West Bank Dock was situated on the River Mersey at Widnes.
It was built in 1864 to cater for the growing chemical industry. [1]
It took over some of the traffic of the Widnes Dock. [2]
The dock closed in the 1970s. [1]
In 2008, the Stobart Group had received a contract for "the demolition of an unused industrial estate and the cleanup of acres of contaminated land at the West Bank Dock Estate in Widnes." from the Northwest Regional Development Agency. [3] The new Mersey Multimodal Gateway will be built on the old West Bank Dock Estate. [4]
Merseyside is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Liverpool.
The River Mersey is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2021 was 62,100. Runcorn is on the southern bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap.
The Sankey Canal in North West England, initially known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal, is a former industrial canal, which when opened in 1757 was England's first of the Industrial revolution, and the first modern canal.
Speke is a suburb of Liverpool. It is 7.7 miles (12.4 km) southeast of the city centre. Located near the widest part of the River Mersey, it is bordered by the suburbs of Garston and Hunts Cross, and nearby to Halewood, Hale Village, and Widnes. The rural area of Oglet borders its south.
Widnes Dock was the first rail-to-ship facility in the world. It was built in 1833 between the end of the Sankey Canal and the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway in Widnes.
Runcorn Docks, originally the Bridgewater Docks, is an inland port on the Manchester Ship Canal in the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is operated by Peel Ports and handles bulk and project cargo.
The Silver Jubilee Bridge crosses the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal at Runcorn Gap between Runcorn and Widnes in Halton, England. It is a through arch bridge with a main arch span of 361 yards. It was opened in 1961 as a replacement for the Widnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge. In 1975–77 the carriageway was widened, after which the bridge was given its official name in honour of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. It carries the A533 road and a cantilevered footway. The bridge is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The bridge was closed to vehicles for refurbishment upon the opening of the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, but reopened as a toll bridge in February 2021.
The St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway line owned by a company of the same name in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It was later known as St Helens Railway. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes. Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington and Rainford. The company was taken over by the London and North Western Railway in 1864. The line from St Helens to Widnes and the branch to Rainford are now closed, the latter terminating at the Pilkington Glass' Cowley Hill works siding near Gerard's Bridge, but part of the lines to Garston and to Warrington are still in operation.
Spike Island is a park in Widnes, Halton, North-West England. It is an artificial island between the Sankey Canal and the estuary of the River Mersey containing parkland, woodland, wetlands and footpaths. It is next to the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre, an interactive science and technology museum.
Liverpool City Region is a mayoral combined authority and local enterprise partnership area in North West England.
Widnes is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464.
John Hutchinson was a chemist and industrialist who established the first chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England. He moved from working in a chemical factory in St Helens and built his own chemical factory in 1847 in the Woodend area of Widnes near to Widnes Dock by the junction of the Sankey Canal and the River Mersey. In this factory he manufactured alkali by the Leblanc process.
The Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum is a science and technology museum in Widnes, Halton, North-West England. The centre has interactive exhibits, reconstructed historical scenes, an observatory, a live-science theatre and family workshops. It is next to Spike Island, a public park, located between the River Mersey and the Sankey Canal that has woodlands, wetlands, footpaths and industrial archaeological history.
The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is approximately 1.5 km east (upstream) of the older Silver Jubilee Bridge. It forms part of a wider project to upgrade the infrastructure around the Mersey crossings that includes major civil engineering work to realign the road network, change and add tolling to the Silver Jubilee Bridge, and build new interchanges together with landscaping 9 km of highway.
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.
Atlantic Gateway, sometimes referred to as Ocean Gateway, is a proposed redevelopment strategy for North West England, centering on the corridor between Greater Manchester and Merseyside. The proposal is for development backed by £50 billion of investment over 50 years, making it one of the most expensive and expansive development projects in UK history.