Winding House and Slipway

When ships needed repairing they were often hauled up a slipway to get them onto dry land. This building housed the engine and winch mechanism to pull boats out of the Humber. The Slipway now is part duckpond and part reed bed. I showed you the engine in a previous post here. There are plans to do up this building and reinstall the engine. For those interested in Victorian Docks and stuff like that there's a trail signposted running around the old Victoria Dock that starts at this very spot.

The Half-Tide Basin

Some final shots showing the development around the Half-Tide basin. Below the outer half of the basin with its dredged channel still showing.

 More housing and below the view they get from their window.

Zen and the art of fishing

This is the Hartley Bridge over the exit from the Half-Tide Basin that led to the dock itself, it carried both road and rail traffic but now it's just decorative. I don't think these chaps caught anything apart from a cold.

Victoria Dock Village

Victoria dock was to the east of the river Hull and opened in 1850 closing in 1970. The dock itself was filled in and the land was sold for development and work started in 1987 to build the Victoria Dock Village. I haven't been round these parts for over twenty years (it's a bit out of the way!) when it was still being built and it was, frankly, a bit of a mess. Now it's done and beginning to mature though I wouldn't like to live there; it was eerily deserted when I was there.
This is part of the Half-Tide Basin which was added to the dock to allows ships to enter the dock on the half-tide thus extending the time the dock was open for business. In 1989 when the redevelopment took place this had to be dredged as it had silted up to the level of the dock walls!