Ellesmere Port Dock is a

dock The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engl ...

in Britain, situated on the Manchester Ship Canal, in

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

, Cheshire, England.

History

Ellesmere Canal The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales an ...

is the name of the area were the canal joins 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 ...

; by the mid-1790s it was known as Ellesmere Port. Docks and warehouses were built to facilitate this. Ellesmere-port-basin

Between 1830 and the 1840s facilities were improved by the engineer

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 ...

and others. In 1846 the Ellesmere Canal was amalgamated with the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

. In 1892 a new wharf was built to handle traffic on the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

. In 1921 the docks were leased to the Manchester Ship Canal, and this led to the decline of Ellesmere Port.

20th century

The site is now the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port (formerly known as the Boat Museum).

21st century

In 2007, as part of a revival of some industries, ports and shipbuilding in Britain, Ellesmere Port docks were re-opened. In 2008 the site of Ellesmere Port's operational dock - including over of the waterfront area (immediately to the north-west of Ellesmere Port Historic Dock and Conservation Area and to the south-east of the Bridgewater Paper Works) - was the subject of a planning consultation, in which it may have been proposed that the docks be relocated closer to

Eastham Eastham or East Ham, may refer to: People *Ashley Eastham (born 1991), English footballer *George R. Eastham (1914–2000), English footballer * George E. Eastham (1936–2024), English footballer and son of the George R. Eastham *Harry Eastham (1 ...

on the

Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire West and Chester is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the 2009 structural changes to l ...

/ Wirral boundary, and the area be redeveloped into a predominantly residential area consisting of up to 8,000 new homes. Plans for such development were expected to be submitted to the Local Authority during early 2009. Image:Ellesmere-port-lighthouse-2.jpg, Whitby lighthouse Image:Ellesmere-port-basin-lock1.jpg, lower lock and bridge

References

External links

MultiMap
Buildings and structures in Cheshire Ellesmere Canal Ellesmere Port Mersey docks Ports and harbours of Cheshire Shropshire Union Canal {{Cheshire-struct-stub