Herculaneum Dock

Last updated

Herculaneum Dock
City Quay, Liverpool.jpg
Housing development on the site of the former Graving Dock No. 4
Location
Location Riverside, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom
Coordinates 53°22′43″N2°58′12″W / 53.3786°N 2.9701°W / 53.3786; -2.9701
OS grid SJ354873
Details
Opened1866
Closed1972
Type Wet dock

Herculaneum Dock was part of the Port of Liverpool in Liverpool, England. It was at the south end of the Liverpool dock system, on the River Mersey. To the north it was connected to Harrington Dock. The dock was named after the Herculaneum Pottery Company that had previously occupied the site.

Contents

History

From 1767, a tidal basin in the area that would become the dock was used for unloading copper for a smelting works. [1] Between 1794 and 1841 it was the site of a pottery. In 1864, a new dock designed by George Fosbery Lyster was blasted from the foreshore, providing two graving docks. This dock opened in 1866. [2] Ten years later, a third graving dock was added. [3]

Beginning in 1873, the dock handled petroleum. In 1878, specialist casemates were built to store this and other volatile cargo within the sandstone cliffs above. The dock continued in this capacity until the task of oil handling was transferred across the river to Tranmere Oil Terminal and Stanlow Oil Refinery. During 1881 the dock facility was enlarged further and a fourth graving dock was constructed in 1902. [3]

Liverpool remained an important port during the Second World War, with Herculaneum Dock acting as a terminus for the North Atlantic Convoys. [3]

Herculaneum Dock was formerly served by its own station on the Liverpool Overhead Railway. The station (and railway) closed on 30 December 1956. By 1958 demolition of the station had been completed. [4]

In 1972, Herculaneum Dock closed [2] being filled in during the 1980s to create a car park.

After closure

The area south of the dock contained a tank farm; this was reclaimed for the Liverpool Garden Festival and residential properties.

In 2004, the site was bought by national property developer David McLean Homes and a riverside residential development, called City Quay, Liverpool was built on the dock.

Since the closing of Herculaneum Dock, what was the main dock area now comprises car parks, a fitness club, a Car dealership and residential buildings. Graving docks 1 2 and 3 are now occupied by residential buildings. Graving Dock no.4 has been restored as a water feature within the residential estate. The map of 1901 shows the entrance to the dock with the letter 'L'. A restaurant has since been built on this.

Images of Herculaneum Dock

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladstone Dock</span> Dock in Liverpool, England

Gladstone Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Bootle. The dock is connected to Seaforth Dock to the north and what remains of Hornby Dock to the south. Part of Liverpool Freeport, Gladstone Dock is operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada Dock</span> Dock on the River Mersey, Liverpool, England

Canada Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Kirkdale. Canada Dock consists of a main basin nearest the river wall with three branch docks and a graving dock to the east. It is connected to Brocklebank Dock to the north and Huskisson Dock to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Liverpool</span> Series of docks on the River Mersey, Liverpool, England

The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed 7.5-mile (12.1 km) dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of the river. The port was extended in 2016 by the building of an in-river container terminal at Seaforth Dock, named Liverpool2. The terminal can berth two 14,000 container Post-Panamax ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salthouse Dock</span> Dock on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England

Salthouse Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the southern dock system, connected to Canning Dock to the north, Wapping Dock via Wapping Basin to the south and Albert Dock to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrington Dock</span>

Harrington Dock was a dock on the River Mersey and part of the Port of Liverpool. Situated in the southern dock system, it was connected to Toxteth Dock to the north and Herculaneum Dock to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Dock, Liverpool</span> Former dock on the River Mersey, Liverpool, England

Manchester Dock was a dock on the River Mersey in England and a part of the Port of Liverpool. The dock was not part of the interconnected dock system, but was connected directly to the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Dock</span>

