Summary

Pair of stone-built piers set at right angles to one another and located south side of Inisherk Island. The west pier provided access to Derryvore via the chain ferry flat, while the east pier provided access to Corlatt via the ferry cots.

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Description

Pair of sloping stone-built piers constructed at right angles to one another and located on the south side of Inisherk Island overlooked by the waiting house. The west slipway provided access to Derryvore via the chain ferry flat, while the east slipway provided access to Corlatt via the ferry cots. No landing place was present on the spot when the 1834 OS six-inch map was published, but by 1857 a pier was present on the site of the east slipway. This was probably built around 1835–1840 and served both the Corlatt ferry and Derryvore.

Later in 1860 the chain ferry to Derryvore was started (131821) and a pier on the site of the present west slipway was then constructed. In the demesne farm account books for the year 1860 there are references to ‘throwing down quay in Inisherk’ in September, October and November 1860. On 12 December there is mention of ‘two men clearing about quay in Inisherk’. They were probably putting the finishing touches to the new quay.

Both piers were partly remodelled in 1880. The Corlatt or east slipway is 18m long and 6.73m wide, while the west or Derryvore slipway is 13.7m long and 4.5m wide. On the north side of the Derryvore slipway there is a stone wall revetment which extends 13m beyond the pier and then turns north running an additional 11.3m.

In the Crom papers there is an architect’s plan showing both these slipways much as they are today. The plan is unsigned and undated but a post mark on the reverse side shows that it was sent from Dundalk to the Earl of Erne at 95 Eaton Square on 23 December 1879. The plan shows that the piers are built of an outer coursed stone wall circa 90m thick with the internal areas packed with rubble. The wall on the north side of the slipway to Derryvore is also shown.

One feature of the original plan that was never built, however, was a proposed semicircular breakwater 3m wide lying in the angle between the two piers. A small island with small trees and shrubs today occupies this position. The drop in the water level of the lake which took place in the decade after 1880 has meant that much of the area between the piers is also dry land.

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