The Old Dock: How Liverpool grew to greatness
The internationally-important Old Dock has been carefully preserved under Liverpool One. The Old Dock - the world's first commercial enclosed wet dock.
The Old Dock was discovered during excavations in 2001 after being buried since 1826. Developers Grosvenor preserved the dock and have made it publicly accessible as an important reminder of Liverpool's historic status.
In 1700, Liverpool was a small town with a dock that was in danger of silting up. Yet it was a town with prospects: Chester, which had hitherto been the main port in the north-west, was silting up even more. The discovery of the Americas had increased the importance of ports facing the Atlantic, and the citizens of Liverpool decided to capitalise on the situation by building an innovative ‘wet dock’. The dock had massive gates that were opened only at high tide, and so kept the level of water at high-tide level within the dock, which meant that ships could unload straight on to the dockside while still afloat.
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The Old Dock |
The Old Dock proved to be an enormous success, as
it meant that ships could be loaded in one and a half days, instead of the 12
to 14 days that had been needed previously. Liverpool grew rapidly and soon
overtook Bristol to become the second largest port in the country after London.
The position of the port meant that Liverpool was also convenient for the West
African trade, forming the apex of the trading triangle between Africa and the
West Indies, and by 1792, the port possessed over half of the English cotton
and slave trade. However when the Slave Trade Act of 1807 abolished the slave
trade, Liverpool expanded even more, as
it became an important port for cotton, located as it was close to the cotton
and textile mills of Lancashire.
By the end of the 19th century, a massive 9% of all world
trade went through Liverpool Docks, but by this time the Old Dock was long
gone; it had been superseded by many bigger and deeper docks, constructed out
into the Mersey. The Old Dock, the world’s first commercial enclosed wet dock,
was backfilled in 1826.
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The Old Dock beneath Liverpool ONE |
Engineer, Thomas Steers – who originally built the berth in
1715 - is widely recognised as helping to kick-start Liverpool's rapid rise to
importance. Although Manchester Basin was originally constructed in the 1780s
as a tidal basin for river traffic, the dock visible today was created by the
addition of an entrance lock. The excavation has uncovered the early 19th
century lock, as well as the outline of the western part of the sandstone wall
of the Manchester Dock, which has evidence of mason’s marks on individual
blocks reflecting the construction method of the dock. The wooden lock gates,
made from what is thought to be a tropical hardwood, have survived and are
visible. Any finds recovered during the archaeological dig will eventually form
part of displays in one of the museum’s key galleries Port City, which will
explore Liverpool’s role as a port city and the development of its
architecture, infrastructure, people and commerce. It will follow the story of
the industrial revolution, the development of the dock system and the people
living and working underneath the rails of the Overhead Railway.His dock
building skills allowed ships to load and unload goods even at low tide.
The area around the Dock at Mann Island was once known as
Nova Scotia and was populated not only by sailmakers and other businesses but
also had a small population of people living there.
Sources
Liverpool Central Library
Liverpool Records Office
Liverpool Museums
Encyclopedia Britannica
By Robert F Edwards