Description

GRIMSBY

TA2710NW LOCK HILL, The Docks
699-1/6/124 Grimsby Haven Lock and dock wall 58
metres long adjoining to west

GV II*

Lock basin and adjoining dock quayside wall to west. 1798-9 by
John Rennie, engineer, for the Grimsby Haven Company. Ashlar
lock pit; dock wall with ashlar piers and brick arches.
The lock pit, measuring 145 by 37 feet (44.2 by 11.3 metres),
survives beneath later infilling, with both ends and wing
walls still visible. At the inner, southern end, on the
south-east corner of the lock passage, approximately 15 metres
from the lock-gate recess, are stone steps down to the water
level. Also at the southern end, adjoining on the west side,
is a section of dock quayside wall, extending approximately 40
metres from the lock entrance, with an arcade of
segmental-arched vaults between stepped piers.
HISTORY: this lock separated the tidal haven from the Humber
estuary, creating the first dock at Grimsby, the Haven Dock,
which opened in 1800 and was later incorporated in the
Alexandra Dock.
The bill for improving Grimsby Haven was passed in 1796. Work
started in 1797 and in 1798 John Rennie was called in to
rescue the ailing scheme. A key element of Rennie's new design
was this large lock which, as well as serving as the dock
entrance, was designed to assist in scouring the harbour
entrance and keep it clear of silt. To deal with the problem
of building retaining walls in the soft ground here, Rennie
devised a design using vaulted or "hollow" walls, which have a
greater base area and are stronger than solid walls containing
the same quantity of material. He subsequently used the method
in other pier and harbour works (e.g. the Humber Dock at Hull,
built 1803-9). The same construction principle, on a much
larger scale, was used 50 years later by James Rendel for the
Royal Dock at Grimsby (qv).
This lock was largely superseded as a dock entrance by the
creation of the Union Dock to the east which in 1879 linked
the Alexandra and Royal Docks. The lock was closed in 1917 and
subsequently mostly infilled, although it still carries a
culverted outfall between the dock and the estuary.
The lock and its flanking dock wall are notable as a survival
of the earliest modern dock at Grimsby, and for representing
the first use of the important technical innovation of vaulted
quayside walls, by one of Britain's foremost harbour
engineers. The quayside construction here forms an interesting

and important comparison with the same system built on a much
larger scale at the nearby Royal Dock (qv).
(Civil Engineering Heritage: Labrum EA: Eastern and Central
England: London: 1994-: 52-4; Lives of the Engineers: Smiles
S: Harbours, Lighthouses, Bridges - Smeaton and Rennie:
London: 1891-: 312-13, 319; University of Hull Publications:
Gillett E: A History of Grimsby: London: 1970-: 166-7; A guide
to the Industrial Archaeology of Lincolnshire & S.Humbs:
Wright NR: Lincoln: 1983-: 16-18; Ambler RW: Great Grimsby
Fishing Heritage: a brief for a trail: Grimsby Borough
Council: 1990-: 10-11).

Listing NGR: TA2721610587

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17533412

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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