In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the central docks provided employment for huge numbers of men, including those who sailed the ships, those engaged in the loading and unloading of goods, in storage and in transport, in industrial activities associated with trade, in security, maintenance and in the administration of the port. All these activities had a profound influence on the culture of Liverpool and have now entirely disappeared.

Today over a third of the Liverpool Waters site consists of docks with open water, comprising Bramley Moore Dock, Nelson Dock, Salisbury Dock, Collingwood Dock, Princes Dock, Princes Half-Tide dock, and East Waterloo Dock. The other former dock areas of West Waterloo Dock and Trafalgar Dock have been subject to earlier in-filling, and now accommodate a canal link to Pier Head from Stanley Dock. Earlier in-filling of other docks within the site has been extensive, including Clarence Dock that was closed in 1928 and became the site for a power station. During the 1950’s three landmark chimneys were added to the power station. The last remnants of the power station were removed in 1994, and the site has remained redundant since then.

The parts of the site that retain the essential elements of their original dockland landscape are included within the Liverpool Mercantile City World Heritage Site, and the remainder is within the buffer zone. The site includes part of the Stanley Dock Conservation Area and contains a number of listed structures.

With the exception of King Edward Industrial Estate, the site consists of land reclaimed from the River Mersey. Originally incorporating a series of single storey, linear transit sheds on the quaysides, with ancillary facilities such as entrance lodges, cranes and an elevated railway together with an at grade system of rail and tram lines. The site historically had the character of a utilitarian and industrial area. This was emphasised still further by the Grade II listed Jesse Hartley designed Dock Boundary Wall that separated the site from the hinterland to the east and limited access to the docks, and which forms the western site boundary. Although the dock boundary wall still remains a commanding feature, the transit sheds and the majority of quay side buildings and industrial machinery have been demolished or removed over a period of time.

The Quaysides still have associated elements such as mooring facilities and limited surfacing materials, some of which have associated railway lines. The remaining docks, including the two Clarence Graving Docks, retain special interest through their monumental construction and materials of granite and sandstone, as does the river wall that marks the western boundary of the site.

The docks are mentioned in the 19^th and early 20^th century literary works including Charles Dickens’ ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’ , Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘Mary Barton’ and Herman Melville’s ‘Redburn’.

Click here to view the Liverpool UNESCO listing.

Six areas in the historic centre and docklands of the maritime mercantile City of Liverpool bear witness to the development of one of the world’s major trading centres in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Liverpool played an important role in the growth of the British Empire and became the major port for the mass movement of people, e.g. slaves and emigrants from northern Europe to America. Liverpool was a pioneer in the development of modern dock technology, transport systems and port management. The listed sites feature a great number of significant commercial, civic and public buildings, including St George’s Plateau.

Criterion (ii): Liverpool was a major centre generating innovative technologies and methods in dock construction and port management in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. It thus contributed to the building up of the international mercantile systems throughout the British Commonwealth.

Criterion (iii): the city and the port of Liverpool are an exceptional testimony to the development of maritime mercantile culture in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, contributing to the building up of the British Empire. It was a centre for the slave trade, until its abolition in 1807, and to emigration from northern Europe to America.

Criterion (iv): Liverpool is an outstanding example of a world mercantile port city, which represents the early development of global trading and cultural connections throughout the British Empire