Bidston Dock
Encyclopedia
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Dock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
at Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Wirral Peninsula
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was situated to the west of the Great Float
Great Float
The Great Float, is a body of water on the Wirral Peninsula, England formed from the natural tidal inlet, the Wallasey Pool. It is split into two large docks, East Float and West Float, both part of the Birkenhead Docks complex. The docks run approximately inland from the River Mersey, dividing...
, between Bidston
Bidston
Bidston is a suburb of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, within the geographical county of Cheshire...
and Poulton
Poulton, Merseyside
Poulton is an area of the town of Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is bordered by Liscard to the north, Seacombe and Egremont to the east and the Wallasey Pool - which gave the area its name - to the south.-History:...
.
History
A proposal for the construction of the dock on most of what remained of the tidal inlet of Wallasey PoolWallasey Pool
Wallasey Pool was a natural tidal inlet of water that separated the towns of Wallasey and Birkenhead on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Originally flowing directly into the River Mersey, it was converted into the sophisticated Birkenhead Dock system from the 1820s onwards by land reclamation, with...
was outlined in the 1920s. Consisting of the main basin and four additional branches, only part of the main dock was eventually built.
Opened in 1933, the dock had a trio of large moveable cranes
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
to unload iron ore, which were dismantled in the late 1990s. Bidston Dock was subsequently closed and was landfilled by 2003.
The dock was served by the Birkenhead Dock Branch
Birkenhead Dock Branch
Birkenhead Dock Branch is a presently disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England....
railway line and an iron ore train ran regularly to the John Summers Steelworks in Shotton, Flintshire
Shotton, Flintshire
Shotton is a town in Flintshire, north Wales, lying on the River Dee. The name derives from the Old Norse words sjò and tùn . It is continuous with the towns of Connah's Quay and Queensferry in what is called Deeside...
. Due to the nature of the train, a high degree of motive power was required. Class 40
British Rail Class 40
The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel locomotive. Built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962, and eventually numbering 200, they were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet...
s and pairs of Class 25
British Rail Class 25
The British Rail Class 25 diesel locomotives were also known as Sulzer Type 2 and nicknamed Rats, as it was alleged they could be seen everywhere in Britain, and hence were "as common as rats"...
locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s are known to have operated on this track, during its latter days. In the steam era, the iron ore train was known to have been hauled by 9F
BR standard class 9F
The British Railways BR Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for British Railways by Robert Riddles. The Class 9F was the last in a series of standardised locomotive classes designed for British Railways during the 1950s, and was intended for use on fast, heavy freight...
locomotives. Though the dock itself was filled, the northern quayside, on which the cranes were situated, and the railway sidings are still intact, although disused.
Future
Peel Holdings have expressed an interest to develop the site of the former dock, as part of the Wirral WatersWirral Waters
Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development that has been proposed by the company Peel Holdings for Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England...
regeneration project. This part of the project would encompass 571000 square feet (53,047.6 m²) of leisure facilities and a retail park.