Commissioners, Lords and Moles: The Story of Fethard Dock

Having been designed and built to offer shelter for a single boat, the revenue cruiser, Fethard Dock is diminutive in scale, measuring approximately 30 meters in width by 60 meters in length, and had been described as Ireland’s smallest harbour in an early 20th century survey.13 The harbour, as currently configured, consists of a quay and two piers, one L-shaped, in addition to slipways outside the structure on each side, the eastern slipway likely a more recent addition. The smaller north-west pier is of a scale that suggests it is more properly described as a groyne, a structure intended to offer additional shelter to a harbour rather than a platform for landing goods. There had also been a watch house on this groyne structure, later removed, in addition to private warehouses on the quay previously owned by the local Lynn family, now in ruin.