Ramsden Dock is one of the four docks which make up the Royal Port of Barrow in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, England. It was constructed between 1872 and 1879 covering and named in honour of Sir James Ramsden; a founder of Barrow. Ramsden Dock splits into two parts in the south, the anchor basin and dock basin. Since the infilling of a section of Devonshire Dock in the 1980s, Ramsden Dock has been the only point of entry to Barrow's now enclosed port. Managed by Associated British Ports, Ramsden Dock is by far the busiest of the four dock in terms of cargo tonnage, handling shipments of limestone, sand, aggregates and granite. Ramsden Dock and the Royal Port of Barrow as a whole are highly involved in the energy sector and the nearby

Rampside Gas Terminal Rampside Gas Terminal is a gas terminal situated in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria on the Irish Sea coast. It connects to gas fields in Morecambe Bay. It is situated adjacent to the former Roosecote Power Station. History Production started in 19 ...

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

nuclear facility and offshore windfarms. The port office is located adjacent to Ramsden Dock.

Powerboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the inter ...

racing often takes place in Ramsden Dock, while a proposed redevelopment scheme of the area incorporates a watersports centre within the dock. Historically, Ramsden Dock was a major transportation hub with a dedicated

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connected to a branch of the Furness Railway and a terminus of the Barrow-in-Furness Tramway. A passenger ferry terminal at the dock was utilised by the Isle of Man Steam Packet and Barrow Steam Navigation Company offering steamer services to the likes of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and

Douglas, Isle of Man Douglas (, ) is the Capital (political), capital city and largest settlement of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021) and an area of . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, Isle of Man, River Douglas, and on a sweepi ...

. A rail line along the eastern perimeter of Ramsden Dock remains in use to this day with freight services to and from the dock.

References

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