Port of Hull
The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Seaborne trade at the port can be traced to at least the 13th century, originally conducted mainly at the outfall of the River Hull, known as The Haven, or later as the Old Harbour. In 1773, the Hull Dock Company was formed and Hull's first dock built on land formerly occupied by Hull town walls. In the next half century a ring of docks was built around the Old Town on the site of the former fortifications, known as the Town Docks. The first was The Dock,, followed by Humber Dock and Junction Dock. An extension, Railway Dock, was opened to serve the newly built Hull and Selby Railway.
The first dock east of the river, Victoria Dock, opened in 1850. Docks along the banks of the Humber to the west were begun in 1862 with the construction of the West Dock, later Albert Dock. The William Wright extension opened in 1880, and a dock further west, St Andrew's Dock, opened in 1883. In 1885, Alexandra Dock, a new eastern dock was built connected to a new railway line constructed by the same company, the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company. In 1914, King George Dock was built jointly by the competing railway companies, the Hull and Barnsley company and the North Eastern Railway; this was extended in 1969 by the Queen Elizabeth Dock extension. As of 2016 Alexandra is being modernised for use in wind farm construction, with a factory and estuary side quay under construction, a development known as Green Port Hull.
The Town Docks, Victoria Dock, and St Andrew's Dock fell out of use by the 1970s and were closed. Some were later infilled and redeveloped, with the Humber and Railway docks converted for leisure craft as Hull Marina.
Other facilities at the port included the Riverside Quay, built on the Humber banks at Albert Dock for passenger ferries and European trains, and the Corporation Pier, from which a Humber Ferry sailed to New Holland, Lincolnshire. Numerous industrial works were served by the River Hull, which also hosted several dry docks. To the east of Hull, Salt End near Hedon became a petroleum distribution point in the 20th century, with piers into the estuary for shipment, and later developed as a chemical works.
As of 2023, the main port is operated by Associated British Ports and is estimated to handle one million passengers per year; it is the main softwood timber importation port for the UK.
History
Background
Hull lies at a naturally advantageous position for a port on the north side of the Humber Estuary, to the west of a bend southwards giving rise to deeper water; and the River Hull flows out into the Humber at the same point. The initial development of a port was undertaken by wool-producing Meaux Abbey before 1200 as a route for export.An important event in the history of Hull as a port was its acquisition by King Edward I. In 1297, it became the only port from which goods could be exported overseas from the county of Yorkshire. Thus, in the 13th and 14th centuries Hull was a major English port for the export of wool, much of it to Flanders, with wine being a major import. During this period the River Hull was made navigable as far as the then important town of Beverley, and roads were built connecting Hull to Beverley and Holderness and to the via regia between Hessle and Beverley near to Anlaby.
By the 15th century, trade with the Hanseatic league had become important. During the same period the growth of the English cloth industry meant that the export of cloth from Hull increased while wool exports decreased. The 16th century brought a considerable reduction in the amount of cloth traded through the port, but the export of lead increased. By the late 17th century Hull was the third port in the realm after London and Bristol, with the export of lead and cloth, and imports of flax and hemp as well as iron and tar from the Baltic.
Until 1773, trade was conducted via the Old Harbour, also known as The Haven, a series of wharves on the west bank of the River Hull, with warehouses and the merchants' houses backing on to the wharves along the High Street.
Hull Dock Company
By the 18th century it was becoming increasingly clear that the Haven was unfit for the growing amount of trade: it was not only narrow, but tidal and prone to a build up of mud from the estuary. An additional stimulus to change was the demand for a 'legal quay' on which customs officials could easily examine and weigh goods for export without causing excessive delay to shipments.In 1773, the Hull Corporation, Hull Trinity House and Hull merchants formed a dock company, the first statutory dock company in Britain. The Crown gave the land which contained Hull's city walls for construction of docks, and the ' was passed allowing the dock company to raise up to £100,000 by shares and loans; thus Hull's first dock began construction. Three docks, known as the Town Docks, which followed the path of the town walls, were constructed by the company between 1778 and 1829: The Old Dock, later Queen's Dock,, Humber Dock, and Junction Dock, later Prince's Dock,. An extension of the Town Docks was built in 1846 just north of the terminus of the then recently opened Hull and Selby Railway. The first dock in Hull east of the River Hull was constructed between 1845 and 1850; this became the main dock for timber trade and was expanded in the next two decades including the construction of large timber ponds.
In 1860, a rival company, the West Dock Company, was formed to promote and build new docks suitable for the increasing amounts of trade and the growing size of steam ships; the scheme was supported by the Hull Corporation, Hull Trinity House, the North Eastern Railway and various individuals in Hull. The site for the planned dock was on the Humber foreshore to the west of the River Hull. The dock company then proposed a larger dock in the same position, which was sanctioned by the ' This dock was known as the Western Dock until its opening in 1869 when it was named Albert Dock; an extension, William Wright Dock, was opened 1880. A third dock on the Humber foreshore west of the William Wright Dock was opened in 1883. The three docks were ideally suited for trans-shipment by rail as they were directly south of and parallel with the Selby to Hull railway line that terminated in the centre of Hull.
