Morpeth Dock
Encyclopedia
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...
. Built between 1844 and 1847, it also consisted of a smaller branch dock to the east. It is named after Lord Morpeth, the 7th Earl of Carlisle, who was the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
First Commissioner of Woods and Forests
The Commissioners of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues were established in the United Kingdom in 1810 by merging the former offices of Surveyor General of Woods, Forests, Parks, and Chases and Surveyor General of the Land Revenues of the Crown into a three-man commission...
.
Originally, the dock connected directly to the River Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
via locks, although the entrance channel has since been partially infilled and the locks removed after being disused for some years. Access to 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...
via Egerton Dock
Egerton Dock
Egerton Dock, is a dock at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. Named after Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton who laid the foundation stone in October 1844, the dock was completed in 1847...
has also been removed, making both docks effectively landlocked
Landlocked
A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land, or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas. There are 48 landlocked countries in the world, including partially recognized states...
.
Morpeth Dock was used by GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
as the Birkenhead end of cross-river traffic to the Manchester Dock.
Part of the dock and its former branch were filled in to provide a site for a water treatment
Water treatment
Water treatment describes those processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the...
plant.
Morpeth Dock is due to be transformed under plans for the London 2012 olympics art project. New York based artist Anthony McCall will create Projected Column, a slender, sinuous, spinning column of cloud rising into the sky from the surface of the water in the disused dock. The project will be produced by FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology).
Extending upwards as far as the eye can see, and visible on a clear day from up to 100 km away, the column will disappear and re-appear in slow structured sequences, punctuating the skyline.
One O'Clock Gun
Situated close to the dock and overlooking the river, the One O'Clock Gun provided a time signal to shipping on the Mersey. It was fired electrically from Bidston ObservatoryProudman Oceanographic Laboratory
The former Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory is based in Brownlow Street, Liverpool, England. In April 2010, POL merged with the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton to form the National Oceanography Centre National Oceanography Centre...
for the first time on 21 September 1867 and the original cannon was a relic of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. Due to the advent of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and increasing maintenance costs, by 1932 it was proposed to discontinue the practice. Although this did not occur, firing was suspended during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The tradition ceased altogether on 18 July 1969.
A One O'Clock Gun is still fired at Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
.
Bomb discovery
Birkenhead docks, as well as the surrounding area, were heavily bombed by the LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
during the Second World War. In May 2006, a 60-year-old, 500kg (1,102lb) bomb was discovered by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Northern Diving Group and disposed of by the minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
HMS Atherstone
HMS Atherstone (M38)
HMS Atherstone is a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1 March 1986 and commissioned on 17 January 1987, the tenth ship of her class....
. It was found embedded in mud in the river, near to the former entrance to Morpeth Dock and may have been disturbed during dredging work at the Twelve Quays
Twelve quays
The Twelve Quays ferry terminal is located on the River Mersey at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. It is used for transporting passengers and freight between Merseyside and Belfast, Northern Ireland and Dublin, Republic of Ireland...
ferry terminal. The bomb was later detonated in Liverpool Bay
Liverpool Bay
Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence...
.