History Albert Docks

• Royal Albert Dock Liverpool

  • Early role in cooperage. Warehousing in the dock was also expanded to meet the increasing demand by joining together the eastern and western ends of the Southem Stack (15)
• The enclosed design of the Albert Dock and the direct loading and unloading of goods from warehouses, meant that the complex was more secure than other docks within Liverpool
• The dock came to dominate Liverpool's far eastern trade, with over 90% of the city's silk imports from China coming through it and more generally half of all the far eastern trade income
• Albert Dock


  • Designed and constructed to handle sailing ships of up to 1,000 tonnes
  • By the start of the 20th century only 7% of ships into the Port of Liverpool were sailing vessels
  • The development of steam ships in the later 19th century meant that soon the dock simply was not large enough, as its narrow entrances prevented larger vessels from entering
  • Its lack of quayside was also becoming an issue
  • Steamships could be loaded and unloaded far quicker than saling ships
  • The dockside warehouses that had once made the Albert Dock so attractive, were now hindering its future development
• In 1878 the pump house was built as part of redevelopment that saw the majority of the cranes converted to hydraulic use
• In 1899, part of the north stack was converted to allow for ice production and cold storage
• By the 1920s, virtually all commercial shipping activity had ceased at the dock, although its warehouses did remain in use for the storage of goods transported by barge, road or rail
• The onset of the Second World War, in 1939, saw the Albert Dock requisitioned by the Admiralty and used as base for the British Atlantic fleet. This included submarines, small warships, and landing craft docking
• During the war, the dock was struck on several occasions by German bombs. This included one bombing raid in 1940 that damaged ships within the dock. More destructively, during the May Blitz of 1941, bombing caused extensive damage to the south west stack
• By the end of the war, almost 15 per cent of the dock's floor space was unavailable due to bomb damage