Salford Docks

Salford Docks, sometimes called Manchester Docks, was an area of nine docks in Salford and Trafford in Greater Manchester, at the east end of the Manchester Ship Canal. It was in the form of two triangles, of 4 docks each, which met at one corner, and a single separate dock. They were once some of the busiest docks in the United Kingdom.

The decline of the heavy industries in the area, the increasing size of freight carrying ships and competition from road transport brought about the decline of Salford Docks and they closed in 1982. All the warehouses that once lined the dockside have been demolished, and modern office blocks have been and still are being built. Ships using the Manchester Ship Canal now dock at various places along the canal side, for example at Mode Wheel.

alford Docks

This is the western (downstream) triangle, made of four large docks numbered 9,8,7,6 which ran off a basin for ships to turn round in, and a small recess . They have now been converted into the Salford Quays redevelopment.
*Dock 9 (the longest) has been cut off from its former connection to the ship canal, and is now accessed by a canal from Dock 8. This dock was constructed at a later date that the other docks, and opened to traffic in the early years of the 20th Century
*Dock 8 remains largely intact, although its entrance to the ship canal has been made considerably narrower. It now forms the main access route into the redeveloped basins of Docks 9 and 7.
*Dock 7 has also been cut off from the ship canal, and divided into a series of small basins. Access is again from Dock 8, at its north eastern (distant from the ship canal) end.
*Dock 6 is retained in largely its original configuration.

The smaller basins that the docks have been divided into are named after various large natural lakes.

Upstream of Dock 6, there is a triangular depression in the canal wall on a similar alignment to the other docks. This was, originally a second navigable channel under a (fixed) road bridge. At the end of the 19th Century, the channel was infilled above the bridge, and the remainder retained as a wharf. Subsequently this arm was further truncated to the vestige seen today.

During the building of Dock 9, there were plans to construct a further dock (Dock 10) downstream of and parallel to Dock 9, and maps from 1921 still show this proposed dock. Later maps from the 1930s omit the planned 10th dock.

Pomona Docks

This was a set of 5 docks (numbered 5,4,3,2,1) on the Manchester Ship Canal in the borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester. Unlike the docks at Salford, there has been little redevelopment of the docks.

Dock 5 was a rectangular dock on the opposite bank to the other docks, and was situated directly opposite Docks 3-4. Docks 4-2 left the canal at an angle, running WNW, each around convert|600|ft|m long, whilst Dock 1 was somewhat longer at convert|700|ft|m, and ran almost parallel to the canal in a NNW direction.

*Dock 5 was infilled at the end of the 19th Century, during the construction of Dock 9.
*Dock 4 has now been entirely infilled, and almost no trace remains on the ground.
*Dock 3 remains intact, having been later used as the point for Pomona Lock (one of the few locks that connect the Manchester Ship Canal with the Bridgewater Canal) to join the ship canal.
*Dock 2 has been infilled along most of its length, although a short stump of the dock remains connected to the canal.
*Dock 1 has been infilled, although a depression in the canal bank exists across the former dock mouth.

The official terminus of the canal is several hundred meters further down the canal, at a point where a footbridge crosses the canal.

Between the four main docks and Pomona Docks was a swinging road bridge. In the 1960s its openings and closings were announced by a man blowing a hunting horn.

They were built on the site of the Pomona Gardens ["Lost Rivers of Manchester" by Geoffry Ashton] , which were named after the Roman goddess Pomona.

It is no longer possible for large boats to sail into Pomona Docks, as the swinging roadbridge that separates Salford Quays from Pomona Docks is now permanently closed. Only small pleasure craft are able to pass under it.The area is served by the Pomona station on the Manchester Metrolink.

ee also

River Irwell
Salford Quays

References