Former Penlee Point lifeboat house, slipway, retaining and boundary walls, and memorial garden

Summary

Former RNLI lifeboat house and slipway, 1911-1913, by WT Douglass; altered 1922 and 1931. Closed for active service in 1983. Memorial garden built in 1985.

Reasons for Designation

The former Penlee Point Lifeboat House and slipway, boundary and retaining walls and memorial garden near Mousehole, Cornwall are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* the slipway is a relatively early and almost intact example of a reinforced and mass-concrete maritime structure of its type;
* despite some minor alterations, the lifeboat house and slipway retain much of their fabric and fittings, largely as a result of the relocation of the station to Newlyn harbour following the ‘Solomon Browne’ disaster;
* as one of the last works of WT Douglass, RNLI architect and engineer from 1888 to 1913.

Historic interest:
* for its association with the ‘Solomon Browne’ lifeboat disaster on 19 December 1981, which resulted in the loss of its eight crew and the eight people on the ‘Union Star’;
* the 1981 disaster may have influenced the rapid implementation of the steel-hulled Tyne-class lifeboat, which was under development at the time;
* as an eloquent reminder of the crucial role played by the RNLI in saving lives at sea since the C19.

History

There has been a lifeboat based in the Penzance district since 1803 when a station was opened in Penzance, the first in Cornwall and the thirteenth in the UK; its lifeboat was sold in 1812. A new lifeboat house was built in 1855-6 near the site of Penzance railway station, moving in 1863 to Wherrytown; neither building survives. In 1884 Penzance’s fourth lifeboat house opened on Wharf Road (Grade II listed). In 1908 a lifeboat station was opened in Newlyn with the lifeboat kept on a carriage at the edge of the harbour. The Penzance station closed in 1913, replaced by the Penlee Point lifeboat house which served the whole Mount’s Bay area, although Penzance remained as a reserve station until 1917.

In early 1911 the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) decided to build a lifeboat house at Penlee Point. The building was to be located to the east of the main Newlyn to Mousehole road, facing north-west towards Marazion, set down from the road and into the cliff. Plans for the building and its slipway were drawn up in May 1911 by the RNLI’s engineer and architect William Tregarthen Douglass (1857-1913). The following month, tenders were invited for the construction of a masonry lifeboat house and reinforced-concrete slipway.
The new lifeboat house was formally opened on 25 October 1913 with the launch of the lifeboat the ‘Elizabeth and Blanche II’, a Watson-class pulling and sailing boat. The event was reported in the local press, although this was principally about the issues around the boat launch. Difficulty was had in winching the boat back up the 143 feet-long 1-in-4 gradient slipway so efforts were abandoned, and the boat was moored at Newlyn harbour, about one mile to the north. A letter to the editor noted that when the boat was launched the men aboard were drenched in the bow wave; and that there was no provision for returning the boat by road, the lifeboat only being able to be housed from the seaward side. They continued that if the lifeboat remained at Newlyn it was too far for the crew, most of which lived in Mousehole, to travel for any sea rescue. There appears to be no evidence of alteration at the time, or later, to resolve the problem of the bow wave, although a motor winch was later added.

In 1922 the lifeboat house and slipway were adapted to accommodate ‘The Brothers’, a Watson-class boat with a six-cylinder 90hp engine: the first motor lifeboat at Penlee station. Douglass’ plans were annotated with the addition of a cross-section of the keelway. The alterations were financed by the sisters Harriet, Amy and Charlotte Eddy of Torquay who had made a generous donation to the RNLI in 1919 in memory of two nephews who drowned in an accident in Cambridge. They also donated the new lifeboat which was formally named by Amy Eddy on 25 August 1923 at a ceremony at the lifeboat house and on Penzance promenade.

‘The Brothers’ remained in use until 1931 when it was replaced by a cabin Watson-class boat called ‘W&S’ with twin engines, which was funded by bequests from Miss Winifred Coode and Miss Ellen Young. The necessary alterations to the lifeboat house were designed by Lewis & Lewis, including a short extension on the seaward side to accommodate the longer boat, changes to the fenestration above the seaward doors from two windows to one, and an oblong fanlight above the doors. The ‘W&S’ was in use until 1960 when it was replaced by the 47-foot twin-engine Watson-class boat ‘Solomon Browne’. Further modifications to the building were probably made to accommodate it as historic photographs do not show that the fanlight above the seaward doors, suggesting that they were enlarged.

