Royal Albert Dock

No wood

The first warehouses in the world designed not to burn

The Albert Dock opened in 1846, designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick. It was the first structure in the United Kingdom built from cast iron, brick and stone without wood for any structural element.

The fire test

Hartley tested the design by setting a dummy warehouse alight

Jesse Hartley built a dummy structure, 18 feet by 10 feet, filled it with timber and tar, and set it alight. After testing several designs he settled on a combination of cast iron, brick, sandstone and granite.

Ship to store

Ships were loaded and unloaded straight from the warehouses

The design was considered revolutionary because ships were loaded and unloaded directly from or to the warehouses. Two years after it opened the dock gained the world's first hydraulic cranes. It stored brandy, cotton, tea, silk, tobacco, ivory and sugar.

The opening

Prince Albert opened the dock in 1846 to crowds in the streets

Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria, opened the dock, and it was named in his honour. It was the first state visit to Liverpool by a member of the Royal Family, and The Pictorial Times reported 200,000 strangers in town.

200,000strangers in town, as reported in 1846

After the ships

The dock closed in 1972 and reopened in 1984

In the Second World War the Admiralty requisitioned the dock, and it was damaged in air raids, notably the May Blitz of 1941. It closed in 1972 and lay derelict for nearly ten years. Redevelopment began in 1981 and the dock reopened in 1984.