Paul Rodgers: former home of Carrickfergus shipbuilder on the market

Maritime Cottage on Belfast Road was designed and built by Paul Rodgers in the late nineteenth century.

The detached property, which is on the market for £229,950, is a grade B2 listed building and was once used as both a home and a drawing office.

The building underwent an extensive upgrade in 1995 which included re-wiring, re-plumbing, re-plastering work and roofing.

However, local agents Reeds Rains, who are handling the sale, indicated that many of the cottage’s original features cottage have been retained, including sash windows and ceiling coving.

The internal layout offers three separate reception rooms, a fitted kitchen, four bedrooms, a ground floor WC and a first floor bathroom, the listing notes, while to the exterior is a large double garage/workshop and a private mature rear garden.

In 2007, a blue plaque was unveiled at Maritime Cottage by the Ulster History Circle to mark Rodgers’ contribution to Northern Ireland’s naval heritage.

Shipyard ‘employed 150 people in its heyday’

A well-known name in the borough, Paul Rodgers was a member of the Carrickfergus Municipal and Harbour Commissioners and the first Urban Council.

His homestead was adjacent to the shipyard where he was apprenticed in 1852.

Rodgers went on to become foreman and later owner of the yard, which employed 150 people in its heyday.

One of his best-known ships, the steel schooner Result, was launched at the yard in 1893.

The 31-metre vessel was employed in transporting a wide variety of cargoes to a range of different British, Irish and Continental ports during her long career at sea.

Result’s service included being requisitioned by the Royal Navy during the First World War and actively deployed as a Q-ship.

In 1970, the Victorian ship was acquired by the Ulster Transport Museum at Cultra, where she is currently on open-air display.

In August 2024, plans to “fundraise for Result’s sensitive restoration and relocation to Carrickfergus as a history attraction, education hub and event venue” were first outlined by not-for-profit company, Result Carrickfergus Limited.

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