The world’s first commercial enclosed wet dock.

Tuesday 14th

Gosh almost forgotten what's it like to go to bed early and not be woken by youths and fireworks but the peace last night was utter bliss. So no bleary eyed, half asleep Jameisons this morning and we set off for the walk to the Docks around 9ish to arrive at the maritime museum by 10am.  Booked in for the Old Dock tour at 10.30am.

Another part of the link. (One of the Tunnels)

 Starting from the Maritime museum we were met by Yazz a very colourful chap (check our the hair) with a great sense of humour and Danny trying to keep him under control. We were taken to the car park of Liverpool 1, through a corridor full of refuge bins and then a door into the dock. To try and describe what I saw wouldn't do it justice so the photos will do the talking for me.

Jazz and Danny

This was the first and only wet dock  made out of bricks. The bricks were lined with special lime mortar, a forerunner of cement which made the walls stronger. Trouble was the damage done by the boats coming and going and the salt water which caused decay to the mortar. Repairs were repeatedly done to try and counteract the damage.  Consequently subsequent docks were made of stone.

The walls were built on the sandstone bedrock that underlies Liverpool. It was shaped to hold the wall and then dug away to increase the depth for the vessels.

This was found to be a tunnel and thought to be older than the dock. Possibly to link up to the castle when it was originally a Pool. In this way it had easy access from the sea to bring in supplies to the castle. During the excavation they found it filled with puddle clay and ceiling height of over 6ft 3" possibly for carrying the incoming goods on the men's shoulders.

The old and the new. (looks like a figure of a man but think it was just plastic bags)

You can see the shape better here.

Off course there were 'finds' during the excavations. A leather purse with a stack of coins all stuck together. The leather had all but rotted away except for a small sliver between one of the coins. The date on the coins? from the 18th century. Then a clay pipe was found with a mark, Liverpool 1 on it. Alarm bells rang as Liverpool 1, previously called Paradise project, (shopping complex) was only 7 years old! They had the pipe sent away to see if it was a fake. Turns out it was over 200 years old and stamped on it was also Liverpool,  1. What a coincidence that the new building was called that as well. Anyway, so much to try and take in and without having a retentive memory most went straight back out again so here is a link to the history.

How could we top that but we did by going down to the Beatles experience. Again a few photos to show but one really needs to visit to get the full story. Needless to say with the story being told through a hand held cassette and head set, we were surprised when we emerged to find 2 hours had already gone.

Replica of the Cavern club

 Cilla Black coat-room attendant

Remember vinyls?

John Lennons 'Imagine' room

 Not wanting to get back to FS just yet we treated ourselves to a ride on the Wheel of Liverpool. At £7.50 for seniors we thought it a tad expensive but we were on for 5 rotations of the wheel so got our moneys worth. Could be because only a few were waiting to ride and most of the gondoliers were empty. The views were stunning and worth what we spent and we got to see Salthouse dock. Maybe we should have waited until tomorrow then FS would also be moored there.

Salthouse dock

Ferry cross the Mersey. Hope to do this trip next week.  Dark skies looming.

That looks a bit ominous.

Luckily we made the walk back to Eldonian village before the rain storm hit. Just got the back doors opened when down it came!
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Exciting day tomorrow. Off to do the link and take up our berth, S3

And underneath the table where we had coffee, 2 young pigeons.

And a sight I didn't expect to see over the docks.

Look how black that sky was.