Avonmouth Docks
Avonmouth Docks | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Location | Mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, England |
Coordinates | 51°30′18″N 2°42′25″W / 51.505°N 2.707°W |
Details | |
Opened | 1877 |
Operated by | The Bristol Port Company (150 year lease from 1991) |
Owned by | Bristol City Council |
Type of harbour | Artificial |
Statistics | |
Website http://www.bristolport.co.uk/ |
The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avonmouth.
Accessible via a 210 metres (690 ft) long and 30 metres (98 ft) wide
Background
However, by the 18th century the docks in
However, the harbour improvements cost more than anticipated, requiring increased levies to pay back the required loans, and hence reducing the competitive advantage to Liverpool. By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 ft (91 m) from reaching the harbour. A scheme was proposed to install a much larger lock at Avonmouth to make the entire river a floating harbour, and to straighten the sharper bends, was but was dropped after work began on the much cheaper docks at Avonmouth and Portishead. The present entrance lock was designed by Thomas Howard and opened in July 1873, with a width of 62 ft (18.9 m).[4]
History
Development
Due to numerous geographic and tidal restrictions along the River Avon, the Avonmouth Docks Co. was formed to build the new docks at Avonmouth. The new docks, now called Avonmouth Old Dock, were opened in February 1877, the hope being that this would usher in a new era for the port of Bristol.[5] Around the same time the supporting Bristol Port Railway and Pier was constructed.[6] The BPRP was built and held via a separate sister company, running north for 5.75 miles (9.25 km) from Hotwells (originally called Clifton), northwards to west of Bristol city centre between the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Bridge Valley Road along the Avon Gorge, to a pier terminus at Avonmouth.[1][6][7] Bricks for the project were supplied by the Crown Brick Works, a venture set up by a partnership including Edwin Stride and his sons Jared and Jethro.[8][9] [10] The other partners were George Davis, with William and Jarman Peters. The brickworks are visible on the 1879 OS 25" map of the area. [11] The company was dissolved in 1886.[12]
Transport
As built, the BPRP was isolated from the rest of the national railway network, having not been intended for anything more than local traffic distribution - a docks railway.
The connection was authorised in 1867, but the BPRP was in financial difficulties, and so unable to complete the line. It entered into negotiations with the MR and Great Western Railway, the latter now the owner of the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway.[6] However, fierce competition between the GWR and the MR posed a threat to the Port of Bristol. The MR had no access over the GWR routes into either Bristol Harbour or Avonmouth docks, and so drew up options to either acquire the Avonmouth Docks Co., or build new docks on the opposite bank at Portbury. The result was that in 1884, the Bristol Corporation bought Avonmouth Docks and the BPRP to control port facilities in the area.[1][7]
The Clifton Extension Railway initially ran from Clifton Down to Narroways Hill Junction north through Bristol, then part of the GWR; and over a viaduct from Narroways Hill to the MR's Bristol to Gloucester Line near Fishponds.[6] The line was managed by the Clifton Extension Railway Joint Committee, a triumvirate of the Port Authority, City Council plus the GWR and MR; but in 1894 responsibility was passed to the Great Western & Midland Railways Joint Committee.[6] Services began to Clifton Down on 1 October 1874.[1][6][7]
Royal Edward Dock
The Royal Edward Dock was designed by consulting engineers
Throughout its life, the shore side dock facilities have been redeveloped to keep the docks operational. By 1911, 27 storage tanks for oil had been added on the north west quay, and new
By the 1960s, the larger container ships could not navigate the River Avon to enter the Royal Edward, necessitating the need for the planning of the construction of the Royal Portbury Dock on the south bank. Whilst much of the former warehousing was redeveloped as residential housing, the residual quays were redeveloped for new cargos. Today these range from the export of scrap-metals, dredged aggregates, vegetable oil and domestic coal; with regional container services from and to Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia, all linked to the rail network via the Henbury Loop Line.[13]
Mustard gas
During the later part of
With the nearby No.23 Filling Factory at
