-floor taking-in door. Also the site of a parallel open ropewalk along the south side of the corrugated iron building. <1>

Bridport has been an important centre for the production of rope, twine and netting, originally from flax and hemp, from at least the 13th century, and possibly earlier. By the 16th century the town was a nationally-important centre for the production of rope for the Navy. Between the late 16th and mid-19th century tackle, cordage and nets were made for the Newfoundland fisheries; sailcloth, sacking and tarpaulin were also produced. The Napoleonic Wars stimulated the trade of finished ropes and nets, for example, and gave Bridport its great period of prosperity. From the mid-19th century onwards the town was synonymous with the manufacture of nets for fishing, agricultural, sporting and other purposes, exporting them throughout the world. The First World further stimulated the industry leading to the manufacture of products for the military. By the mid-20th century many of the town’s smaller cordage businesses had amalgamated and there were two main manufacturers: Bridport Industries Ltd and Joseph Gundry & Co who subsequently merged in 1963.

Map and documentary evidence indicates that a number of open walks and ancillary buildings were present in the area to the west of St Michael’s Lane from the mid-19th century, but the area was extensively developed as an area for net, twine and rope production in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century in response to the expansion of the Bridport’s cordage industry.

At the north end of St Michael’s Trading Estate is a two-storey building (No. 1 St Michael’s Trading Estate) that was formerly a warehouse, possibly a yarn store, which dates from the late 19th century and incorporates the remains of earlier structures. An L-shaped building is shown in the same location on the Tithe map of 1845, and by the publication of the first edition Ordnance Survey map in 1888 it is depicted as rectangular in plan and situated at the western end of the garden and rope walk to the rear of Nos. 30 and 32 St Michael’s Lane. Attached to the rear is a single-storey range that is first shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1928 and has been described as being either a rope walk or a drying shed. The other structures running westwards from the south-west corner of the warehouse are considered to be surviving short sections of late-19th century and early-20th century covered rope walks which have been substantially rebuilt in the late 20th century.

MATERIALS: the former warehouse (No. 1 St Michael’s Trading Estate) is constructed of red brick with limestone rubble to the gable walls; the roof is clad in galvanised sheeting with a brick stack to the south gable end. To the rear, the attached rope wall is clad in corrugated sheeting, while the structures at the south-west corner are built mostly of modern blockwork with corrugated sheeting to the roofs.

PLAN: U-shaped plan comprising the four-bay former warehouse, two late-19th century structures at the south-west corner and an early/mid-20th century covered walk to the rear.

EXTERIOR: the principal (east) elevation to No.1 St Michael’s Trading Estate has an off-centre right entrance with a pair of modern half-glazed doors under a segmental-headed lintel. There are two timber casements to the left of the doorway and one to the right; all have three lights and segmental heads. At first floor are three matching windows with flat heads. The north return is built of random stone rubble and has one window with a timber lintel to the ground floor. There is a late-19th century timber loading door set within a brick surround at first floor, alongside which is a cast-iron wall crane that is fixed to the wall by two brackets. The rear elevation has a similar arrangement of openings, but with off-centre entrances to both the ground and first floors. The lower half of the south gable wall is constructed of stone rubble while the rest of the elevation is in brick, and there are no openings to this elevation.

Attached to the rear is a former rope walk which has also been described as a drying area. It has a steel frame and is clad in corrugated sheeting. The south elevation is open, although historic photographs show that this side was also once clad in metal sheeting and contained timber windows along much of its length. The easternmost bay of the walk has been enclosed with blockwork along its south and east sides, and corrugated sheeting and timber boards to the north side above which is a raised transverse skylight. The single-storey parallel structures running westwards from the south-west corner of No.1 St Michael’s Trading Estate have boarded windows with brick cills to the south elevation, garage-type doors in the west gable ends, and timber windows in the north elevation of the northern structure.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the former warehouse is mostly open plan and the upper floor is carried on an inserted longitudinal beam that is supported on timber uprights. A modern timber staircase leads to the first floor. The principal rafters have tie beams and king posts and have been reinforced with steel bracing; there are three rows of staggered butt purlins and the rest of the roof is timber clad.

The former warehouse, now No.1 St Michael's Trading Estate (Unit 104), the covered ropewalk and attached buildings, Bridport are not listed for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest: although it has some visual appeal, overall the architectural treatment of the former warehouse is utilitarian in its materials and construction;

Fittings: the wall-mounted crane, while relatively rare survival, does not outweigh the building's lack of special interest;

Intactness: its integrity has been compromised by the loss of abutting buildings, while the corrugated structure to the rear does not survive intact and its function cannot be determined with any certainty;

Historic interest: they are not regionally distinctive and better examples that are earlier or have greater claims to historic interest remain elsewhere and are listed. <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Map, Dorset Sheets, 1888 OS map, Dorset sheet 38.10.6 (Map). SWX1299.

<2> Historic England, UDS Non-Designation case report, No-list case number 1413622, assessed in 2012 (Scheduling record). SDO18398.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1588929 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 9 2024 4:45PM