Duke's Dock is a dock 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 par ...

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 system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Birkenhead Docks between Birkenhead and Wallasey on the west side of t ...

. It is in the southern dock system, connected to

Salthouse Dock Salthouse Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, 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 Se ...

and

Wapping Dock Wapping Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the southern dock system, connected to Salthouse Dock to the north, Queen's Dock to the south. King's Dock was originally located to th ...

to the east. The Albert Dock is located immediately north, although not directly accessible by water.

History

The land for the dock was obtained in 1768. Opening in 1773, Duke's Dock was built privately for the

Duke of Bridgewater Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

as a Liverpool-based facility for traffic using the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was opened in 1761 from Wor ...

from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The dock was probably designed by

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

, who also built the Bridgewater Canal. The first dockside warehouse on the Mersey was built at the dock in 1783, and the dock was extended in the 1790s due to growth in the

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

industry. In 1811, a large six-storey warehouse was built on the southern side of the dock. Barges were able to enter the warehouse from the dock, and the building lasted until the 1960s. In 1845, a small half-tide dock was constructed between Duke's Dock and the river and, at the opposite end of the dock, Wapping Basin was added in 1855. The dock was purchased by the MD&HB in 1900, and the warehouses remained until 1960. The dock had a southern branch which was filled in 1967, and warehouses were removed from the north and south quaysides. The dock closed in 1972.

After closure

After the closure of Duke's Dock, the dock silted up during the following decade and the quayside was in a state of considerable dereliction by 1980. In 1980, disused buildings including one of the Liverpool Lighterage Company, a training school and a customs house still remained on the north quayside. In 1981, 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 ...

was established to rejuvenate the South Docks, and the dock was

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

d between 1981-5. The river entrance was filled in during the 1980s, and replaced with a permanent roadway leading to a large temporary car park on the site of King's Dock. Footbridges across the dock, leading from the King's Dock car park to the rejuvenated Albert Dock, were also installed at this time. The remaining buildings on the north quayside were also removed, to create permanent car parking space for the Albert Dock.

Present use

Direct river access to the west is no longer provided, with the only remains of the river entrance being markings on the dock wall. The dock is still accessible from Wapping Basin. The water depth varies from around up to . The dock is sometimes used by sport scuba divers. Its water is clear and it has much underwater sealife. The waterspace, of this and the other docks in the southern system, was owned by

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...

from 2003 to 2012 and now transferred to the

Canal & River Trust The Canal & River Trust (CRT), branded as in Wales, holds the guardianship of 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, together with reservoirs and a wide range of heritage buildings and structures, in England and Wales. Launched on 12 July 2012, the ...

Water ball A water ball or water walking ball is a large inflatable sphere that allows a person inside it to walk across the surface of a body of water. The giant ball is usually two metres in diameter and has a zippered entrance to allow for easy entry a ...

ing is now allowed on the dock.

References

Sources

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External links

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Dukes Dock aerial photo
{{Port of Liverpool docks Liverpool docks