Tucked into Liverpool’s southern dock system, Salthouse Dock connects to Canning Dock to the north, Albert Dock to the west and Wapping Dock via Wapping Basin to the south. It forms part of the broader Port of Liverpool on the River Mersey, and its position within the dock network once made it a busy interchange for vessels loading and unloading goods from across the world.
Origins and commercial history
Construction began in 1734 to a design by Thomas Steers, though Steers died before work was finished. Henry Berry completed the project, and the dock opened in 1753. It was originally called South Dock, but the name changed because of John Blackburne’s saltworks nearby. Liverpool at the time was a major centre for refining rock salt brought in from Cheshire before shipping it onward, and Salthouse Dock was the primary transit point for that trade. Agricultural produce arriving from Ireland and the Mediterranean also passed through. Around 1769, a shipyard operated by John Okill occupied the south side of the dock. Structural work was carried out on the basin in 1842 and 1855, and after Albert Dock opened in 1846, the two docks worked in tandem – vessels unloaded at Albert Dock before moving to Salthouse for loading. By the mid-19th century, trade with China and the East Indies had become the dock’s main business, and square-rigged sailing ships continued to use it until around 1914. A Royal Navy training ship, HMS Eagle, was based here from the late 19th century, later renamed HMS Eaglet in 1918 and replaced by a successor vessel that remained until 1972. In 1893, Custom House station on the Liverpool Overhead Railway opened at the north-east corner of the dock, renamed Canning in 1947 and closed in 1956 when the railway shut. By 1920, the Wapping and Salthouse Goods Depot of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway occupied the eastern side. The dock closed in 1972.
Regeneration and the dock today
After closure, Salthouse Dock silted up over the following decade, and by 1980 the quayside had fallen into considerable dereliction. Transit sheds still stood on the east and west sides, and a former lifeboat training school remained at the north end of the western quay. The Merseyside Development Corporation, established in 1981 to rejuvenate the South Docks, oversaw dredging between 1981 and 1985. During the 1980s the entrance from Canning Dock was filled in and replaced with a permanent roadway and slipway, while swing bridges at the Albert Dock and Wapping Basin entrances gave way to fixed structures. By 2005 the water had developed a notable marine biodiversity, with jellyfish, mussels, sponges and seaweed recorded alongside non-native species including giant snails, Korean sea squirts and Australasian barnacles. Until 2013, Yellow Duckmarine amphibious vehicles used the dock as part of a tourist attraction that took visitors across both land and water.