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Port of Liverpool (SLR2166)

Object name: Topographic model
We have 9 objects of this type online
Topographic model (SLR2166) Repro ID: C3712
C3712, Topographic model, Liverpool Docks
© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Reproduced with kind permission of Kenneth Britten, modelmaker
About our images
Artist/maker: Kenneth Britten
Date made: circa 1978
Place made: Bolehill, Derbyshire, England
Materials: wood; metal; plastic; paint
Measurements:  Overall model: 45 x 949 x 595 mm
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Reproduced with kind permission of Kenneth Britten, modelmaker
Collection: Dockyards, buildings, and topography
Description:

Scale: 1:1600. Topographic model of the docks in the port of Liverpool, Lancashire (circa 1880). The model is complete with a selection of the various craft that use the docks from the sailing Mersey ‘Flats’ to the large North Atlantic liners.

The great port of Liverpool was at a peak of growth and activity in the late Victorian period. It had been founded by King John in about 1207 as a port from which to attack Ireland, and remained small until around 1600 when the channel of the River Dee leading to Chester began to silt up. With the Industrial Revolution, Liverpool’s trade greatly expanded and the docks developed along the riverbank to what is now the Pierhead, and down river. The docks became so big that a massive sea wall was built to protect them and once ships had entered via a halfway basin or locks (the Langton lock entrance from the Mersey is depicted in the model) they could traverse them by way of cuttings with swing bridges moving out of their way. Cargo working areas were frequently sited in one of the arms or branch docks. Sheds were built close to the quay edge so that cargoes could be worked under cover. Canal, rail and road systems linked the docks with the industrial heart of England.