On 19 December 1981 the ‘Solomon Browne’ was launched at 8.12pm in hurricane conditions to go to the aid of the Dublin-registered coaster ‘Union Star’ which had engine failure and was being swept dangerously towards the south coast of Cornwall. In winds gusting up to 100 knots, a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was unable to get a line to the people on the coaster. The coxswain of the ‘Solomon Browne’ repeatedly took the lifeboat alongside the coaster to try and rescue the eight people on board, eventually managing to take four people off.  Despite twice being lifted by waves 50 to 60 feet high onto the deck of the ‘Union Star’, and only 300m from the beach, the crew of the ‘Solomon Browne’ crew made a further attempt to rescue the remaining four. Radio contact was lost at 9.21pm. It was subsequently discovered that the lifeboat had been completely wrecked with the loss of her crew of eight. The coaster was also lost with no survivors. The lifeboat station was closed the following day as a mark of respect to the sixteen who had lost their lives.

The lifeboat house was then used by three relief boats until May 1983 when a new assembly station was constructed in Newlyn, with the new Arun-class lifeboat ‘Mabel Alice’ moored in the harbour. Penlee Point lifeboat house remains out of service but has been maintained by the RNLI since 1983, who have kept it much as it was on 19 December 1981. In 1985 the Town Council created a memorial garden on land to the north-west of the lifeboat house to the designs by Mr S Lee, Senior Architect of British Airways. Materials were donated, and the work carried out by the Penwith Springboard Youth Training Scheme. The Severn-class lifeboat ‘Ivan Ellen’ today runs out of Newlyn harbour but the station retains the name of RNLI Penlee.

Details

Former RNLI lifeboat house and slipway, 1911-1913, by WT Douglass; altered 1922 and 1931. Closed for active service in 1983. Memorial garden built in 1985.

MATERIALS: cement rendered with ashlar markings, with granite cills and copings. Asbestos and reconstituted-tile roof with terracotta ridge-tiles. The retaining walls and slipway supports are Portland cement concrete; the slipway grid is reinforced concrete.

PLAN: rectangular in plan.

EXTERIOR: the lifeboat house is orientated north-east to south-west, with the north-east elevation facing the sea. This elevation comprises the 1931 extension above which is a gable end with a tooled granite coping and kneelers and a concrete date stone ‘1911’. Below this is a single window. The extension has a flat roof above a cornice, with full-height timber double bi-fold doors on rollers below. Each door comprises four hinged leaves each of ledge-and-brace construction. The south-west elevation has the same gable arrangement as to the north-east (minus the datestone); below the single window is the pedestrian entrance, a single timber ledge-and-brace door with a horizontal overlight. The south-east and north-west elevations diminish in height from the seaward to landward end. Each elevation has three windows with sloping tooled-granite cills. Concrete steps provide access on both sides.

The roller-slipway consists of a shallow V-shaped section with a central metal keelway channel. On either side of the channel are angled, pre-cast sections of reinforced-concrete grids. This superstructure rests on concrete supports cast in-situ (the 1911 plans are annotated with ‘4 to 1, PC Concrete’ referring to the recommended aggregate mix for Portland cement concrete for works below high water). On the north-west side is a gangway with steps. Safety railings in this area are cast-iron with ball joints.

INTERIOR: the interior is a single double-height space which slopes from the south-west down to the seaward doors. It is five bays in length, defined by the king-post roof structure, which also has exposed timber joists on a timber-clad ceiling. Attached to the tie-beam is a steel gantry or runway for a sliding pulley which would allow removal of the boat’s engine for maintenance at the top of the slope. The central bay retains the drop-keel pit, steel tipping cradle (made by the Lanarkshire Steel Co.) and roller mechanism. This is flanked by two ridged-concrete sloping walkways with steel handrails with ball joints.

