Schooners Wharf, Ulverston, Cumbria. Archaeological Building Investigation.

Following a proposal to demolish a house at Schooners Wharf on Ulverston Canal, Ulverston, Cumbria (SD 2988 7819) prior to redevelopment a programme of archaeological recording was recommended by South Lakeland District Council. A project design for suitable work, comprising a RCHME Level II-type survey was prepared by Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) and the investigation was carried out in February of 2005. A limited amount of background information was also collected in order to place the results of the survey into context.
The house forms part of a complex of industrial buildings, the majority of which make up part of a paper mill built at the end of the nineteenth century, and the house is reputed to have been occupied by the mill manager. The examination of both primary and secondary historical sources revealed that the house was originally the office of an iron works established on the site in 1850. The house seems to have then been incorporated into the growing paper mills, which were later used for maintaining aircraft engines during World War II before again being used in the manufacture of
metal goods including shells.
The building investigation identified four phases of alterations within the house (although there was a fifth phase only recognisable in the documentary sources), all of
which could be connected to recorded periods of use. The house was much smaller when first built but was considerably expanded throughout the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It is not clear whether it was ever used as the mill manager’s house, especially as Samuel Pollitt, the recorded owner, is known to have lived some distance to the north and a much larger house originally stood near the
west entrance to the paper mills.