Albert Dock, Liverpool
in Liverpool
The Royal Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses surrounding a 7-acre wet dock, part of Liverpool Docks.
Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick as a non-combustible warehouse system, built from cast and wrought iron, brick and stone, with minimal use of wood. The dock was opened in 1845, and the warehouses in 1946.
A remarkable feature was the stressed wrought iron plate roof. The 3/16" thick plates were 2 ft 3" wide and 10ft long, and joined by rivets. See here for detailed information.[1]. Another source states that the plates were galvanized. It was deemed necessary to replace the roof during refurbishment in the early 1980s, but fortunately assessment and testing showed that it could be retained for two of the warehouses. The iron platework is not merely a waterproof covering: it is a structural casing. Each half of the roof is formed with a slight curvature and sloped upwards to meet at the apex. Light wrought iron trusses were provided, spaced 5 ft apart.
At the time of its construction the Albert Dock was considered a revolutionary docking system because sea-going ships were loaded and unloaded directly from/to the warehouses. Two years after it opened it was modified to include hydraulic cranes:-
1848 'NEW HOISTING POWER.- A machine, of a very singular constnaction, invented by Mr W. G. Armstrong, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has, within the last few days, been put in operation at the Albert Dock, for the purpose of raising goods from the quay into the warehouses above. The moving power is the pressure of the water supplied from the mains of the Green-lane Waterworks, and, by the action of this power, nearly two tons of goods can be hoisted up on a sliding stage in a few seconds to the highest floor of the building. The engine works with great precision and delicacy, both in lifting and lowering, and its movements are very easily controlled. A duplicate of the machine is now in course of erection at the same place, so that two will shortly be brought into action. Mr Armstrong (who has patented the invention) has already applied the same principle with perfect success for working quay cranes at Newcastle; but the hydraulic machine at the Albert Dock is the first instance of the application of the principle in the case of warehouses. The successful introduction of a cheap and rapid method of delivering ships and warehousing goods must be regarded as a matter of the utmost importance to the port of Liverpool, where these operations are carried on to such an enormous extent; and a power so safe and energetic as hydraulic pressure, which can be conveyed to every part of our docks and warehouses, and which without any preparation, is always ready to exert its power whenever it may be needed, possesses peculiar recommendations for the purpose. Liverpool Mercury".'[2]
By the 1860s the dock was losing business. It was designed for sailing ships, not large steamships.
1915 'The quay floor of the warehouses on the south and west sides of the Albert Dock have been enclosed to provide additional accommodation for the storage of tobacco, and a new hydraulic tobacco press is to be provided in substitution for the existing hand screw press, which is to be transferred to the Wallasey Dock Warehouses.'[3]
By 1920 very few commercial ships used the dock, and the warehouses were only used for storing goods carried by road, barge and rail. The dock was abandoned in 1972.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] Liverpool Museums: The Royal Albert Dock Liverpool