Prince's DockAlthough many texts give the name without an apostrophe as ''Princes Dock'', this is an incorrect plural form. The dock is named for one prince; the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

, only. is a

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 ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and part of the

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...

. It is the most southerly of the docks situated in the northern part of the Liverpool dock system, connected to

Prince's Half-Tide Dock Prince's Half-Tide Dock on the River Mersey, England, is a half tide dock and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Vauxhall, connected to East Waterloo Dock and West Waterloo Dock to the north and Prin ...

to the north. The dock is now in the buffer zone to one of Liverpool's

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

History

Initially,

William Jessop William Jessop (23 January 1745 – 18 November 1814) was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Jessop was born in Devonport, Devon, the ...

and John Rennie were consulted about the plans for the dock. The dock was built by John Foster, with construction starting around 1810. During the construction, Foster ordered many times more stone than was needed. Allegedly, Foster diverted it to his family's building company. He resigned when this was discovered. Princes Dock Liverpool opening 1821

The dock was named for the

. Still unfinished, it opened on the day of the Prince Regent's coronation as George IV on 19 July 1821. Access to the southern half of the dock system was via George's Basin,

George's Dock George's Dock was a dock, on the River Mersey, England, within the Port of Liverpool. It was connected to Canning Dock to the south and George's Basin to the north. History Construction of the dock began in 1762, and was known as North Dock ...

and into

Canning Dock Canning Dock on the River Mersey is part of the Port of Liverpool in Northern England. The dock is in the southern dock system, connected to Salthouse Dock to the south and with access to the river via the Canning Half Tide Dock to the west. T ...

. In 1865, the ''

Mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 590 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word (''mimos''), an "actor" or "mime", and the feminine suffix -''osa'', "resembl ...

'' set sail from Liverpool, containing 153 Welsh settlers destined for

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

. It is currently thought that around 50,000 people in Patagonia today have Welsh heritage from the group of 153 settlers. A monument to the settlers was unveiled at Prince's Dock in 2015. In 1874 George's Basin was filled, and in 1899 George's Dock was filled and the site used to create what is now the

Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...

. On 12 June 1895 Liverpool Riverside Station was opened, situated between Prince's Dock and the River Mersey. In 1968

B&I Line The British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited was a steam packet and passenger ferry company operating between ports in Ireland and in Great Britain between 1836 and 1992. It was latterly popularly called the B&I, and branded as B&I Line ...

(operator of the Liverpool - Dublin service) commenced a new car ferry service from Carriers' Dock further downriver. A passenger only service continued to use Prince's Dock until 1969. Ferry services from Prince's Dock finally ended in November 1981 when

P&O Ferries P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...

closed their Liverpool - Belfast overnight service. The dock subsequently closed to shipping and was partly filled.

Redevelopment

Commercial redevelopment began when the dock was passed to the

Merseyside Development Corporation The Merseyside Development Corporation was a central government-appointed Development Corporation set up in 1981 by Margaret Thatcher's government to regenerate the Mersey docks of Liverpool, Bootle, Wallasey and Birkenhead. It was one of two D ...

in 1988. Much of Prince's Dock's wharfage and

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

space has been replaced by: *Three blocks of office accommodation along the river front. *The £24 million Malmaison 128-room hotel. It opened in 2007 and is its owning company's first ever 'new build'. It stands alongside the existing

Crowne Plaza Crowne Plaza is a British multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom. It caters to business travelers and the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family ...

hotel. *Three

blocks of flats A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

. The dock was partially filled in to inland canal boat depths precluding deep water vessels. The dock has been divided into two sections spanned by a pedestrian bridge that was designed by the Liverpool John Moores University Centre for Architectural Research and Consultancy Unit (CARCU). By March 2009 work was completed on a £22 million extension of the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

, providing a further 1.4 miles of navigable waterway. A new

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

and fixed bridge was built at the northern end of Prince's Dock. At the south end of the dock, a new canal tunnel was constructed which leads to the

. The tunnel is routed beneath St. Nicholas Place and the access road for the new cruise liner facility. From Prince's Dock, the extension passes the Pier Head and terminates at

. In 2007, planning permission was secured for the £130million ''New World Square''. This was to have incorporated an eight-storey, five-star hotel, 385 apartments and space for shops and restaurants. However, planning permission for this development expired in 2010. In 2016, planning permission was granted for the 34-storey Lexington Liverpool.

Liverpool Cruise Terminal

Liverpool Cruise Terminal opened in 2007. As part of their plans to increase the number of visitors to Liverpool, the city council unveiled plans in September 2017 for a new

cruise terminal A passenger terminal is a structure in a port which services passengers boarding and leaving water vessels such as ferries, cruise ships and ocean liners. Depending on the types of vessels serviced by the terminal, it may be named (for example) ...

that would be situated on the banks of the Mersey at Prince's Dock, where the wooden landing currently stage is. The plans would allow ships carrying up to 3,600 passengers to dock in Liverpool with the facilities including dedicated passport control and a cafe. It is hoped that a multi-storey car park and hotel will be built at Prince's Dock as part of the work.

Cultural references

Prince's Dock is mentioned in the novel '' Redburn, His First Voyage'' by

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

(1849):

"In magnitude, cost and durability the docks of Liverpool surpass all others in the world... for miles you may walk along that riverside, passing dock after dock, like a chain of immense fortresses. Prince's Dock, of comparatively recent construction, is perhaps the largest of all and is well known to American sailors from the fact that it is mostly frequented by the American shipping."

It is also mentioned in ''The English at the North Pole'', the first part of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

novel ''

The Adventures of Captain Hatteras ''The Adventures of Captain Hatteras'' (french: Voyages et aventures du capitaine Hatteras) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne in two parts: ''The English at the North Pole'' (french: Les Anglais au pôle nord) and ''The Desert of Ice'' (french ...

'' (1864).

Notes

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

*
Prince's Dock aerial photo
{{Liverpool B&S Liverpool docks Redevelopment projects in Liverpool