The Old Dock, originally known as Thomas Steers' dock, was the world's first commercial wet dock. The 3+12 acres (1.4 ha) dock was built on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, starting in 1710 and completed in 1716. A natural tidal pool off the River Mersey, which probably gave its name to Liverpool centuries earlier, was partially filled and locked in from the river with quay walls erected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tranmere Oil Terminal</span>

Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths. It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a 15 mi (24 km) crude oil pipeline. and a fuel oil pipeline. Part of the terminal occupies the site of a former ferry service to Liverpool, with the extant pier considerably modified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallasey</span> Town in Merseyside, England

Wallasey is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. At the 2011 Census, the population was 60,284.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Overhead Railway</span> Defunct elevated railway in Liverpool

The Liverpool Overhead Railway was an overhead railway in Liverpool that operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number of world firsts: it was the first electric elevated railway, the first to use automatic signalling, electric colour light signals and electric multiple units, and was home to one of the first passenger escalators at a railway station. It was the second-oldest electric metro in the world, being preceded by the 1890 City and South London Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunswick railway station</span> Disused railway station in England

Brunswick railway station serves the Toxteth district of Liverpool, England, on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. The station serves the nearby district of Dingle and is situated on a short section of track between two tunnels, between the now in-filled Toxteth and Harrington Docks. The station also serves businesses on the Brunswick Dock estate, which gives it name to the station. The residential area of Grafton Street is reached by steps or ramp from the southbound platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avonmouth Docks</span> Port in United Kingdom

The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avonmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birkenhead Woodside railway station</span> Former GWR & LNWR railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England

Birkenhead Woodside was a railway station at Woodside, in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire. It was served by local services in Cheshire as well as long-distance services to southern England, including London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birkenhead Town railway station</span> Former railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England

Birkenhead Town railway station is a disused railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. It was located near the current entrance to the Queensway Tunnel on Grange Road.

Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located immediately south-east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century, the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe Valley. The working docks area today is owned and operated by Associated British Ports as the Port of Swansea and the northern part around the Prince of Wales Dock is undergoing re-development into a new urban area branded the SA1 Swansea Waterfront.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dingle railway station</span> Closed station on the defunct Liverpool Overhead Railway

Dingle railway station is a disused underground railway station located on the Liverpool Overhead Railway (LOR), at the south end of Park Road, Dingle, Liverpool. It was the only below ground station on the line. Trains accessed the station via a half-mile tunnel, bored from the cliff face at Herculaneum Dock to Park Road. It is the last remaining part of the Overhead railway, with the surface entrance still standing. The former platform and track area were in use as a garage called Roscoe Engineering until 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandon Dock</span>

Sandon Dock was a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. Situated in the northern dock system, it was east of Sandon Half Tide Dock, to which it was once connected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Docks</span> Port in Wales

Barry Docks is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. The docks were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alternative to the congested and expensive Cardiff Docks to ship coal carried by rail from the South Wales Coalfield. The principal engineer was John Wolfe Barry, assisted by Thomas Forster Brown and Henry Marc Brunel, son of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herculaneum Dock railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Herculaneum Dock railway station was the original southern terminus for the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Actually adjacent to Harrington Dock it was named after Herculaneum Dock, a somewhat larger dock beyond the end of the line. It was opened on 6 March 1893 by the Marquis of Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Immingham</span> Major port located near Immingham, Lincolnshire, England

The Port of Immingham, also known as Immingham Dock, is a major port on the east coast of England, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. In 2019, the Port of Grimsby & Immingham was the largest port in the United Kingdom by tonnage with 54.1 million tonnes of cargo passing through that year.

References

  1. "Herculaneum Dock". Liverpool History Online. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009.
  2. 1 2 Duffy, Tom (9 May 2014). "Tower block planned for Herculaneum dock". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Trading Places: Herculaneum Dock History". Liverpool Museums. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  4. "Station Name: Herculaneum Dock (2nd)". Disused Stations. Retrieved 30 August 2016.

Further reading