The Old Engine Shed, Portland

The Old Engine Shed

The Old Engine Shed is a 19th-century shed, once used for a private quarry-industry railway that ran to Castletown, owned by Admiralty Quarries. The shed is located in The Grove village area, on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, overlooking part of East Weares and the eastern coastline of Portland. It has been a Listed Grade II building since January 2001, and is owned by Portland Port Ltd.^[1]

History

The Old Engine Shed

The now-disused locomotive shed dates from the mid-19th century and pre-1864. It was built for the use of the Admiralty Quarries private railway, to house the locomotives for the nearby quarry lines within the area. However the shed was also used for various purposes over the span of 150 years, and at one point it provided stabling for heavy horses used in the quarries. The cable-operated inclined railway ran to Castletown through the Navy Dockyard, which is known as Portland Port today.^[2] It would carry stone down to the harbour for use in building the great breakwater which was constructed between 1847 and 1905. The railway linked the convict quarries, Verne Ditch and the cliffside construction line with the head of the Admiralty Incline.^[3] A Bagnell 0-4-0 locomotive was used to transport the stone from the quarry to the top of Incline Road, outside the Engine Shed. Once the stone arrived at the engine shed site the loaded wagon was hooked on to the wire in a "drum" and then it was guided down the incline to the breakwater. The Incline had three drums, one at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom. The shed was in continued use until circa 1935 and the lines were dismantled during World War II.^[1]

Interpretation centre plans

In late 2007, plans were announced to turn the engine shed into an interpretation centre for the island. The Portland Gas Storage Ltd (Portland Gas) announced the plans and stated in a brochure outlining the project "For too long Portland has been the neglected jewel in the beautiful necklace that is the Dorset Coast. Most visitors spend a brief two hours on the island. Typically, they drive to the Bill, have a cup of tea, gaze at the sea, and go home again. They are losing out, and so is Portland. Portlanders agree there is a strong need for an interpretation centre on the island to illustrate the hugely diverse range of interests that Portland has to offer."^[3]

The project would cost an approximate £1.5 million to turn it into a visitor centre, as part of for a £350 million gas storage facility on the island. The firm's plans are to create a tourist attraction on the site by featuring an interpretative geology and history display based on Portland's geology, the area's natural environment and its social history, the prisons, and the construction of the breakwater as a major feat of Victorian engineering. The centre would also include an educational space for hire by educational groups of all ages and a walkers' café, serving sandwiches and simple snacks, as well as a picnic area and fossil interest site outside. The vehicle access to the centre is planned to be provided by a private road off The Grove, entering at the edge of Independent Quarry and then running alongside the playing fields. Plans also include an access gate, which would be closed at dusk to secure the site for security reasons.^[4]

At the time of the first proposal, it was announced in the Dorset Echo that local experts had commented that the scheme would open up the forgotten east side of Portland and ensure the building's survival. In the article, local historian Stuart Morris had stated "This scheme is a great opportunity to exploit the site in the best possible sense. The potential there is amazing and this as a most welcome opportunity to open up that part of Portland. The old engine house played a big part in the building of the breakwater but it has been neglected. Hopefully this project would end all that. This would be a pretty major improvement historically, environmentally and in terms of tourism." Portland Gas community liaison officer Rachel Barton had stated that the new visitor centre would be used as a base for environmental volunteers on the island, whilst also stating "We spent two months consulting residents and groups and we had a very positive response."^[5] Taking local visitor figures as a guide, it was announced that 15-20,000 visitors would be a realistic aim for the first year of the centre, whilst an aim to raise these numbers would be somewhere in the region of 30-35,000.^[3]

The planning permission application was submitted to the local council in early December 2007, and original plans had hoped that if the council backed the scheme, work could start immediately, meaning that the centre would be ready by spring 2009.^[5] The trust's website announced that the project would be the highlight of their work over the next few years.^[6] The trust received charitable status in August 2008, and volunteers have continued to keep the shed and the surrounding area in good tidy order.^[7] In September 2009, the Trust were successful in a bid to the COMMA fund to start doing some external improvements at the site. In the summer of 2010, it was announced that foliage clearance had exposed more walls, and the rebuilding of the dry stone walls by local volunteers and the inmates of the Young offenders Institution would continue over the coming months along with the scrub clearance. Also during the time, information panels were put in place, giving detail about the area and the history of the engine shed. After a successful application to Awards for All in 2011, the environmental improvements around the engine shed area continued, with the carrying out of regular habitat management.^[4] Any further work on the conversion has yet to be completed, and the lease from Portland Port Ltd of the shed to the Portland Gas Trust has now ended. The gas project has come to a standstill.

Design

The shed is built with coursed Portland limestone with ashlar dressings and a replacement corrugated asbestos roof. The single storey shed consists of three joined parts, built at different times, but all in position by 1864. Two parts are parallel with hipped roofs, whilst the third part is a lengthening of the second part. Both two parts have segmenta arched doorways, while the third has a flat timber lintel, and all doors today are fragmentary. The building also has various rectangular windows with the remains of frames. According to English Heritage, it is unusual for locomotive sheds from this period to survive in so unaltered a state.^[1] In recent years it has suffered badly from vandalism and neglect, with little attempt to preserve them at all. According to the Portland Gas brochure, the shed is in danger of being damaged beyond repair without further investment.^[3]

References

Coordinates: 50°33′14″N 2°25′29″W / 50.5538°N 2.4246°W / 50.5538; -2.4246