Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 56

Thread: Liverpool Old Dock and Custom House

  1. #1
    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Under The Stairs >> Under The Mud.
    Posts
    7,488
    Blog Entries
    4

    Exclamation Liverpool Old Dock and Custom House

    I was reading some information about Liverpool's Old Doc/ Steer's Dock that is currently beneath the new bus station and part of the Paradise Street Development opposite the Police Headquarters.


    How the area looked before the dock was constructed, Liverpool Castle still visible.

    Apparently there has been something there since the 17th century and it wasn't until the Dock Act was passed in 1709 did Thomas Steers start the work on the recognisable dock as seen on the maps. It was partially opened in 1715 for shipping.


    The dock is visible here, by now the castle was gone (1715)

    Steers was supposed to have used the old bricks and stone from the Liverpool Castle ruins to construct the dock.


    You can see the developing area around the dock



    In the years to come, Liverpool and its docks expanded and by the 19th century, problems became apparent, the small size of the dock plus its now isolated position with the north and south docks meant that with the introduction of the 1811 Liverpool Dock Act, the dock could be filled in. It stayed open until it was filled in a few years after.

    Now this is where I became interested in Liverpool's Old Custom House that was built on the site. Certainly a candidate for the great lost buildings from Liverpool's past.




    Salt House Dock in the foreground


    You can see its proximity to the Albert Dock

    How this building was lost is beyond me, it was heavily bombed during the war but the shell remained for many years afterwards. It should have been saved, no doubt



    1941

    Since then there has been a period of poor buildings being constructed once gems have been destroyed, something we are all regretting in this conservation conscious environment in 2006.



    Remember this in the years that came? Then in 2001 came the big clear-up for the forth coming PSD.


    Chavasse Park in the distance

    Its almost heart wrenching when you suddenly realise how important historical dock locations are being filled in. The developers have promised to put a section of the Old Dock on show with a viewing gallery.


    Last edited by Kev; 06-07-2007 at 07:37 PM.
    Become A Supporter 👇


    Donate Via PayPal


    Donate


  2. #2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Kev View Post
    Its almost heart wrenching when you suddenly realise how important historical dock locations are being filled in. The developers have promised to put a section of the Old Dock on show with a viewing gallery.
    Amazing collection of images there Kev, thanks.

    Yes, it would be good to see a bit of the Old Dock - I was excited enough just to see the George's Dock wall underneath the Cunard Building!! Imagine they'd dug up all those docks and built waterside promenades and that... It'd be so much better, far more unique and would make Liverpool a more desirable and unique tourist destination.


  3. #3
    Senior Member Waterways's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    2,924
    Blog Entries
    22

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by snappel View Post
    Amazing collection of images there Kev, thanks.

    Yes, it would be good to see a bit of the Old Dock - I was excited enough just to see the George's Dock wall underneath the Cunard Building!! Imagine they'd dug up all those docks and built waterside promenades and that... It'd be so much better, far more unique and would make Liverpool a more desirable and unique tourist destination.
    It would be good enough to see the whole of the Old Dock as you said. We had a perfect opportunity to dig it out and put it back. What a lost opportunity!!!! What goons run this city? Only in Liverpool. The world's first enclosed commercial dock.

    The Customs house was not heavily bombed. It was fire bombed and the structure was totally intact. London decided that Customs would be centred in the south - another raping of Liverpool - so the building was demolished. In 1950 a proposal came in for a 50 plus floor glass block on the site - being Liverpool, of course it was turned down. Miraculously a similar design emerged in New York, called the Pan-Am building.
    The new Amsterdam at Liverpool?
    Save Liverpool Docks and Waterways - Click

    Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
    becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
    longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
    tourist. Would we visit a modernised Venice of filled in
    canals to view its modern museum describing
    how it once was?


