Weston Point Docks, also known as the Port of Weston, is an inland port on the Manchester Ship Canal in the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is operated by FLX Logistics.
Weston Point Docks | |
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![]() Warehouse on the Manchester Ship Canal | |
Location | |
Location | Runcorn, Cheshire |
Coordinates | 53°19′36″N2°45′36″W / 53.3266°N 2.7601°W Coordinates: 53°19′36″N2°45′36″W / 53.3266°N 2.7601°W |
OS grid | SJ494813 |
Details | |
Operator | FLX Logistics |
Opened | 1810 |
Type | Inland port |
Purpose | Cargo transfer |
Joins | Manchester Ship Canal, Weston Canal |
In 1810, the Weaver Navigation Company completed the Weston Canal between Frodsham and the Weston Point area of Runcorn to avoid the difficult entrance to the mouth of the River Weaver, and a dock was established at Weston Point. [1] The Old Basin is still extant but no longer accessible to shipping. The New Basin, built between 1850 and 1856, was filled in between 1963 and 1966. [2]
In 1841, an Anglican church, Christ Church, was constructed on the site of the docks, now redundant but a listed building. [3]
In 1859, a short section of canal called the Runcorn and Weston Canal was built which would link Weston Point Docks on the Weston Canal with Runcorn Docks on the Bridgewater Canal.
Two further docks, the Delamere (1865-1870) and the Tollemache (1885), were built and now form one dock, the Delamache. [2]
The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894. This canal now services the docks as opposed to the Weston Canal and the Weaver Navigation.
In August 2007, the owners of the Port of Weston, The Westbury Property Fund, merged with the Eddie Stobart Group to form the Stobart Group. The group planned to develop the site into an inter-modal port facility to enable freight, currently carried by road, to be transported by rail and water. This would mean increased warehousing, new container handling facilities, an extension to the existing West Coast Main Line rail siding, a new link road, and improved navigable access between the dock and the Manchester Ship Canal. [4] [5] The plans were not implemented, however, and the docks are now operated by FLX Logistics. [6]
The River Mersey is a river in the North West of England. Its name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon language and translates as "boundary river". The river may have been the border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria and for centuries it has formed part of the boundary between the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile-long (58 km) inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift vessels about 60 feet (18 m) to the canal's terminus in Manchester. Landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the world's only swing aqueduct, and Trafford Park, the world's first planned industrial estate and still the largest in Europe.
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The Runcorn and Weston Canal was a short canal near Runcorn in Cheshire, England, constructed to link the Weston Canal, which is part of the River Weaver Navigation, to the Bridgewater Canal and Runcorn Docks. It was completed in 1859, but was little used. Around half of it became the Arnold Dock in 1876, when it was made wider and deeper, and linked to Fenton Dock by a ship lock. The dock section and some of the remaining canal were filled in during the 1960s, and the remainder is in a derelict state.
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