A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel (such as a boat, ship, or amphibious aircraft) may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to ...

locations), and may also include

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships. Wharves are often considered to be a series of docks at which boats are stationed. A marginal wharf is connected to the shore along its full length.

Overview

A wharf commonly comprises a fixed platform, often on pilings. Commercial ports may have warehouses that serve as interim storage: where it is sufficient a single wharf with a single berth constructed along the land adjacent to the water is normally used; where there is a need for more capacity multiple wharves, or perhaps a single large wharf with multiple berths, will instead be constructed, sometimes projecting over the water. A pier, raised over the water rather than within it, is commonly used for cases where the weight or volume of cargos will be low. Smaller and more modern wharves are sometimes built on flotation devices ( pontoons) to keep them at the same level as the ship, even during changing tides. In everyday parlance the term ''quay'' (pronounced 'key') is common in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and many other Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland, and may also refer to neighbourhoods and roadways running along the wayside (for example, Queen's Quay in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

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 ...

). The term ''wharf'' is more common in the United States. In some contexts ''wharf'' and ''quay'' may be used to mean

, berth, or

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

. In old ports such as

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(which once had around 1700 wharves) many old wharves have been converted to residential or office use. Certain early railways in England referred to goods loading points as "wharves". The term was carried over from marine usage. The person who was resident in charge of the wharf was referred to as a "wharfinger".

Etymology

The Talbot Memorial Bridge from Custom House Quay - geograph

Wharf

The word ''wharf'' comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''hwearf'', cognate to the

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch ( Modern Dutch: ') or Old Low Franconian (Modern Dutch: ') is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th Page 55: "''Uit de zesde eeu ...

word ''werf'', which both evolved to mean "yard", an outdoor place where work is done, like a shipyard ( Dutch: ''scheepswerf'') or a lumberyard (Dutch: ''houtwerf''). Originally, ''werf'' or ''werva'' in Old Dutch (''werf'', ''wer'' in

Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the late 13th century and the end of 16th century. It is the common ancestor of all the modern Frisian languages except for the North Frisian language#Insular North Frisian, Insular North ...

) simply referred to inhabited ground that was not yet built on (similar to "

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...

" in modern English), or alternatively to a ''

terp A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides and ...

''. This could explain the name Ministry Wharf located at Saunderton, just outside High Wycombe, which is nowhere near any body of water. In support of this explanation is the fact that many places in England with "wharf" in their names are in areas with a high Dutch influence, for example the Norfolk broads.

Staith

In the northeast and east of England the term ''staith'' or ''staithe'' (from the Norse for landing stage) is also used. The two terms have historically had a geographical distinction: those to the north in the

Kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

used the Old English spelling ''staith'', southern sites of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

took the Danish spelling ''staithe''. Both originally referred to jetties or wharves. In time, the northern coalfields of Northumbria developed coal staiths specifically for loading coal onto ships and these would adopt the ''staith'' spelling as a distinction from simple wharves: for example, Dunston Staiths in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

and

Brancaster Staithe Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or l ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. However, the term ''staith'' may also be used to refer only to loading chutes or ramps used for bulk commodities like coal in loading ships and barges.

Quay

''Quay'', on the other hand, has its origin in the

Proto-Celtic language Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. ...

. Before it changed to its current form under influence of the modern French ''quai'', its

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

spelling was ''key'', ''keye'' or ''caye''. This in turn also came from the

Old Norman Old Norman, also called Old Northern French or Old Norman French (), was one of many varieties of the ''langues d'oïl'' native to northern France. From the region of what is now called Normandy, the language spread into England, Southern Italy, S ...

''cai'' (

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th

meaning originally "earth bank near a river", then "bank built at a port to allow ship docking".CNRTL (French)
/ref> The French term ''quai'' comes, through Picard or Norman-French, from Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

''caio'', ultimately tracing back to the Proto-Celtic ''*kagio-'' "to encompass, enclose". Modern cognates include Welsh ''cae'' "fence, hedge" and Cornish language">Cornish ''ke'' "hedge".

Gallery

File:Long wharf and shipping, by J.W. & J.S. Moulton.jpg"> Stereoscopic view of Long Wharf in Boston, United States, , jutting into Boston Harbor File:Boston Long Wharf 2.JPG">Modern view of Boston's Long Wharf (2006) File:Brygga i Tønsberg.JPG, The Tønsberg City wharf in Tønsberg, Norway, is a popular tourist attraction, and its restaurants and pubs attract many visitors during the summer seasons. File:Tokoinranta Helsinki.jpg">The shore of the Tokoinranta wharf in Hakaniemi, Helsinki, Finland (2007) File:Wapping king henrys wharf 1.jpg">List of locations in the Port of London#Wapping and Shadwell, King Henry's Wharves, typical London wharves converted to apartments File:St Thomas Marriott Pacquereau Bay 1.jpg, Wharf by Marriott/Pacquereau Bay on Saint Thomas File:tourist boat at sa calobra (majorca spain) arp.jpg, Tourist boat loading passengers at a small quay, Sa Calobra,

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, Spain File:Port Clarence drop (crop).jpg, Coal drops at Port Clarence, Teesside, in 1915 (engraving by T. H. Hair)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Freight transport Coastal construction Port infrastructure