Heysham Port - Heysham, Lancashire, U.K. - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

Heysham Port on the Irish Sea coast of Lancahsire was built by the Midland Railway Company.

The opening in 1904 of Heysham Port alongside the associated Railway Station it provided a more direct route to Belfast for the Midland Railway’s passengers travelling to Northern Ireland.
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The Midland Railway had previously built a line to Poulton-Le-Sands (present day – Morecambe) where it intended to establish a port for onward journeys to Belfast. The choice proved to be far from ideal as a practical port due to the tidal nature of its facilities and 1860 the Midland Railway reached an agreement with the Furness Railway Company to transfer its Northern Ireland passengers from Poulton-Le-Sands to Piel on the Cumbrian. Although this arrangement worked well the Midland Railway Company choose in 1865 to develop its own deep-water port at Heysham. It was however only in 1897 that the land was purchased for the building of the new harbour and the railway branch line.

Heysham Harbour was officially opened by the Midland Railway company some seven years in 1904 and four purpose-built steamers (Antrim, Donegal, Londonderry and Manxman) brought into services on routes to Belfast and Douglas.

As originally constructed “the harbour extended out from the headlands Near Naze in Half Moon Bay and Red Nab rocks with two substantial sea walls to a narrow mouth just short of the deep water channel…two distinct areas were enclosed, the roughly rectangular Harbour Basin itself about 800m long by 200m wide , and a large triangular area access by a lock from the south side of the harbour basin near the harbour entrance and intended to be both a wet and dry dock, but never developed.”
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Currently (Summer 2020) the sole passenger ferry operator from Heysham Port is the isle of Man Steam Packet Company which operates a daily service to and from the Isle of Man. The IoM Steam Packet Company is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating passenger shipping company in the world have commenced its operations in 1830.

Heysham Port is today (Summer 2020) operated by Peel Ports who describe it as follows:
“Heysham Port
Your first port of call for the Irish Sea

Enjoying an ideal location with excellent transport links to the M6, we offer fast, efficient access to the Irish Sea and are perfectly placed to become a major distribution hub serving the Isle of Man, Ireland and mainland UK.

We’re close to existing industrial areas and have a wealth of experience working with nearby offshore wind, gas and nuclear energy industries. Our port is at the heart of the Irish Sea RoRo hub and our facilities cater for numerous daily sailings from providers like Seatruck, Stena Line and Isle of Man Steampacket.” (visit link)

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/16/2004 Poole/Freeman visited it