A day out with Grand!

As in most areas of the UK we woke up this morning to rain - not as bad as some have had it, but for the time being the weather has changed!

I’ll be doing catch-ups of our Liverpool stay for some time yet - we’ve seen and done so much!
On Monday 15th July George had a day out with the girls (grand-daughters Joanne and Alice) visiting the Old Liverpool Dock and the Catholic Cathedral.
The text below is by George ...

This is the Old Dock, originally known as Thomas Steer’s Dock, built in 1715 of brick laid onto the sandstone bedrock.  It accommodated up to 100 ships and became the single most influential reason for Liverpool’s existence.  Re-discovered during the 2001 excavations after being buried since 1826. 

Warehousing and worker’s accommodation sprang up all around the docks and when the Old Dock became redundant, the local residents, keen to ‘offload' what had become a ‘difficult’ problem (the inexorable build up of effluent!) began to dump it into the dock.  The problem became so bad that the authorities decided to fill the dock in.

In 2001, when excavations re-discovered the Old Dock, it was full of a black gelatinous fluid (poo for short) which had perfectly preserved the dock structure!

The tunnel entrance you can see above is believed to have been connected to the Old Castle and is exactly 6ft 3inches high, which was tall enough to fit a soldier carrying a pike.  When the castle was under siege, the soldiers would wait higher up in the tunnel until the tide went out and then rush out to outflank their enemy.

Time Team arrived when the Old dock had been partially excavated by a team of top archaeologists  and, asked them if they would re-bury some of the artefacts so that the Time Team ‘experts’ could re-discover them on TV!!  Not only that, but Mick Aston actually began striking the brick wall at the newly discovered tunnel entrance to see what was behind it, not realising that the bricks were supporting the archway and the Old Dock wall!!!  They were asked to leave.

 New concrete piling now supporting John Lewis and the Liverpool Hilton

The pictures below were taken by Joanne of the images that really caught her eye...

She particularly mentioned the symbol on the alter (click to enlarge) as she is a member of St Marys Star of the Sea, Largs - a church which also has strong connections with the sea and has a similar motif there.

Thanks Joanne - very thoughtful pictures.

All about Alice!

(Still catching up with the blog)

It’s Alice’s 13th birthday tomorrow (14th July) and she’s so excited!

There they are!  Grand, Alice and Joanne - we’ve two more beautiful grand-daughters too and we mustn’t forget tour two handsome grandsons either!

Stunning!

The Birthday Girl!

Wish-list for today?  A day’s shopping of course and out for a meal this evening

It doesn’t take long for a couple of teenagers to spend a few quid at Primark - here’s Joanne sending me a picture of what she intends to buy whilst I wait outside the fitting rooms!

All ready to go out to Red Hot World Buffet - perfect!

Shadow dancing ...

… as we walk off all that delicious food - to the Liverpool Eye …
… and back to admire the view from the stern of Rock n Roll ...

Liverpool here we come!!!

We moored at Melling Stone Bridge alongside 3 other boats heading into Liverpool today (Friday 12th July) ...

… and we’re off!  I’m at the helm, George has walked ahead to open Holmes Swing Bridge for the convoy ...

… and we meet up with the rest of today’s convoy of 7 narrowboats

Dead on 9am and the boats jostle for position as CRT operatives swing Hancocks bridge for us ...

9.05am and that’s us going through (next to last boat).  We have to stay close and go through as quickly as we can as the A&E department of the hospital is to our left and the emergency ambulances etc will need to cross the bridge without delay.  No problems of that sort today though!

Not so good for nb Nuggler though behind us - there was just enough space for us to squeeze between this island of reeds and the canal bank, but Nuggler was not so lucky! ...

They had no alternative other than to increase the revs and crash straight through - luckily enough they managed not to get anything into the weed hatch!

It was a very pleasant cruise in parts, in the now very hot sunshine ...

… apart from the floating plastic bottles ...

… and other rubbish!

Approaching the distinguished Boundary (built in 1836) and Leigh (1861) Bridges ...

… I look back and notice that nb Nuggler is having problems

A 90 degree bend into the Stanley Locks cutting ...

… where CRT are locking the convoy of boats down… the tobacco warehouse beyond

So excited as we exit the top lock - Liverpool docks await us!

The Tobacco Warehouse is a Grade II listed building

This gargantuan warehouse is on an unequalled heroic scale and it dominates the landscape in this part of Liverpool. 

It extends along the whole of the south front of Stanley Dock. It is 14 storeys high with 42 bays divided by seven loading bays and is said to be the largest warehouse in the world and the largest brick building in the world. 

Its construction absorbed 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel. 

It could accommodate 70,000 hogsheads of tobacco (each weighing 1,000 lbs). It was designed by A.G. Lyster, the Dock Engineer, but Arthur Berrington, an architectural draughtsman in Lyster's office, almost certainly had a hand in the brick and terracotta detailing. 

At high level on the west end in raised figures and letters are "MDE, 1900" and "Tobacco Warehouse." On the north (dock) side are a series of iron stairs. 

On the south side there are a number of later bridges linking to the south Warehouse. The area between The Tobacco Warehouse and South Stanley Warehouse is known locally as "Pneumonia Alley" because it is almost always in shade and often acts as a wind tunnel.

One of the CRT men mentioned that the owners of the warehouse are planning to turn it into apartments but the 14 floors are only 6 feet apart - too low for residential use, but if they remove each alternate floor this would make them too high at 12’ and they would have to put in false ceilings! He didn’t think that the scheme would go ahead and that the building would remain empty.

Victoria Clock Tower often referred to as the ‘Dockers Clock’ was built in 1848 and has a clock on each of its 6 sides.

Looking over the wharfs to the other side of the River Mersey

Another view of that warehouse - huge!

The past and the present are in evidence everywhere we look

1970’s Kingsway Mersey Tunnel air vent

A close-up shot of a fantastic building but I can’t find out what it is - any ideas anyone? I’ve since realised that it’s on the Wallasey/Birkenhead side of the Mersey.

There’s the Liver Building!

Modern Liverpool along the dock sides

Getting closer!!

The Liver Birds ...

… atop the building’s towers

Princess Dock Lock (5)

Wow, that’s beautiful!

Cruising under Pier Head ..

… where as we emerge we can look up at the first of the Three Graces - the Liver Building ...

… an equestrian statue of Edward VII from 1921...

… and the internationally recognised symbol of Liverpool

The Three Graces (l-r) The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building

The Port of Liverpool’s beautiful dome 

We then disappear again under another short tunnel ..

… and again under the Museum of Liverpool!

Waiting to go down ...

Mann Island Lock ...

… into Canning Dock

1930’s George’s Dock Ventilation and Control Centre for the Mersey Tunnel

The Hilton Hotel on the waterfront ...

… and tall ships

A sharp turn right takes us towards ...

… Albert Dock and that’s Billy Fury (remember him?) and a frigate there to greet us!

More tall ships in Canning dock as we pass through.

Passing under the busy pedestrian lift bridge into Albert Dock

Shops and Ships and we do a left turn ...

… into Salthouse Dock - looking for S36 (our mooring slot) and the fantastic view we’ll enjoy during our 2-week stay!