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collingwood dock - LIVERPOOL - 1848

15/10/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Following the Dock Act of 1844 Dock Engineer Jesse Hartley as part of a single construction project built five new central docks one of which was Collingwood, the others were named Salisbury, Stanley, Nelson and Bramley Moore all of which opened in 1848. 

The dock boundary wall enclosing this set of docks is about 5m high and differs from those constructed previously as instead of brick he used his ‘Cyclopean’ granite technique comprising finely jointed irregular shaped stones and flush rounded copings of random lengths. In total this type of wall extends over 1000m. 

The dock has a double entrance with three tapering towers comprising a flanking pair of round towers and a larger central tower incorporating a shelter for watchmen or the dock police. 

The towers have implied castellations above the cap and the central tower has arrow-slit like windows looking out onto the road and a small chimney. Deep slits are provided at the sides for sliding gates which would have slid out on rollers operated by counterweights closing into a slotted recess in the central tower.

Granite blocks bearing the name and date of each dock are set into the walls. It looks like the letters within the name were once inlaid with metal (possibly lead?) as I have noticed the remains of metal in some of the name plates. This may however been done in more recent times. 


Picture
Granite block identifying the dock with the date 1848
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View of the gate towers showing remains of a timber sliding gate which may or may not be original.
Picture
Closer view of the Cyclopean walling. 

You cannot do anything else but admire the workmanship of the men who built this wall 165 years ago.  

Although worn and weathered after 165 years the gate towers and walls are still an imposing sight.
1 Comment
Tom Ellard
10/3/2015 06:59:43 am

I remember this dock very clearly as my father used to carry granite chippings from the Penmaenmawr Granite Company situated here. He drove a lorry and I accompanied him, as a very small boy in the very early 1950s.

The pictures brought the memories flooding back, including the overhead railway which ran along high behind the wall

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    My interest in ships and the sea started back in 2006 when I worked for a couple of years  on the banks of the River Mersey. I have since been on a couple of cruises around the Med and in the Far East and have started to take more interest in researching and photographing some of the ships and other vessels seen on my travels.

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