The human cost of producing mustard gas was high. In December 1918 the chemical plant's medical officer reported that in the six months it was operational, there were 1,400 illnesses reported by its 1,100 mostly female workers - all medically attributable to their work. Three people died because of accidents, four died from associated illnesses, and there were 160 accidents resulting in over 1,000 burns.[7][19] At Chittening there were reported 1,213 cases of associated illness, including two deaths which were later attributed to influenza.[18]
Britannia smelting works
After World War I, demand for zinc and for sulphuric acid greatly fell, and after running into commercial difficulties it was taken over by a group of British industrialists with interests in metals and chemicals, under whom it was revived. In 1929 the NSC was bought by Australia's Imperial Smelting Corporation, which in 1949 merged with Zinc Corporation to become Consolidated Zinc.[20] After the consolidation, the smaller NSC plants were closed down to concentrate production on Avonmouth - now known as the Britannia smelting works - where the famous Imperial Smelting Process was developed. From 1967, the Avonmouth Works was home to the largest and most efficient zinc blast furnace in the world.[16]
Consolidated Zinc, having failed to develop suitable new mining projects, merged from 1962 with the Rio Tinto Company, a mining company. The resulting company, known as the Rio Tinto - Zinc Corporation (RTZ), and its main subsidiary, Conzinc Riotinto of Australia (CRA), would eventually become today's
In 2012
Operations
The docks were operated by the Port of Bristol Authority, part of Bristol City Council, until 1991, when the council granted a 150-year lease to the Bristol Port Company, who now operate the docks together with Royal Portbury Dock.
Bulk Coal Terminal
The bulk coal terminal discharged imported coal from both the Royal Edward and Royal Portbury docks, via a rail-loading system managed by DB Cargo UK, located just south of St Andrews Road railway station on the Severn Beach line.[1] At the Royal Edward, a Gottwald HSK 260 Harbour Crane can unload up to 10,000 tonnes of coal per day; whilst two 2,500 tonne rapid bulk-handling conveyors at Royal Portbury discharge into a conveyor system which runs under the River Avon in a tunnel. Freight trains are moved automatically under the bunkers at 0.8 kilometres per hour (0.50 mph), allowing a 1,750 tonnes (1,930 tons) train to be fully and automatically loaded in under 36 minutes.[23]
References
- ^ ISBN 1-904537-54-5.
- ISBN 0-907864-97-X.
- ^ Historic England. "Quay walls and bollards (1202185)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
- ^ a b "The creation of Bristol City docks". Farvis. Archived from the original on 17 May 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
- ^ Reid, W. N.; Hicks, W. E. (1877). Leading Events in the History of the Port of Bristol. Bristol: Western Daily Press. p. 114.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Maggs, Colin (1975). The Bristol Port Railway and Pier. The Oakwood Press.
- ^ a b c d e Large, David, ed. (1984). The Port of Bristol, 1848-1884. Bristol: Bristol Record Society.
- ^ Ethel Thomas Shirehampton Story (1993) pp.187 & 196
- ^ Ethel Thomas Down the 'Mouth (1994) pp.38-45
- ^ Richard Coates - A Short History of West Town http://www.shire.org.uk/content/history/West%20Town.pdf
- ^ Ordnance Survey map 1879
- ^ London Gazette 5 November 1886
- ^ a b c "Royal Edward Dock, Avonmouth". Engineering Time Line. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ISBN 0-3168-3400-9. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ISBN 0-2959-8296-9. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Downstream innovation - chemical and zinc production at Avonmouth". University of the West of England. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ ISBN 9780198581420.
- ^ ISBN 9781472908896. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ^ a b "Photographic Archive of Avonmouth Bristol BS11". BristolPast.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Cobar's Mining History" (PDF). Primefacts. New South Wales Department of Primary Industries. February 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
- ^ "RTC-CRA: United for Growth" (PDF). Rio Tinto Review. Rio Tinto Group. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
- ^ "Bomb squad at old mustard gas factory". Bristol Post. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Avonmouth Bulk Coal Terminal". Retrieved 12 May 2014.
External links
- The Bristol Port Company website
- Elkins, P.W. Aspects of the recent development of the port of Bristol
- Port of Bristol Authority archive collection