Bramley-Moore Dock

Bramley-Moore Dock
Dock gates on the Dock Road
Location
Location	Vauxhall, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Coordinates	53°25′30″N 3°00′11″W / 53.4250°N 3.0030°W / 53.4250; -3.0030Coordinates: 53°25′30″N 3°00′11″W / 53.4250°N 3.0030°W / 53.4250; -3.0030
OS grid	SJ334924
Details
Owner	The Peel Group
Operator	Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
Opened	4 August 1848
Type	Wet dock
Joins	Sandon Half Tide Dock Nelson Dock
Area	9 acres (3.6 ha), 3,106 sq yd (2,597 m2)
Width at entrance	60 ft (18 m)
Quay length	935 yd (855 m)

Bramley-Moore Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. The dock is located in the northern dock system in Vauxhall, connected to Sandon Half Tide Dock to the north and Nelson Dock to the south. Jesse Hartley was the architect with opening in 1848.

The dock was opened on 4 August 1848, as part of Jesse Hartley's major northern expansion scheme of that year, and was named after and opened by John Bramley-Moore, chairman of the dock committee at the time. When built, Bramley-Moore Dock was the most northerly part of the dock system. At the time, access to the River Mersey was from the south, through the new Nelson and Salisbury Docks, which were all commissioned simultaneously. When built, Bramley-Moore Dock was used for the largest steamships of the era.

In 1851, further docks were opened to the north. These included Wellington Half Tide Dock, which gave a second access point for Bramley-Moore and the Mersey. The berthing of the larger ships was moved to the new Sandon Dock and Huskisson Dock within a few years of opening because of the ease of access to the river these docks offered. Around 1900, the Wellington Dock and the adjoining Sandon Dock were realigned, with the half tide dock separated as Sandon Half Tide Dock, as it remains today.

Although a mixed use dock, with one of the original transit sheds still in place, Bramley-Moore did extensive coal trade. The coal handling included both coal for export and bunker coal for steamships in the port, transported from the South Lancashire Coalfield. A high-level railway opened in 1857 to transport coal directly to the quayside. The high-level railway was connected by viaduct to the adjacent Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway line. The high-level railway was operational from 1856 to 1966.