A timber matchboard-clad loft at the north-east end is accessed via a timber ladder; the loft is supported on a steel beam which rests on granite corbel pads. The entrance door is framed and braced and has a wrought-iron hoop handle. The space contains some fixed timber cupboards. It was formerly the mechanic’s shop. At the south-west end of the building is a concrete pad on which rests the winch motor, made by John H Wilson & Co of Birkenhead; this may date to the 1922 refurbishment.

Walls are plastered and painted, with an incised and stepped dado border. Windows are timber, each of two casements with chamfered edges and metal catches, with a horizontal fixed-light above. There are thirteen continuation of service boards fixed to the walls, including one specifically for the ‘Solomon Browne’ in December 1981. Near to the seaward doors is a row of timber oar-brackets. Other fixtures include a large riveted-steel water tank on timber brackets (shown on 1911 plans) at the south-west end, fixed cupboards, and on the north-west side a matchboard-clad telephone booth which is shown on the 1931 plans.

SUBSIDARY FEATURES

Retaining walls: the lifeboat house is enclosed on the seaward side by massive Portland cement concrete retaining walls. Principal pedestrian access is via two flights of concrete steps from road level; these have cast-iron handrails with ball joints.

Boundary wall and fence: the upper part of the retaining walls are granite rubble with rounded coping stones. Set in the wall is a granite commemorative stone inscribed in lead lettering: ‘THE COST OF ADAPTING THIS HOUSE / AND SLIPWAY TO ACCOMMODATE THE / MOTOR LIFE-BOAT “THE BROTHERS” / WAS DEFRAYED BY THE / MISSES EDDY OF TORQUAY. THE / DONORS OF THE BOAT. / 1922’. The wall is topped with spiked wrought-iron railings.

Memorial garden: the garden is located to the north-west of the lifeboat house and is accessed from the footway. Surrounded by granite rubble walls with concrete copings, it comprises concrete steps down to a paved sunken area. The walls are set with several plaques commemorating those lost in the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster on 19 December 1981.


This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 30 March 2023 to amend a sentence in the description

Sources

Books and journals
Inaugural Ceremonies of Motor Life-boats: Cromer and Penlee in The Lifeboat, ,Vol. , (December 1923), 121-122
Leach, N, For those in peril: the lifeboat service of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, station by station (1999),
Leach, N, Cornwall's Lifeboat Heritage (2000),
Corin, J, Farr, G, Penlee Lifeboat (1983),

Websites
Grace’s Guide: William Tregarthen Douglass, accessed 08/04/2022 from https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/William_Tregarthen_Douglass
RNLI Penlee Lifeboat Station history, accessed 08/04/2022 from https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/penlee-lifeboat-station/station-history-penlee
RNLI – 1981: Penlee lifeboat disaster, accessed 08/04/2022 from https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1981-penlee-lifeboat-disaster

Other
Roethe, J. Lifeboat house and slipway, Penlee Point, Mousehole, Cornwall: historic building assessment (2022, unpublished report)
Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record, Penlee – Modern lifeboat station (MCO44012)
Notice of permission to construct a new lifeboat slipway, in Cornish Telegraph, 11 May 1911, p1
Notice of tenders to contractors, in The Cornishman, 15 June 1911, p1
Progress being made on construction, in Cornish Telegraph, 2 November 1911, p7
‘Correspondence: Penzance lifeboat’, in The Cornishman, 19 September 1912, p4
‘The Penlee Lifeboat Slip: formal opening’, in Cornish Telegraph, 30 October 1913
‘The Penlee Lifeboat: impressive ceremony at Penzance’ in The Cornishman and Cornish Telegraph, 29 August 1923, p2
‘New lifeboat for Penzance’, in The Cornishman and Cornish Telegraph, 20 August 1931, p3
Plans for Penlee Point Station boathouse and slipway, signed by WT Douglass and dated 4 May 1911; annotated for alterations in 1922
Plans for Penlee Station adaptation for motor lifeboat, signed by Lewis & Lewis, and dated 27 May 1930

End of official list entry