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Newberry Guide (pdf) Excellent
From the guidebook:
"This picture represents the well known shipyard of Elias Cox, which covered 13 acres at Bridport Harbour. The shipyard opened in 1760 and continued to build ships until 1879. The view is from the front door of the house lived in by Elias Cox. Left and right, are two ships in process of construction.
1. The old crane house and lime kiln are visible on the quay, now the site of Pier Terrace.
2. East Cliff forms the backdrop of the picture.
3. The old sawpit with top and bottom sawyer.
4. The blacksmith, Eli Forsey of Eype, is shown at his grindstone.
5. The blue coated figure is the shipbuilder and master Elias Cox himself, with the plan of a ship in his hand."
According to a Bridport Town Council information leaflet, "During the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), 17 ships were built here, while in 1853 one of 1000 tons was launched but wooden ship building ceased some 25 years later. The harbour was used for import/export trade until the last century but fishing as an industry continues today".
"As the (nineteenth) century grew old, however, the passing of the wooden sailing ship and the coming of the iron steamer produced the inevitable result in this, as in the other small yards which were unable to adapt themselves to the altered conditions...The Shipyard site remained in the hands of the Good family until the early 1960's when it passed into Local Authority Ownership and was subsequently, somewhat unimaginatively developed into its current Residential/Shopping complex form."
Ian Irvin, Ship and Boatbuilding in Bridport, Bridport, Beaminster and District, Talbot Publications, 1981.
Somewhat unimaginatively developed!
West Bay, Joseph Pennell, 1906
"West Bay as an irresponsible haven for shipping is pleasant enough, but there is another feature about the tiny place that is lamentable. There is evidence that it is making pretence to be a seaside town and a resort for the holiday-maker. To this end swings and roundabouts appear now and then on the solemn quay. A block of dwellings has been dumped down in the unoffending hamlet, where a "terrace"- although in itself architecturally admirable - looks as out of place as an iron girder in a flower garden. More than this, along the beach has been built the rudiment of an esplanade, duly furnished with shelters of the type approved by Margate and Ramsgate. As a village of the incongruous, West Bay has probably no equal in the British Isles. So long as it was content to be a nursery-tale harbour it was charming enough, but West Bay as a "seaside resort" is a pitiable mockery".
Sir Frederick Treves, Highways and Byways of Dorset (1906)
According to a Bridport Town Council information leaflet, "During the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), 17 ships were built here, while in 1853 one of 1000 tons was launched but wooden ship building ceased some 25 years later. The harbour was used for import/export trade until the last century but fishing as an industry continues today".
"As the (nineteenth) century grew old, however, the passing of the wooden sailing ship and the coming of the iron steamer produced the inevitable result in this, as in the other small yards which were unable to adapt themselves to the altered conditions...The Shipyard site remained in the hands of the Good family until the early 1960's when it passed into Local Authority Ownership and was subsequently, somewhat unimaginatively developed into its current Residential/Shopping complex form."
Ian Irvin, Ship and Boatbuilding in Bridport, Bridport, Beaminster and District, Talbot Publications, 1981.
Somewhat unimaginatively developed!
"West Bay as an irresponsible haven for shipping is pleasant enough, but there is another feature about the tiny place that is lamentable. There is evidence that it is making pretence to be a seaside town and a resort for the holiday-maker. To this end swings and roundabouts appear now and then on the solemn quay. A block of dwellings has been dumped down in the unoffending hamlet, where a "terrace"- although in itself architecturally admirable - looks as out of place as an iron girder in a flower garden. More than this, along the beach has been built the rudiment of an esplanade, duly furnished with shelters of the type approved by Margate and Ramsgate. As a village of the incongruous, West Bay has probably no equal in the British Isles. So long as it was content to be a nursery-tale harbour it was charming enough, but West Bay as a "seaside resort" is a pitiable mockery".
Sir Frederick Treves, Highways and Byways of Dorset (1906)
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