Royal Albert Dock Liverpool

You may commence your visit from multiple entrances. In this guide, we will start from the southwestern corner of the complex on Gower Street where you will discover two handsome feeder pillars that were used to supply the warehouses with electricity. The large pillar was made by Callenders & Co. of London & Erith, a prolific manufacturer of power cables who also supplied the London Underground.

Head northeast for a view of one of four freight entrances. Its Grade II listed rusticated stone piers still stand with a slot for the rolling gate, which exists no more. The piers and the perimeter wall are remnants of the original security system to protect the warehouse contents.

Head further up Gower Street where you will arrive at the enclosed southern dock entrance. It is now a stark example of the dock’s new purpose as a mix of retail and hospitality businesses including The Beatles Story Museum. The southeast block to your right is the Atlantic Pavilion. It was converted into a bonded store for tobacco, wines, and spirits 19 years after the dock was opened.

Head through the entrance and you will be greeted with a panoramic view of the dock complex circling its central basin. Its design permitted ships to enter the dock and rapidly unload or load goods directly into bonded warehouses. This meant that customs tax was only due when goods left the warehouse. Goods entering the warehouse from ships were not subject to tax. This provided merchants with the option of stockpiling seasonal produce like cotton and sugar that could be sold to consumers throughout the year.

The first noticeable feature of the dock’s design is the large red cast iron columns. They support an iron frame with other smaller columns to support the arched floor of the warehouses above.

Other historical remnants of the dock operations survive around the complex, especially pulley systems for loading and unloading cargo.

Head around to the Salthouse Dock entrance where you will find its degraded gates permanently left open. Notice the turnstiles behind the gate hinges. Wooden planks would be inserted into the groves and pushed in a circle to open and close the dock gates. The gates were crucial for maintaining water levels in the dock at low tide. Crossing the eastern entrance is the Albert Salthouse Bridge, which was installed in 1985 during the initial restoration of the Royal Albert Dock.

Head over the bridge and follow the road up Salthouse Quay to the northeastern corner of the complex where you will find the Dock Traffic Office where management of the day-to-day business was administered. It then became the home of Granada Television before becoming part of the International Slavery Museum.

Opposite the Dock Traffic Office is the former pumphouse that was added in 1878. Water was pumped by a steam engine into the accumulator tower in front and stored under pressure. This water under high pressure was then delivered via mains throughout the dock where it was converted into mechanical power to move cranes, lifts, and other machinery. Hydraulic power systems such as this were very common in docks in the latter half of the 19th century.

Head west down Hartley Quay where you will encounter the remains of a freight railway line that ran along the northern dock. It was connected to the Liverpool Overhead Railway that ran along Strand Street between the docks and the city.

Follow the railway as it runs past the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which contains an array of seafaring history, memorabilia, and stories. It’s worth a visit and is a perfect way to extend your visit. Outside the museum is an anchor from the HMS Conway, a wooden 92-gun battleship that was launched in 1839. The ship was anchored in the Mersey for many years before moving to North Wales where she was wrecked in the Menai Straits in 1953.

Head into the entrance hall of the museum and look up for a closer view of the iron frame. Notice the cast iron columns supporting cast iron beams that are tied together with wrought iron rods. This method of fireproof construction was first used in Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings and can be attributed to the development of the modern skyscraper.

Behind the Maritime Museum overlooking the dock is the ‘One O’clock Gun’ that was fired at 1 pm from the Mersey wall of Morpeth Dee in Birkenhead across the river to provide a time check for ships in the port because accurate timekeeping is essential for safe navigation. The 32-pound canon was the first of a series of guns made in 1867 for this purpose and the gun you see today was last fired in 1969.

Opposite the gun is a hand winch made by Hodge, Hislop, Dunlop & Co at the Albert Engine Works in Liverpool. The company made other products such as steam engines, steam winches and hoists for sailing ships and steamers plus a range of castings for all sorts of ship components.

Head back to Hartley Quay and follow it to the northwestern corner of the docks where you will cross the Hartley Quay Bridge. It is an original bridge structure designed by Jesse Hartley in 1846 as a swing bridge and you can see its rotation mechanism still intact under the deck. The bridge was restored in 1984 and is now fixed together forming a low segmental arch of open girders and is a Grade II Listed Building.

Across the Hartley Quary Bridge is the Piermaster’s House, which was constructed in 1852 for the Piermaster and his family. The piermaster was responsible for responsible for the safe passage of ships entering and leaving the dock at high tide. This house was one of four on the Royal Albert Dock; however, it is the only survivor after the others suffered damage during the bombings of World War II. It now functions as a wartime museum.

To the left of the Piermaster’s House is the original Dock Master’s Office and workshop, which are Grade II Listed Buildings.

Head north away from the docks across the Royal Albert Swing Bridge, which spans one of the main entrance gates to Canning Dock from the River Mersey. The bridge provides access to the central isle between the dock gates known as Canning Island. Notice the watchmen huts on the island and towards Hartley Quay, both were constructed in 1844 to the design of Jesse Hartley.