Princes Dock Boundary Wall and Piers

Princes Dock Boundary Wall and Piers, Bath Street 
1821
Grade II

Princes Dock, built by John Foster to designs by John Rennie and opened in 1821, was effectively closed to traffic in 1981, and partially infilled in 1999-2000. 

The north end of the floating stage at Princes Dock and the connecting Riverside Railway Station were the point of departure for hundreds of thousands of emigrants bound for America. 

Princes Dock was the first dock in Liverpool to have a boundary wall, which originally extended around all sides of the dock, and the original parts of this remain in situ on the east side, together with their handsome gate piers. 

The wall was begun in 1816 and is shown complete on Gage's map of 1821. It is constructed of red brick laid in English bond using lime mortar with a ridgeback sandstone coping. At its full height it is 5.5m, when measured from the dock side of the wall.

The Gate to Princes Dock is formed by Foster's pair of square buff sandstone piers are in the Greek Revival style much favoured by him. The shaft of each is formed by three pieces of stone. 

Princes Half-Tide Dock began as a tidal basin but was extensively modernised around 1868, when two passages and a barge lock were installed, allowing small vessels to come and go at a wider range of states of the tide. 

A similar arrangement may be seen in better condition at Salisbury Dock. Prior to the alterations, the dock boundary wall had been extended further north on the landward side, in similar brick between 1841 and 1848 to provide security for the Dock 

Railway, which was used for the construction of further docks to the north. The next four pairs of gate piers were built by Hartley in that section of wall. They are all granite rubble masonry piers with splayed bases rounded angles and Doric caps. 

The south gate pier at Gate to Docks 24, 27, 28 and Princes Dock is larger than the north pier as it incorporates a gatekeepers hut, which has a window and entrance on the rear and a window looking out onto the road. 

There is an original timber gate at the rear, which slides in a groove and fitted into a slot in the south pier.

The Gate To Princes Half -Tide Dock (opposite Roberts Street) and The Gate to Waterloo Warehouse are almost identical. 

They each consist of a pair of piers of similar size although the granite extends further into the wall on the south piers. 

The South Gate to Docks 28-31, Victoria, Princes and Waterloo Docks is a double entrance, with two outer piers and a larger central pier incorporating a gate hut. 

They have gate slots but modern railings between.