Birkenhead Docks
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Birkenhead Docks
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 the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey. The Great Float consists of of water and more than of quays. History Unlike in Liverpool, where the docks were built along the coastline of the River Mersey, Birkenhead Docks were designed as an inland system by enclosing the tidal inlet of Wallasey Pool. The construction of a cofferdam enabled land reclamation and excavations to take place. After the establishment of the Great Low Water Basin, Morpeth Dock and Egerton Dock, the Great Float was formed between 1851 and 1860 from most of what remained of Wallasey Pool. The plans for its construction were originally shown in 1844 in the ''Liverpool Standard'' newspaper. Designed by James Meadows ...
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Birkenhead
Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and became part of Merseyside in 1974. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics had a population of 109,835. Birkenhead Priory and the Mersey Ferry were established in the 12th century. In the 19th century, Birkenhead expanded greatly as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, leading to a shipbuilding firm which became Cammell Laird. A Great Float, seaport was established. As the town grew, Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square were laid out. The first street tramway in Britain was built, followed by the Mersey Railway which connected Birkenhead and Liverpool through the world's first railway tunnel beneath a tidal estuary. In the sec ...
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Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can be used for any given locale to find the predicted times and amplitude (or " tidal range"). The predictions are influenced by many factors including the alignment of the Sun and Moon, the phase and amplitude of the tide (pattern of tides in the deep ocean), the amphidromic systems of the oceans, and the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry (see '' Timing''). They are however only predictions, the actual time and height of the tide is affected by wind and atmospheric pressure. Many shorelines experience semi-diurnal tides—two nearly equal high and low tides each day. Other locations have a diurnal tide—one high and low tide each day. A "mixed tide"—two uneven magnitude tides a day—is a third regular category. ...
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Flour Mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. History Early history The Greek geographer Strabo reported in his ''Geography'' that a water-powered grain-mill existed near the palace of king Mithradates VI Eupator at Cabira, Asia Minor, before 71 BC. The early mills had horizontal paddle wheels, an arrangement which later became known as the " Norse wheel", as many were found in Scandinavia. The paddle wheel was attached to a shaft which was, in turn, attached to the centre of the millstone called the "runner stone". The turning force produced by the water on the paddles was transferred directly to the runner stone, causing it to grind against a stationary " bed", a stone of a similar size and shape. This simple arrangement re ...
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Submarines
A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or informally to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, or to medium-sized or smaller vessels (such as the midget submarine and the wet sub). Submarines are referred to as ''boats'' rather than ''ships'' regardless of their size. Although experimental submarines had been built earlier, submarine design took off during the 19th century, and submarines were adopted by several navies. They were first used widely during World War I (1914–1918), and are now used in many navies, large and small. Their military uses include: attacking enemy surface ships (merchant and military) or other submarines; aircraft carrier protection; blockade running; nuclear deterrence; stealth operations in denied areas when gathering intelligence and doing ...
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Resurgam
''Resurgam'' (Latin: "I shall rise again") is an early submarine from the Victorian era and its prototype, designed and built in Britain by Reverend George Garrett. She was intended as a weapon to penetrate the chain netting placed around ship hulls to defend against attack by torpedo vessels. ''Resurgam'' I The first ''Resurgam'', built in 1878, was a 14 ft (5 m), hand-powered, one-man vessel nicknamed "the curate's egg" because of her shape. She was a one-third size prototype for Garrett's design. ''Resurgam'' II Construction The second ''Resurgam'' was built by Cochran & Co. at Birkenhead and launched on 26 November 1879. Her construction was of iron plates fastened to iron frames, with the central section of the vessel clad with wood secured by iron straps. As built, she was long by in diameter, weighed , and had a crew of three. She was powered by a closed-cycle steam engine originally patented in 1872 by the American engineer Emile Lamm, which provided enoug ...
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Wallasey Dock
The Wallasey Dock, was a dock at Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. The dock was accessed via East Float to the west, until Wallasey Dock was filled at the turn of the millennium. History Construction began in 1874 and the dock opened in 1877, replacing the Great Low Water Basin of 1863, which had opened directly onto the River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ... to the east. Situated between Alfred Dock to the north and Morpeth Dock to the south, access to the river was westwards through East Float. The dock sheds were used for grain storage and then for imported livestock. In 1890, a pumping station was installed on the river wall adjoining to the dock. This slowly silted the dock, and by the 1960s the dock had silted up, leaving the dock derelict ...
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Canada Works
Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one in every twenty miles of railway in the world. This included three-quarters of the lines in France, major lines in many other European countries and in Canada, Australia, South America and India. He also built the structures associated with those railways, including docks, bridges, viaducts, stations, tunnels and drainage works. As well as railway engineering, Brassey was active in the development of steamships, mines, locomotive factories, marine telegraphy, and water supply and sewage systems. He built part of the London sewerage system, still in operation today, and was a major shareholder in Brunel's '' The Great Eastern'', the only ship large enou ...
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Dry Dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft. History China The use of dry docks in China goes at least as far back as the 10th century A.D. In 1088, Song dynasty scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) wrote in his '' Dream Pool Essays'': Europe Greco-Roman world The Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis (V 204c-d) reports something that may have been a dry dock in Ptolemaic Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-204 BC) on the occasion of the launch of the enormous '' Tessarakonteres'' rowing ship. However a more recent survey by Goodchild and Forbes does not substantiate its existence. It has been calculated that a dock for a vessel of such a size might have had a volume of 750,000 gallons of water. Renaiss ...
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Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed the 'Colossus of Roads' (a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes), and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death. The town of Telford in Shropshire was named after him. Early career Telford was born on 9 August 1757, at Glendinning, a hill farm east of Eskdalemuir Kirk, in the rural List of Church of Scotland parishes, parish of Westerkirk, in Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Eskdale, Dumfriesshire. His father John Telford, a shepherd, died soon after Thomas was born. ...
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James Meadows Rendel (engineer)
James Meadows Rendel Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (December 1799 – 21 November 1856) was a British civil engineer. Early life and career Rendel was the son of the surveyor James Rendel or Rendle and his wife Jane, daughter of the architect John Meadows (died 1791); he was born near Okehampton, Devon, in 1799. He was initiated into the operations of a millwright under an uncle at Teignmouth, while from his father he learned some civil engineering. At an early age he went to London as a surveying, surveyor under Thomas Telford, by whom he was employed on the surveys for the proposed suspension bridge across the River Mersey, Mersey at Runcorn. About 1822 he settled at Plymouth, and commenced the construction of roads in the north of Devon. One of his smaller projects, still surviving, was an 1826 bridge over Bowcombe Creek on the Kingsbridge Estuary. In August 1824 he was employed by the Edmund Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley, Earl of Morley to make a bridge across the Cattewater ...
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Egerton Dock
Egerton Dock is a dock at Birkenhead, in England. The dock is situated between East Float and Morpeth Dock, within Birkenhead's dock system. History The dock was the second named as Egerton Dock along the Mersey, the first being the forerunner to Harrington Dock. Named after Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton who laid the foundation stone in October 1844, the dock was completed in 1847. This was just prior to a suspension of the dock scheme, due to a financial crisis affecting the Birkenhead Dock Company. The dock was originally accessible to shipping from the East Float and via the Morpeth Dock entrance from the River Mersey. Both these passages have since been filled in, making both docks effectively landlocked. For the majority of its use, it served the LNWR and CLC goods stations which adjoined the dock. The LNWR had a warehouse, on the southern quayside, much used for storing bananas. The dock was partially filled in 1991, removing access from East Float. Egerton Bri ...
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