Vittoria Dock

Vittoria Dock

South Atlantic Building, W.H. Boase & Co. wharfingers office, Vittoria Dock.
Location Birkenhead, United Kingdom
Coordinates 53°24′05″N 3°01′49″W / 53.401415°N 3.030274°W / 53.401415; -3.030274
Opened 1909
Owner Peel Holdings

Vittoria Dock is a dock in Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. It was built between 1905 and 1909 within the Great Float.

The name Vittoria

The dock is named after the Battle of Vittoria, fought on 21 June 1813 and was designed by A.G.Lyster.

An alternative view is that Vittoria Dock has derived its name as a tribute to the first ship to circumnavigate the globe, Magellan's Vittoria.[1] However, Magellan's ship was named after the church of Santa María de la Victoria de Triana, therefore, this Vittoria naming may be questioned.

Vittoria Dock is sometimes incorrectly quoted as 'Victoria Dock', thought in reference to Queen Victoria.

History

During its construction on 6 March 1909, a temporary dam collapsed, killing 14 navvies. This incident is now referred to as the Birkenhead Dock Disaster.

Between 1937 and 1941, HMS Conway, a training ship, was based here. Between the 1920s and 1970s, the Vittoria Wharf terminal was operated by Clan Line Steamers Ltd. The southern quayside was operated by Blue Funnel Line Ltd.[2] The dock fell into disuse as container shipping came into use.[1]

When the Warship Preservation Trust closed in February 2006, most of its exhibits, which included the Rothesay class frigate HMS Plymouth and wooden hulled minesweeper HMS Bronington, were later moved to Vittoria Dock for safe storage.[3]

Future

The dock is included in Peel Group's £4.5bn Wirral Waters redevelopment. The Baseline Study of July 2008 has been endorsed by Wirral Borough Council.[4] In February 2009 the initial stage of the planning application for the first major mixed use development masterplan/quarter was submitted.[5] The development would be expected to take up to 30 years.

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 Wirral Champion Journal, No.1, Spring 2000, pp. 24–27, ISSN 1470-2746
  2. ↑ Ian Collard (2001), Mersey Ports, Liverpool and Birkenhead, Tempus Publishing Limited, p. 111, ISBN 978-0-752421-10-0
  3. ↑ Places of Interest - Historic Warships, retrieved 12 October 2007
  4. ↑ Wirral Waters: Planning, Peel Waters, retrieved 3 July 2009
  5. ↑ Peel Submits Planning For First Large Scale Development at Wirral Waters (pdf), Peel Waters, 3 February 2009, retrieved 3 July 2009

External links

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