Description of Historic Place

The Ashbourne Shop is an early 19th century, wooden Mercantile Shop with a steeply pitched gable roof. It is located in the community of Twillingate next to its associated Ashbourne Office, a similarly styled building, and together they combine to form the Ashbourne Premises. The buildings, constructed side by side, are located prominently at the edge of the harbour and are highly visible from many vantages. This designation is confined to the footprint of the Ashbourne Shop.

Heritage Value

The Ashbourne Shop has been designated a Registered Heritage Structure for its historic, aesthetic and cultural values.

The Ashbourne Shop has historic values due to its rarity, age and associations with the Ashbourne family. The shop, built pre-1897, in conjunction with neighbouring buildings Ashbourne Office, Ashbourne Longhouse and Ashbourne House, are rare, surviving extant examples of early mercantile / fishing premises in Newfoundland. The large commercial premises, when grouped, offer a clue of a time when Twillingate was an economically prosperous hub of Notre Dame Bay. Twillingate’s importance as a busy seaport peaked in the late 1880s, around the time the Shop was in full operation. These mercantile premises outfitted schooners for the Labrador Fishery and the Newfoundland Seal Fishery, though the cod fishery was what created a prosperous Twillingate.

The Ashbourne Shop is associated with the Ashbourne family, and in particular, William Ashbourne and his son Thomas Ashbourne. William purchased the premises in 1897 from Edward Duder who, himself, was a prominent merchant in the community. William Ashbourne exported fish and seal products and in 1922 upon his death, his son Thomas Ashbourne took over the business. True to the lifestyle of the prominent outport merchant, Thomas became one of the most important members of the community in matters economic, social and political. He became a Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) in the 1920s, was a delegate to the National Convention 1946-48 and helped determine the Terms of Union for Newfoundland’s confederation with Canada, and post-confederation Ashbourne became an MHA in the House of Commons.

The Ashbourne Shop is aesthetically valuable because of its nineteenth century mercantile construction. Built with a steeply pitched gable roof and made of wood, the shop has roof rafters of hand-hewn beams. It displays many characteristics of a retail store with large, storefront window openings, a sign band, large massing and prominent location at the harbour front. The simple, narrow wooden clapboard and slightly returned eaves show the utilitarian nature of the structure, along with the plain, flat window and door trims. Decorative features of this building are found in the slightly peaked window mouldings and the central, arched window in the gable end.

The Ashbourne Shop is culturally valued because it represents a time in Twillingate’s history when it was a flourishing economic and social centre for the surrounding region. International business was conducted from the shores of this harbour and the town benefited from many cultural influences. The bustling seaport began to decline throughout the twentieth century when the railway and Trans Canada Highway were put into place, lessening the need for marine business. Ashbourne Shop will continue to remind the community of its earlier prosperity and importance on the international map.

Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador Meeting 59, April 27, 2007.

Character-Defining Elements

All those elements of the early mercantile retail store construction, including:
-three-storey wooden construction;
-steeply pitched gable roof;
-narrow wooden clapboard;
-any remaining original windows, their trims, sizes, shapes, dimensions and locations;
-any remaining original doors, their trims, sizes, dimensions and locations; and
-location on original Ashbourne Premises site and next door to the Ashbourne Office.