boathouse, Kerrs Bay Road · NIAH 40819033

This well-built former boathouse and attached outbuilding was originally associated with the former Rathmullan Coastguard Station (see 40819006) adjacent to the west. It is well-built using local rubble stone masonry and it survives in relatively good condition, which is testament to the quality of its original construction. The good-quality dressed ashlar sandstone block-and-start quoins to the corners of the boathouse, and to the carriage-arches to the boathouse and outbuilding are of a quality not normally found on utilitarian structures and help to give these structures a robust and vaguely picturesque appearance. Its integrity is enhanced by the retention of the natural slate roofs, which adds a satisfying patina. The associated former coastguard station was originally built in 1875 to designs by Enoch Trevor Owen (c. 1833-81), an English architect working for the Board of Works in Ireland from c. 1860. Owen designed upwards of thirty coastguard stations in Ireland, mainly during the 1860s and early 1870s, including nine in County Donegal. The main contractor involved at Rathmullan was a Matthew McClelland. It is probable that this boathouse was built in junction with this new coastguard station (see below). The present coastguard station replaced and earlier station at Rathmullan, which was extant in 1837 (Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map); this was located adjacent to the north of the outbuilding. It is possible that this boathouse was originally associated with this former coastguard station where it may have formed the south end of a terrace of structures. The Coastguard Service was established in Ireland (and Britain) in 1822, and its main purposes were controlling smuggling (the evasion of the payment of revenues) and in rescuing seafarers etc. Coastguard stations were built at intervals of ten to twenty miles all along the coastline. The coastguard service later passed into the control of the Admiralty in 1859 who initiated a large-scale programme of coastguard station-building in Ireland, and former coastguard station (and presumably the boathouse) in Rathmullan dates to this period of expansion. The majority of contemporary coastguard station boathouses are now demolished or heavily altered, which makes this building in Rathmullan and increasingly rare example of its type and date. This building forms part of a pair of related structures with the associated former coastguard station, and is an element of the built heritage and maritime history of Rathmullan. It remains an appealing feature along the coastline to the north-east of the town.