The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-06 00:00:00

THE DOCKS.

It will be in the recollection of our readers, that, (ac-
cording to a typographical plan, presented to them by us
in October, 1814,) the Commissioners purposed to con-
struct, and obtained parliamentary sanction to proceed
with, a number of dock works on the Mersey, between
Woodside Ferry and Seacombe,—which works were, in
addition to the sea or river enclosure, to comprise a :Great
Floating Dock, running up, or being in what is called
Wallasey Pool,—the latter alone having an area of 150
acres with a large depth of water. It will be also recol-
lected that the Birkenhead Dock Warehousing Company,
who possessed the whole belt of land on the south side of
the pool, up to what is called " Corporation-road," pur-
posed to construct warehouses, yards, quays, &c:, of the
most approved description, for the anticipated traffic and
convenience of the town. These objects have to a great
extent been now accomplished : two of the inner docks
have been completed, the outward, or inner wall-work is
in rapid formation, and the warehouses may be said to be
more than half finished, and already tenantable.
The two docks already constructed are the " Passage
Dock," near . Woodside Ferry, and the " Bridge End
Dock," now so called from its being on the site of a
small valley, formed originally by a rivulet, or more cor-
rectly by a creak or armlet of the sea, the tide having
passed up it, under a bridge, time out of mind.
The walls of both of the new docks are built of red
freestone, principally quarried on the ground,' and with
ashler bindings. There are a number of arches (facing
the river) of the upper dock, on each side of a tongue
forming a quay running westward, which protect the-
mouths of the sluices, intended to scour out the- Great
Basin, yet to be constructed on the east. These arches,
apparently about twenty in all, and also the piers, are
beautifully built of Bolton and Longridge stone. The
whole of the hollow of the gates are of Anglesey lime-
stone, as well as the rubbing-bands round the piers and
entrances. There are two sluices on each side of a thirty-
feet lock for scouring the outer basin. The bridge across
the seventy-foot passage is to have three roads—two for
carriages, and one for the extension of the Chester and
Birkenhead railway.
To the quays and landing slips of the Great Low
Water Basin, the whole of the stone work is set with
mortar of the best quality, and for elegance of design, and
substantial execution, is not to be excelled in the king-
dom. The dock gates into the " Passage Dock," out of.
the Woodside Basin, are principally constructed of green-
heart, and are as strong and substantial as timber and
metal can make them. The entrance is 50 ft. wide in the
clear, and the sill the same depth as that of the Prince's
Dock. The other entrance is seventy feet wide., The
water was first let into the docks on Saturday evening
week (March 27). Such is the firmness of the work, that
the leakage upon the large area, of seven to eight acres,
did not exceed half an inch within the twelve hours.

We have heard, but cannot vouch for the precise accu-
racy of the statement, that the force of the water for
the cleansing purpose stated will be equal to 480
horse-power. On Friday, at high water, there was a
depth of about twenty-three feet of water at the south
entrance. From the dock works and the adjacent build-
ings and streets, the whole aspect of Birkenhead—so re-
cently almost a barren shore—has become completely
changed and renovated, when we regard the Woodside
and Monk's Ferry, the town itself, and especially the ope-
rations along the coast and penetrating into Wallasey
Pool. A magnificent line of sea wall, with quay space
three hundred feet wide, will be formed to the river from
Woodside to Seacombe, and this, it is understood, by
nautical and scientific men, will, in place of injuring the
navigation of the port, conduce to the outward scouring of
the outer channels, by the clearer reception and dis-
charge, (from the great basin of the Mersey towards Run-
corn) of the tidal flow. We were much struck on our vi-
sit to the locality on Saturday with the pleasing prospects
that everywhere presented themselves, both land and
marine. From a point at the north end of the now con-
structed docks, the view was, notwithstanding the unu-
sual inclemency of the weather at this advanced period of
the spring, truly delightful. Liverpool had the best of it
—the sun impinging upon her buildings, spires, and other
erections, and giving the whole a silvery and beautiful ap-
pearance, which a narrow inspection of her inlets, outlets,
streets, courts, would scarcely justify. Westward
were to be seen the rising land of Birkenhead and the
conjoining townships, terminating in the ridge of hill
known as Bidston, and southward, as well as northward,
the wide expanse of the Mersey, studded with vessels of
all kinds at anchor or quiescence, or bearing numbers of
others on his bosom under full sail or steam. Directly
" opposite " to the Birkenhead Docks—but we hope all
jealousy on that score will die out—we observed most
clearly and distinctly the Albert Dock warehouses ; the
dome of the Custom-house ; St. George's spire ; the dome
of the Town-hall; the beautiful Gothic tower of St.
Ni-
cholas ; the top of the dome of St. Peter's ; the immensely
tall chimney of the vitriol-works in Vauxhall-road—" that
bristle on the back of nature "—and beyond these the
structures on Everton heights, Bootle, Waterloo, &c.
The most romantic and insatiate eye had wherewithal to
feed upon.