Bromborough Dock was situated on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is 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 ...

Bromborough Bromborough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is situated on the Wirral Peninsula, to the south east of Bebington and to the north of Easth ...

, on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

, England. Owned by the manufacturer

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

(and its successor

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

), it served the company's factory at

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in it ...

. The facility was once the largest private

dock A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...

in the world. Consent for its construction was given by the Bromborough Dock Act 1923. Officially opened on 17 April 1931, it replaced a smaller dock and wharf built at Bromborough Pool in 1895. Located at the mouth of the Pool, the new dock allowed for larger ocean-going vessels to berth. The dock was provided with a link to the

Birkenhead Railway The Birkenhead Railway was a railway company in North West England. It was incorporated as the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway (BL&CJR) in 1846 to build a line connecting the port of Birkenhead and the city of Chester with ...

as part of the Lever Brothers private railway network, which remained fully operational until 1969. The dock handled a wide variety of cargoes during its lifetime, including: paper, timber, animal and plant oils and fats (

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

tallow Tallow is a rendering (industrial), rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain techn ...

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

and

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...

). Lever Brothers used its own fleet of

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s and

coaster Coaster (stylized as COASTER) is a commuter rail service in the central and northern coastal regions of San Diego County, California, United States operated by the North County Transit District (NCTD). The commuter rail line features eight s ...

s to transport goods to and from other docks on the River Mersey and to the company's other factory site at

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

via the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

. Other tenants on the Lever industrial estate also made use of the dock's facilities. The Royal Navy during the Second World War A13259

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Bromborough Dock was utilised as an alternative shipping berth to Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks, which were very congested and often damaged by enemy action. It was also used for the construction of

Maunsell army fort The Maunsell Forts are armed towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were ...

s, offshore anti-aircraft towers which were placed in

Liverpool Bay Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence. Liverpool Bay has historically suffered from redu ...

. By the 1980s, a gradual decline in goods traffic precipitated the decision to close the dock. This occurred following the passing of Bromborough Dock Act 1986 in September 1986. Most of the site was used for

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

between 1991 and 2006. Since the cessation of waste disposal operations, the area has been

landscaped Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

into a public park called

Port Sunlight River Park Port Sunlight River Park is a river park on the shore of the river Mersey at Port Sunlight, Merseyside, England. History The park was formerly a landfill site at Bromborough Dock Bromborough Dock was situated on the River Mersey at Brombor ...

which opened in August 2014.

References

External links

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MultiMap: Aerial photographITN Source: Opening of Bromborough Dock on the Mersey by President of the Board of Trade
Newsreel clip Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Mersey docks {{Water-transport-stub