Notes from our Talks Programme
Compiled by Peter Keen

Spike Island to Garston : Travels of the Mersey Flats: Roy Forshaw

The last speaker of the season to address SCARS members in April was Roy Forshaw. An active member of SCARS work parties, Roy is also a highly respected member of Garston Historical Society and the Merseyside Industrial heritage Society (MIHS).

It was his connection to the Garston area that has enabled him to build up a picture of the upper Mersey in the days of sailing flats and his presentation followed the north coast of the Mersey downstream from Widnes, reflecting the way in which the outlets of the Sankey Canal Company and later the Canal and Railway Company migrated westwards in search of greater profits.

Between Spike Island and Garston Docks Roy identified no less than 17 sites at which a sailing flat could have moored alongside a convenient northern shore to load or discharge its cargo. This does not include the original junction of the Sankey canal with the river at Sankey Bridges or the later extension to Fidlers Ferry.

His first mooring was in the first Railway Dock in the U.K. Opened in 1833 on Spike Island this was the outlet for the coal from St. Helens collieries via the newly completed Runcorn Gap Railway. From here the coal was shipped down to Liverpool or used in the local chemical industries. Whilst considered impressive at the time, its life span was only about 20 years as the demand for coal far exceeded the supply, the growth of the chemical industry alongside the river was inhibited by the lack of space for expansion and the deep water channel within the Mersey was notoriously fickle, changing position with great frequency. Consequently a new larger coal facility was built at Garston and the chemical works relocated to Runcorn where there was room for expansion and adequate deep water.

The last locks of the Sankey Canal allowed access to the next quaysides but these are well known to the Society so were not gone into in great detail. Moving westwards through the Runcorn Gap the West Bank Docks could have been found. Opened in 1864 they were in use until the 1960s after which they were filled in, only the stonework of the entrance locks surviving.

Close by was Ditton Brook, wide and deep enough for flats to reach three moorings according to the old maps, Ditton Iron Works, a Wharf and Quayside. Visitors to Pickerings Pastures parkland can discern some timberwork surviving from the old loading wharf whilst the abutments for a tramway are also identifiable. The nearby Hale Fields would have received night soil from Liverpool whilst a local brickworks would have shipped out its products by water so the brook would have been a busy scene.

The low lying headland on which Hale Lighthouse stands does not at first glance seem to mark a problem area in the river but the constantly changing channel, the migrating sandbanks and fast tidal flow through Runcorn Gap made this section of the river very dangerous for sailing vessels. The coast is under constant attack by the sea and it is known that as many as ten acres of land have been eroded over a 40 year period. It was not unusual to see as many as ten flats stranded on the resulting sandbanks at low tide.

If the flats were on a level area they might be safe and float off at the next high tide but if they straddled a deeper channel they would break their backs and sink. Even those on the level could become stuck fast in the mud and become inundated as the tide came in.

Next came Dungeon Salt Works Quay, also known as Halecliff Wharf. The works was in production in 1679, much to the annoyance of the Cheshire salt boilers since there was no duty payable on River Salt but they had to pay it for their underground supplies. The Blackburne family used the wharf as a coal-loading area as coal was brought to the site via an inclined plane from the Prescot pits. Roy showed pictures of a MIHS investigative dig which revealed parts of the old boiling chambers and large sections of the sandstone quayside. Over the years the site was used by a ship breakers, a maroon factory and a concrete works.

Speke Hall and its estate used large quantities of materials from building stone and timber to yet more Liverpool night soil, whilst sending out its surplus agricultural produce. Maps from the 1880s show a mooring on the river which could accommodate a sailing flat to ship such cargoes. An aerial photograph indicates the possible course of a tramway which linked the quay site to the estate buildings.

Moving ever westwards Roy's next port of call was Garston itself. The earliest mention of the village was towards the end of the eleventh century when it passed into the hands of the Abbey of Shrewsbury whilst a record of Vicars commences with 'Parson Henry' in 1225. Through the centuries little changed until 1798 when Mr. Blackburne moved from the Salthouse Dock in Liverpool and set up his saltworks alongside the creek at Garston. Two docks were built, Rock Salt Dock where rock salt from the Cheshire salt fields was unloaded for refining and the Salt Dock for exporting the finished product.

During the mid 1800s various plans were put forward to enlarge the docks, and the salt docks were replaced by one with a larger water area known as 'The Old Dock' by the St. Helens Canal and Railway Company whose facilities at Spike Island were proving to be inadequate for the ever increasing demand for coal. To help develop the local economy, deliveries of materials were allowed free of charge and late in the century the community was involved in the life of the dock via 'open' days when townsfolk in their Sunday best could walk round the quays.

Dock development continued and in 1909 the Stalbridge Dock was constructed. The high level of the ground inland from the river brought the coal to the quay side well above quay level. Coal tippers were built so that railway wagons could be emptied directly into the holds of ships. There was plenty of room for the great acreage of railway sidings which developed to feed the constant demand for coal, over 95 miles of track being laid. Coal wagons moved by gravity to the tips, were tipped again by gravity and returned to the sidings by gravity. In contrast Spike Island's site was hemmed on by industry and marshland and its low elevation meant that getting the coal from railway wagons into the larger ships involved the lifting of every ton handled. The Garston site was much more efficient so it is no surprise that the LMS which had taken over the site in 1921 was prepared to invest heavily there.

Over the years other industries were attracted to the area including gas works, tanning, sugar, copper and iron works. China Clay, molasses and later fuel oil also formed significant proportions of the materials handled by the docks. There were extensive timber storage yards and refrigerated transport allowed the setting up of tropical fruit import facilities, handling bananas, grapefruit and occasionally coffee.

A deep water channel had to be blasted out in the Mersey to allow a safe approach to the Stalbridge Dock. The channel was protected by a series of dolphins, timber moles in the river at which vessels would tie up to await their turn through the entrance locks. Enterprising skippers would apparently land their cabin boys at the Pier Head from where they would take a tram south to Garston, arriving there well before their ships and booking them in before the vessels waiting at the dolphins.

Being railway owned, the docks were never part of the Liverpool Dock Estate and therefore users paid no dock dues but river dues were chargeable for passage up the Mersey and towage was available if necessary. The dock had its own custom house in its early days, and was powered by a hydraulic system similar to that in the Albert Dock complex. In later days it had its own electricity generating plant to supply power around the quays.

In the 1980s the demand for large coal meant that the tippers were falling out of favour as the drop into ships holds inevitably broke up the coal into 'small coal' and slack, which was not what the customers wanted. To combat this breakage, new wagons were purchased and coal conveyors were installed. Unfortunately this coincided with protracted industrial unrest in the coal mining industry which resulted in widespread pit closures so the equipment was rarely used.

The modern dock is a 24 hour facility, importing labour only as required, with a high incidence of automatic handling equipment. Bulk cargoes of powders, timber, steel rolls, steel sheets, gas piping, wire coils and grain are all imported. Ironically for the North West's greatest coal exporting port, Garston now imports coal from foreign suppliers.

Still further westwards and northwards the coast towards Dingle and Liverpool is of soft material sloping into the river. Plans for yet more docks were discussed but none materialised so the channel serving Otterspool Mill was the last surviving destination for flats until its final obliteration by the construction of the Otterspool Promenade behind the new sea wall.

Roy admitted to only scratching the surface of Garston's history during his talk, but it was nevertheless fascinating and informative and very much appreciated by all present.

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