Description

An outstanding graving dock complex without parallel in
Scotland.
1869-98, 3 major dry docks, associated quays, capstans
and bollards, pumphouses, workshops and other ancillary
buildings, retaining and boundary walls, ramped accesses
and stairs. The dock walls and quay edges are of grey
granite, the working surfaces whinstone setted, and
retaining walls and ramp sides are of cream sandstone.
Cast-iron gatepiers.
DRY DOCKS
No 1 Dock (at North): by James Deas and Alex Lister,
1869-75 551' long, 72' wide at entrance, depth to sill
22'9". Stepped sides and curved end, unusually curving
towards bottom. 9 sets of stairs with grooves for
materials. Paved base. Modern steel caisson gate to
Clyde. There is a series of associated buildings, mostly
to N; pump house and sluice houses, ashlar on rusticated
base with round-headed openings, with former boiler
house to N and pump room to south. The pumps are
sited below the building. There is a square accumulator
tower with 4 oculi, heightened in brick c.1895. The
sluice houses are small square buildings of similar
construction. At the entrance two hydraulic capstans by
the Anderston Foundry Co.
No 2 Dock (Centre): by James Deas, 1883-6; 575' by 67'
by 22'9". Stepped sides and vertical curved end. 4
stairs giving access through tunnels. Slides for
materials. Steel caisson gate and folding bridge, opening
off Clyde. Small flat-roofed brick pumphouse on S side
of entrance, which is flanked by hydraulic capstans as at
No 1 dock.
No 3 Dock (South): by James Deas, 1894-8; by far the
longest of the three, 880' by 83' by 26'6". Stepped sides
and vertical curved end. 8 stairs give access through
tunnels. Projecting piers in the centre with curved
recesses for caisson, to subdivide dock; caisson now
removed. Steel caisson gate and folding bridge opening
off Prince's Dock canting basin. Associated PUMP HOUSE
(at SE end of site) terra-cotta brick, with red sandstone
dressings, in two sections, eastern flat-roofed with
electric pumps in basement, gantry crane, tiled interior.
Western part wider, pedimented gable, slated roof with
ridge ventilator, housing workshop and hydraulic pumps.
Dated 1895 on cast-iron commemorative plaque.
On North quay, two workshops, one on either side of
No 1 pump house. On West, woodworking shop (formerly
harbour workshop) and offices, 2-storey 14-bay red and
yellow brick with pend at west end and weighbridge (A &
W Smith 1889). On east, mechanics' shop (c.1895), 1
storey 10-bay, red and white brick with iron-framed
round-headed windows and wrought-iron framed roof.
Doors with glazed fanlights on N.
Also series of ancillary buildings ranged round the site,
these of differing dates and built mostly of red or yellow
brick. Small steel Scotch derrick crane at N.

Statement of Interest

Built for the Clyde Navigation Trust during the years when

the Clyde yards led the world in the building of

sophisticated merchant ships, so the complex is of architectural/historic interest in an international context,

of major significance in terms of the history of the world

shipbuilding. Docks Nos 1 and 3 were each the deepest

in Britain when built and could take the largest ships

afloat

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17568720

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)