2013
SD2364 : Old Customs House, Roa Island
taken 12 years ago, near to Roa Island, Cumbria, England

Old Customs House, Roa Island
Described in its EH listing Link
(Archive Link
) as a Watchtower, this building was originally the Customs House for Roa Island and dates, it is thought, from 1849.
It has a central archway with 2-storey, 1-bay boathouse wing on left and small square tower on right. It has had various uses including being a chapel for a while, the "Roa Island Mission". It is now described as a workshop.


It has a central archway with 2-storey, 1-bay boathouse wing on left and small square tower on right. It has had various uses including being a chapel for a while, the "Roa Island Mission". It is now described as a workshop.
Roa Island
Roa island is shaped a little like a boxing glove with the thumb sticking out! It is nowadays permanently causewayed to the mainland at Rampside, the road across this causeway being called the "Roa Island Road" not unreasonably.
It has an area of about 3ha (7½ acres) and a population of c.100 making it England's 15th most populous offshore island! see Link
The island ceased to be truly insular when the causeway was completed in 1846 at the expense of the island's then owner John Abel Smith, a London banker and MP for Chichester & Midhurst.
Wikipedia article on Roa Island Link