docks

The Graving Docks Pump House in Birkenhead stands as a substantial reminder of the town’s nineteenth-century maritime power and engineering ambition. Constructed to serve the adjacent graving, or dry, docks, the building formed a crucial part of the dock complex that supported ship repair and...

Built between 1864 and 1899 there were 3 graving or dry docks here originally although 2 were filled in at some point. The pumphouse would have been used to pump the water out of the docks to allow work on the ship inside. The pumps would have originally been steam powered and a chimney can be...

Quarries are usually only worth exploring if there’s some underground or old machinery - these two in Scotland have neither but are of interest, at least to me, because they supplied the granite for building the Liverpool Docks. But why transport granite all the way from Scotland when there’s...

"The Chapel" unfortunately is not a chapel, although I imagine the building got that name due to its roof. I couldn't find any records noting this as a place of worship, nor could I really find any information about this location besides the last few companies that operated there. But like most...

Another post to record more hydraulic stuff on the docks before it disappears. By hydraulic stuff I mean the most unique aspect of the Liverpool dock system, the water powered machines which opened and closed lock gates (gate engines), let water in and out (sluices) and helped ships manoeuvre...

I recently travelled to a part of the country I've spent very little time in, that being northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire - it was, how shall I put it, a very wet experience. I'd go as far as saying it was by far the wettest weekend of exploring I've ever put myself through, but there...

Introduction So this is a bit of a strange one, I added this pin years ago and was one of my first finds more than a 50-mile radius from where I live, it’s one that I’ve always wanted to do even though it’s not the most exciting place. Anyway, despite being quite a few years late to the party me...

Hi. I’m a new member and wanted to say thanks so much for your incredible article and pics of the Waterloo Pier Head. My grandfather lived at the Pier Head between the dock master and the pier master n 1900. He was some type of engineer. I have been trying to find out more about the Pier Head...

For many years, china clay blasted from the hills above St Austell with water canon was pumped in suspension to Par Docks where it was stored in huge concrete silos before being dried and loaded aboard ships for export around the world . A commercial port in Cornwall is to cease trading and axe...

It took an embarrassingly long time to realise what this thing was, particularly since I’ve done six other pump houses on the Mersey. I first looked at the building a couple of years ago as part of a compilation of stuff to explore around the Birkenhead/Wallasey docklands. Report - - Floating...

The History: The Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line which runs for about four and a half miles between the South Junction of Rockferry to around Bidston Dock, as part of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. Some of the line runs through Haymarket tunnel and there was a level...

Millennium mills The Millennium Mills were one of the largest flour mills in London during the early half of the 20th century. The building was largely destroyed by bombing during the second world war but was then rebuilt in 1945-1950 before eventually closing with the decline of the royal...

This report follows on from a previous one about the Liverpool central docks (https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/central-docks-liverpool-2018.116392) and covers a small patch of wasteland at the southern end, shown by the dotted ellipse below. It doesn’t look like much when you walk...

What’s left of the old tobacco warehouse in Liverpool. Cleared out all of the interesting stuff and it’s being replaced with showroom apartments. Couldn’t get around all of it as I was playing hide and seek with security on the roof

A roundup of what remains in the part of the central Liverpool dock system shown below. This bit is also known as the Stanley Dock Conservation Area and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area is owned by Peel Waters and their initial crass plans to erect tall skyscrapers almost...