Custom House

The Customs House, Porthmadog in 2019

Once Porthmadog became a significant port for foreign going ships, it was natural that the Customs Service needed an office there. It may have been a branch office of Caernarfon which has a much older Caernarfon Custom House on the quay facing the Menai Straights below the castle which is now the Anglsea Arms Hotel. In the 19th century the Customs Service had main duties of examining cargo, its assessment for duty and prevention of smuggling. Over the years, as the best represented central government organisation in ports, it got the subsidiary duties of regulation of salvage, quarantine, immigration and emigration.

At some point in the mid 19th century the Porthmadog Custom House was built in Britannia Terrace overlooking what is now the Harbour Station WHR platform.

From the upper floor of the Custom House the officers could look across South Snowdon Wharf which was then a yard of slate stacks (long before the holiday flats were built in the late 1960s) and see vessels arriving and departing. No doubt they also has sources of information from the harbour master, tug masters and in fact almost everyone who worked or idled around the port. The Custom House will have had a post box through which a vessel's crew member could have posted the required forms at any time of day or night 24/7 according to when they arrived or were about to depart. Early notification of arrivals was required to make sure no contraband disappeared before the Customs Officers could carry out their inspections. Porthmadog ships often returned from the Mediterranean, West Indies and major foreign ports such as Hamburg where wines and tobacco could be bought on which significant duty was payable. Customs Officers have draconian powers including to impound ships.

Moelwyn Quarry 0-4-0 loco outside the Custom House. Harbour Station, Porthmadog. 1904. Carries Falcon loco plate.

The Custom House probably lost its original use by Customs & Excise around the time of World War 1 when the port went into a very steep decline.

Until 2019 the Customs House was owned by Robert Smallman. It is still owned by an FR supporter as its web site reveals: https://www.customhouseporthmadog.co.uk/