    Giving Liverpool a full Metro - CLICK
    Rapid-transit rail: Everton, Liverpool & Arena - CLICK

    Save Royal Iris - Sign Petition

  4. #4
    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Under The Stairs >> Under The Mud.
    Posts
    7,488
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    Thanks for the comments, once I started looking through the old maps of the area, I wanted to know much more. The change in land-use over time has interested me too, the area still retains its shape with the Chavasse Park bit once a maze of dwellings. Once the old sailors were off of the ships at the docks, I can only imagine to delights that awaited them in the pubs etc.. the atmosphere, the singing, the smells.....but now the PSD is going ahead, these might return, in a much more sumptuous environment!

    Loosing the custom house though
    Become A Supporter 👇


    Donate Via PayPal


    Donate


  5. #5
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default



    This shot of me was taken during the promo recording of "Jack: The Musical" in October 2000 in Paris. The picture behind me is the Customs House, Liverpool by Atkinson Grimshaw, reminiscent of the docklands of the East End in the same period.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  6. #6
    PhilipG
    Guest PhilipG's Avatar

    Default

    I'm rather late coming to this.
    The Castle wasn't on the site of the Old Dock.
    The Castle was where Derby Square is, and the Old Dock was the site of the Custom House/Canning Place.

  7. #7
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PhilipG View Post
    I'm rather late coming to this.
    The Castle wasn't on the site of the Old Dock.
    The Castle was where Derby Square is, and the Old Dock was the site of the Custom House/Canning Place.
    Agreed. More correctly, I believe I am correct in saying that the Custom House and the Old Dock were on the site of the original Pool from which Liverpool derives its name.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  8. #8
    PhilipG
    Guest PhilipG's Avatar

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge View Post
    Agreed. More correctly, I believe I am correct in saying that the Custom House and the Old Dock were on the site of the original Pool from which Liverpool derives its name.

    Chris
    That's right, Chris.

  9. #9
    Senior Member knowhowe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chester UK
    Posts
    256

    Default

    Yes, the 'Old Dock' was constructed in the bed of the tributary river- 'the Pool'- that curved round from the site of Canning Place, along today's Paradise Street and Whitechapel, where, at its head, the land was little more than a swamp. Whitechapel, in fact, was called Frog Lane "the strains from which (creatures) ever rose at dusk and did never cease till dawn".
    The Williamson family drained this swamp when they laid out the square that still bears their name around 1700 but it is said that flooding was common in the area for years afterwards and that damp conditions prevailed in the cellars along Whitechapel and Paradise Street until fairly recent times..

    There was a degree of criticism when the Old Dock was formed a few years later, many saying that, instead of creating just one dock, the course of the old Pool should instead have been excavated, deepened and widened and wharves created all along it, as was later the case in Bristol. This would have produced the remarkable effect of shipping coming right into the old town and their masts rising above the surrounding houses and shops- a wonderful concept!
    Perhaps, too, such a splendid feature would not have been so casually done away with as was the case with the Old Dock and the new buildings rising all around the area today would have been wonderfully complemented bt this waterway running through their midst.
    As it is, I agree that it is utterly unpardonable that the Old Dock was not not re-excavated as part of the redevelopment, as it so very easily could have been- a monument not just of major importance in Liverpool's history, but of that of Britain and beyond, for it set the standard for the way things would be done in the future and thus and changed the history of the world.
    But that's the Grosvenors for you. Go here-

    http://www.chesterwalls.info/newgate.html

    - th learn how they trashed the largest and most completely preserved Roman bath house complex in Britain to erect their ghastly Grosvenor Precinct in the heart of Chester.

