Running along the Humber to the west of the River Hull is the Albert Dock. It was built between 1863 and 1869 and named after Prince Albert; Victoria Dock was built earlier on the east side of the Hull (sickening the sycophancy of our ancestors). It was extended in 1880 by the addition of the William Wright Dock (he was chairman of the Dock Company). It's the best part of a mile long. Surprisingly (well it's a surprise to me) the dock is still in use for general cargo and a few fishing boats. There's also a training place for the North Sea oil rigs. Far off in the background you can just make out the Humber Bridge.
Below is the view eastwards through the dock gates showing (just) the P&O ferry to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam in King George dock (another dock, another royal).
Finally here's the wide brown Humber that the dock leads into. The name Humber might come from an ancient , pre-celtic word meaning river, or it might be, as Geoffrey of Monmouth has it, named after Humber the Hun. Whatever the history, it's a wide old stream and now a very important waterway with the modern docks of Hull and North Lincolnshire being some of the busiest in Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment