Former Victoria Dock Lock On Humber Estuary - Hull, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

The first entrance to be built into the dock was upstream on the River Hull, but this entrance and lock was from the tidal River Humber that forms the Humber Estuary.

In the 1990smost of the dock was filled in and turned into a park as well as a housing development An information board close by has information about the operation of the lock when it was working and how it turned into a Flapgate in 1991 and then became permanently closed in 2003.

Half Tide Basin

The original entrance to Victoria Dock was via the River Hull to the west. The second entrance to the dock was completed after 1850. It was formed by a southern extension known as the half tide basin. This has a water area of three acres and entry was gained from the Humber via an 18m (60ft) wide lock with a depth over the sill of 8.4m (27ft 6ins). There was also a narrow lock for barge use. The basin allowed ships to to enter and leave, not just at high tide - a very limited part of the working day - but also at any time in the period from half-tide to high-tide and back to half tide. This meant that the dock system was accessible to Humber shipping for half of the working day - a much more efficient system than relying on high tides alone.

The Flapgate

The Outline Development Brief for Victoria Dock specified that the half-tide basin would be converted to a marina. This plan would have required the old rotting timber lock gates to be replaced. However in 1991 the developers, Bellway, obtained as waiver from having to fit a double set of lock gates, on the grounds that the costs were exceptional. Instead they were given permission to erect a single 'flap gate'. This is the gate on the far side of the bridge and it is 10m (30ft) long and weighs 40 tons. The gate originally worked by being lowered onto the two concrete supports at low tides and was raised by hydraulic rams to its closed position before full tide. 250 tons of steel piling, driven 40m (130ft) and 5,000 tons of concrete form the supports. In 2003 the Council effectively fixed it in its present position with mass concrete.

This arrangement means that all thoughts of a marina are dashed, as access for yachts is no longer possible.

Waterway Name: Humber Estuary Connected Points: This lock connected the Humber Estuary to Victoria Dock Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1850 Date Closed (if applicable): 12/31/2003 Elevation Difference (meters): 8.00 Site Status: Remnants Web Site: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Logs marked as “visits” should be made after physically visiting the waymark location. Include a picture taken during the visit. Notes may be logged by individuals who have visited the web site or looked at the online information and would like to provide comments or feedback on the waymark.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.