Herculaneum Dock was 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 ...
in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
,
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 ...
. It was at the south end of the Liverpool dock system, 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 ...
. To the north it was connected to
Harrington Dock
Harrington Dock was a dock on the River Mersey and part of the Port of Liverpool. Situated in the southern dock system, it was connected to Toxteth Dock to the north and Herculaneum Dock to the south.
History
The first dock on the site was kn ...
. The dock was named after the
Herculaneum Pottery
The Herculaneum Pottery was based in Toxteth, Liverpool, England. between 1793/94 and 1841. They made creamware and pearlware pottery as well as bone china porcelain.
About 1793-4 Richard Abbey, who had been apprenticed to John Sadler, an engra ...
Company that had previously occupied the site.
History
From 1767, a
tidal basin in the area that would become the dock was used for unloading copper for a smelting works.
Between 1794 and 1841 it was the site of a pottery. In 1864, a new dock designed by
George Fosbery Lyster
George Fosbery Lyster FRSE (1821–1899) succeeded John Hartley as Engineer in Chief to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. He is usually referred to as G. F. Lyster.
Life
He was born on 7 September 1821 at Mount Talbot in County Roscommo ...
was blasted from the foreshore, providing two
graving dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
s. This dock opened in 1866.
Ten years later, a third graving dock was added.
Beginning in 1873, the dock handled
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
. In 1878, specialist
casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" me ...
s were built to store this and other volatile cargo within the
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
cliffs above. The dock continued in this capacity until the task of oil handling was transferred across the river to
Tranmere Oil Terminal
Tranmere Oil Terminal is situated on the River Mersey, south of Birkenhead. It was opened on 8 June 1960 to handle vessels of up to 65,000 tons, at two berths (North and South). It is connected to the Stanlow Oil Refinery by a pipeline. Part o ...
and
Stanlow Oil Refinery
Stanlow Refinery is an oil refinery owned by Essar Energy in Ellesmere Port, North West England. Until 2011 it was owned by Shell UK. The refinery is situated on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, which is used to transport seaborne ...
. During 1881 the dock facility was enlarged further and a fourth graving dock was constructed in 1902.
Liverpool remained an important port 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 opposi ...
, with Herculaneum Dock acting as a terminus for the
North Atlantic Convoys.
Herculaneum Dock was formerly served by its own station on the
Liverpool Overhead Railway
The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a numbe ...
. The station (and railway) closed on 30 December 1956. By 1958 demolition of the station had been completed.
In 1972, Herculaneum Dock closed
being filled in during the 1980s to create a car park.
After closure
The area south of the dock contained a tank farm; this was reclaimed for the
Liverpool Garden Festival and residential properties.
In 2004, the site was bought by national property developer David McLean Homes and a riverside residential development, called City Quay, Liverpool was built on the dock.
Since the closing of Herculaneum Dock, what was the main dock area is now a car park and where the graving docks were are now office buildings. The map of 1901 shows the entrance to the dock with the letter 'L'. A restaurant has since been built on this.
Images of Herculaneum Dock
Entrance to Herculaneum Dock (geograph 3813081).jpg, The infilled entrance to Herculaneum Dock in 2014
Dkbkpl30.jpg, British Empire Dockyards and Ports, 1909
Herculaneum Dock, Liverpool Art.IWMART2293.jpg, Herculaneum Dock with Dazzle
Dazzle may refer to:
* Glare (vision), difficulty seeing in the presence of bright light
* Dazzle (fabric), a type of polyester fabric
* ''Dazzle'' (manga), a Japanese manga series by Minari Endoh
* "Dazzle" (song), a song by Siouxsie & the Bans ...
painted merchant ships by Leonard Campbell Taylor
Leonard Campbell Taylor (12 December 1874 – 1 July 1969) was a British painter, mainly of portraits and interiors in a traditional style. Among his patrons was the founding family of Courtaulds and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a me ...
Herculaneum Dock context.jpg, Map showing context of Herculaneum Dock
Herculaneum Dock detail.jpg, Map showing layout of Herculaneum Dock
Herculaneum Dock casemates 2.jpg, View north along the oil casemates, which are Grade II listed
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Site of Herculaneum Dock aerial photo
{{Port of Liverpool docks
Liverpool docks
Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Merseyside
History of Liverpool
1866 establishments in England