In 1885, Alexandra Dock opened; it was owned and operated by the Hull Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Company. This ended the Dock Company's monopoly on dock facilities in Hull and led to price cutting competition between the two companies for dock charges. The Dock Company was operating at a loss and from 1886 sought to merge the company into a larger organisation—the obvious choice being the North Eastern Railway. In 1891, the Dock Company approached the North Eastern for capital to improve its Albert Dock, leading to the North Eastern Railway acquiring the shares and debts of the Dock Company in exchange for its shares. Instead of improving Albert Dock, the North Eastern decided to expend a much greater sum on a new dock, east of Alexandra Dock; however, the proposal was opposed by both the Hull and Barnsley, and the Hull Corporation. The Dock Company and NER were legally amalgamated by the North Eastern Railway Act 1893 ; one of the clauses of the act stipulated that about £500,000 would be spent on dock improvements over the next seven years.
Clauses in the 1893 amalgamation act protecting the Hull and Barnsley company prevented the NER from creating a new deep water dock without consulting the Hull and Barnsley Railway. This led to a joint proposal for a dock east of Alexandra Dock being submitted, and passed in the Hull Joint Dock Act 1899. The new dock was opened in 1914 as the King George Dock.
Dock ownership (1922–)
The Hull and Barnsley Railway became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1922, making the docks in Hull the responsibility of a single company once again. The Railways Act 1921 led to the merger of the NER into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. In 1948, much of Britain's transport operations were nationalised by the Transport Act 1947 into the British Transport Commission, including the port and railway operations of the London North Eastern Railway. In 1962, the British Transport Docks Board was formed by the Transport Act 1962. In 1981, the company was privatised by the Transport Act 1981, and Associated British Ports was formed. Later that year, the docks were struck by an F0/T0 tornado on 23 November, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado was very weak, with damage remaining limited as a result; a second, stronger tornado struck Hull's north-eastern residential suburbs later that day.Docks
The Town Docks
The Old Dock
By the mid-1700s the overcrowding of ships on the River Hull, or Old Harbour, had reached such an extent that vessels were being damaged, in addition to causing delays in handling and shipping. Therefore, some tentative investigations were begun into expanding the facilities at Hull. It was not until the later 1760s that the Hull Corporation acted and employed surveyors to search for a suitable site for a new harbour. At the same time, HM Customs sought an end to the need to inspect cargoes handled at the private wharves and wanted customs procedures incorporated into a new dock or wharf—a "legal quay".An initial survey by Robert Mylne and Joseph Robson recommended a new harbour on the east side of the River Hull. Though the established development on the east bank tended to preclude a new port there, the same interests were unwilling to see the focus of trade shift away from the west bank where they were already established. In the early 1770s, John Grundy was contracted by agriculturalists owning land reliant on the drainage of the River Hull to assess the impact of the proposed new quay on the River Hull. Grundy's report of 1772 suggested either widening the river, or using the channel behind the Hull Citadel, or the moat of the Hull town walls for both harbourage and drainage. Grundy also proposed the use of gates in the channel to afford both wet and dry docks. Reports were prepared on the cost and the effect on the river of Grundy's proposal for a quay on the site of the town's moat. The dock was costed at between £55,000 and £60,000, and the quay between £11,000 and £12,000. Smeaton's report indicated no issues arising in terms of the flow of the river. After both reports had been provided in early 1773 the Corporation and Customs soon agreed to proceed with the plan. With limited opposition only on the grounds of the effect on drainage, an act for the construction was obtained in 1774.
The Old Dock, the first dock in Hull, was built between 1775 and 1778 to a design by Henry Berry and John Grundy, Jr.; Luke Holt acted as resident engineer, appointed on John Smeaton's recommendation. As built the dock was long by wide, the lock long by wide at its extremities, and deep, the lock river basin was in dimension.
The dock entrance was on the River Hull just south of North Bridge, and the dock itself built west-south-west along the path of the North Wall as far as the Beverley Gate. The dock walls were of local brick, with Bramley Fall stone coping piece. Cement for the lock wall's front construction was rendered waterproof through the use of pozzolana imported from Italy. Piling for the walls consisted of piles narrowing from to at the bottom supporting sleepers wide by deep trenailed to the piles. The alluvium excavated during the dock construction was deposited mostly on land to the north, raising the ground by —the land was later sold for building upon.
Some of the work proved inadequate, requiring reconstruction later. Issues with weak ground led to displacement bulging of the dock's walls in 1776 before the dock had been completed. Both Holt and Berry had recommended extra piling at the softer ground areas but had been over-ruled. Subsequent movement of the walls proved additional piling was necessary. By 1778 some parts of the dock walls were displaced from their proper position by, exacerbated by poor wall design and its buttresses. Further issues occurred on the lock to the River Hull, and the north wall of the lock basin collapsed before construction had been completed. Despite these setbacks the dock was formally opened on 22 September 1778. The lock required rebuilding in the 1780s to prevent total collapse, and in 1814 the lock and basin were rebuilt under the guidance of John Rennie the Elder with George Miller as resident engineer.
The lock was rebuilt of brick with pozzuolana mortar, faced with Bramley Fall stone. After rebuilding the lock was long by wide, with height above the sills; the depth of water being between depending on the tide. At the entrance to the dock a double drawbridge of the Dutch type, counterbalanced for ease of use, allowed people to cross the lock. The main part of the bridge was cast iron, built by Ayden and Etwell of the Shelf Iron Works. The lock basin was rebuilt at the same time, to the same design as used in the new Humber Dock—the new basin was long, narrowing from wide from top to bottom. Both the lock and the basin were re-opened on 13 November 1815.
The dock was called The Dock until the construction of further docks, when it was called The Old Dock. It was officially named the Queen's Dock in 1855.
The dock closed in 1930 and was sold to the Corporation for £100,000. It was subsequently infilled and converted to ornamental gardens known as Queen's Gardens.