Here two small ships lie on the mud where the tide has gone out and to prevent the cargo and fittings from moving and tipping the vessel over it was necessary to have them "Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion"! The tide at Bristol rises and falls up to 14 metres and so a vessel that did not have its fittings and cargo tied down was in danger of tipping over and being swamped by the incoming tide! This is a long way from Bristol but where?

Based on sterling investigations by derangedlemur (and independent corroboration by sharon.corbet and KiloSierraDelta) it is confirmed that this is Quoile Quay close to Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. This part of the Quoile River was clearly navigable and the storehouses on the quay indicate a reasonable amount of traffic and trade. While some other aspects of this scene have changed, the frontage of the storehouses seem to remain - incorporated into a modern residential development...


Photographers: Frederick Holland Mares, James Simonton

Contributor: John Fortune Lawrence

Collection: Stereo Pairs Photograph Collection

Date: Between 1860 and 1883

NLI Ref: STP_2224

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Info:

Owner: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
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