Description and History of Site:-
Humber Dock was the second of the wet docks in Hull.

Construction started in 1807 and the dock was completed, at a cost of £233,00, and opened to shipping in 1809. The water In 1829 a link through to the Old or Queen's Dock was provided by the construction of Junction Dock and in 1846 the dock was further extended by the construction of Railway Dock to the west.

The dock closed to shipping in August 1967. It was closed permanently in 1969, but later redeveloped and reopened in 1983 as part of the Marina.

Designed by xxx the dock is a rectangular basin approx 250m x 100m, with a water area of 9.5 acres with rounded corners and slightly battered ashlar retaining walls, largely built in brick above water level, with Bramley Fall copings. The 42ft (12.8m) wide entrance lock was originally provided with a double swing bridge by Aydon and Elwell of Shelf Foundry, Halifax. This was replaced in 1846 by a cast-iron cantilever swing bridge with road and rail tracks and wrought-iron railing manufactured by the Haigh Foundry Company of Wigan. Each leaf consists of six cast iron, longitudinal girders, while the bridge deck originally comprised two layers of 2' thick timber planks, bolted to the upper flange of the girders. These were supported on a slewing mechanism, comprising of a cast iron centring pintle and 31 tapered roller wheels end and was operated by hand cranks which engaging with a toothed sector.

As part of the redevelopment of the dock the lock and swing bridge was fully refurbished by Davy Markham at a cost of £800,000 and this included new structural members and a powered swing mechanism.

Client Hull City Council, consulting engineers Pell Frischmann.

Further Reading and References:-
Labrum E A, Civil Engineering Heritage - Eastern and Central England, Thomas Telford, 1994
Baldwin M W, The Engineering of Hulls Earliest Docks, Trans Newocmen Society 1973-4, Vol 46, pp1-12
Timperly J, Harbour and Docks at Kingston upon Hull, Trans Institution of Civil Engineers, 1836, pp1-55
YAS - Hatcher Card Index. Research funded by the Yorkshire Arts Association, 1972
Hatcher J, The Industrial Architecture of Yorkshire, Phillimore, 1985

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Key Words :- hull dock, wet dock entrance lock swing bridge

Viewing the Site :- Can be viewed from the public footpath and road

Address :- Wellington Street, Hull, East Yorkshire, HU1 IHU
Grid Ref :- TA 09807 28167
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.738335 , Long -0.336705
Local Authority :- Hull City Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - East Riding
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II
Historic England List No - 1197718,
Site Condition :- Site conserved and open to the public
Site Dates :- 1807 - current
Record Date :- 15 May 2015

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © John Suter