    I agree, also, that the Customs House could easily have been restored. It suffered the same fate as the Museum- gutted by incendiaries, true, but with its shell complete and relatively undamaged. The Museum was wonderfully restored so why not the Customs House? What would it serve as today, as a centrepiece of Liverpool's world-reknowned waterfront buildings? A gallery, museum, civic centre, concert hall... who knows? It's too bad.

    http://www.chesterwalls.info/gallery/customs.html
    Chester: a Virtual Stroll Around the Walls-
    http://www.chesterwalls.info

    The Liverpool Gallery-
    http://www.chesterwalls.info/gallery/liverpool.html

    The Chester Shop
    http://www.thechestershop.com


    Chester & Liverpool Guided Walks
    http://www.chesterwalls.info/guidedwalks.html

  10. #10
    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Under The Stairs >> Under The Mud.
    Posts
    7,488
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    ^^Thanks^^ - I agree . What has been evident though through the 2007/2008 celebrations and the massive redevelopments around town is the interest that has been created surrounding liverpool's past.
    Become A Supporter 👇


    Donate Via PayPal


    Donate


  11. #11

    Default

    G'Dai again !
    While on the subject of Canning Place. One of the worst pieces of vandalism ever by a Civic Body, was the demolishing of the World Renowned Sailors Home. This was a beautiful building with a history second to none which would have been ideal for a Backpackers Hostel or something of that nature. I believe the only thing remaining, are the unique cast iron gates which were found somewhere in the Midlands, although I understand there is a scheme afoot to get them brought back to Liverpool. What tales that building could have told . An irreplaceable piece of Liverpool History lost forever. What price Culture without History ????

  12. #12
    Senior Member ChrisGeorge's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Baltimore, Maryland, USA
    Posts
    3,590

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by customhouse View Post
    G'Dai again !
    While on the subject of Canning Place. One of the worst pieces of vandalism ever by a Civic Body, was the demolishing of the World Renowned Sailors Home. This was a beautiful building with a history second to none which would have been ideal for a Backpackers Hostel or something of that nature. I believe the only thing remaining, are the unique cast iron gates which were found somewhere in the Midlands, although I understand there is a scheme afoot to get them brought back to Liverpool. What tales that building could have told . An irreplaceable piece of Liverpool History lost forever. What price Culture without History ????
    Hi customhouse

    I agree 1000% that the loss of the Sailors Home was a grievous loss to the heritage of Liverpool. Hopefully the Pooley Gates can be brought back to Liverpool where they belong, which would be something although admittedly small recompense for the loss of this outstanding building.

    Chris
    Christopher T. George
    Editor, Ripperologist
    Editor, Loch Raven Review
    http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
    Chris on Flickr and on MySpace

  13. #13
    Cadfael
    Guest Cadfael's Avatar

    Default

    Another view - taken from 'Liverpool from the Air' Book:


  14. #14

    Default Old dock wall

    In reply to the old dock wall.
    we are currently workin on the restoration of a section of the wall beneath the area of land between Jonh Lewis, the new Hilton hotel and the steps to the park. There is a viewing panel outside Lewis's that looks down on the north east corner of the wall, unfortunatly with the cleaning and other works going on, this window is sometimes misted up.
    The works are due to finish around christmas time, and on completion there will be viewing galleries for poeple to see the wall.
    I will try to post some photo's during this time, if anyone is interested
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_0115.jpg 
Views:	502 
Size:	87.8 KB 
ID:	8010  

  15. #15
    Creator & Administrator Kev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Under The Stairs >> Under The Mud.
    Posts
    7,488
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bazdad View Post
    I will try to post some photo's during this time, if anyone is interested
    Yes please!!!! Welcome to the site
    Become A Supporter 👇


    Donate Via PayPal


    Donate


Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. The Custom House and Albert Dock, 1875
    By Colin Wilkinson in forum Colin Wilkinson's Streets of Liverpool
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-23-2012, 11:30 PM
  2. The Custom House
    By Spike in forum Liverpool City Center
    Replies: 27
    Last Post: 06-26-2011, 07:46 PM
  3. Custom House c1875
    By Colin Wilkinson in forum Colin Wilkinson's Streets of Liverpool
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 09-28-2010, 08:12 PM
  4. Custom House remains
    By scouserdave in forum Liverpool's Maritime and Docklands
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 03-09-2007, 01:23 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •