Editing Runcorn Docks (section)

===Independent customs port===

Throughout this time, the port of Runcorn was part of the [[Port of Liverpool]].<ref name=st38>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=38.}}</ref>  The growing importance of Runcorn was recognised on 5 April 1847 when it was designated as an independent [[customs]] port.  Its boundary extended on both sides of the Mersey, from Warrington Bridge in the east to a point on a line stretching from [[Eastham, Merseyside|Eastham]] church in Cheshire to Chapel Farm House in Lancashire.  It included the waters of the River Weaver up to Frodsham Bridge.<ref name=st63>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=63.}}</ref>  On the north bank of the Mersey, it included [[Widnes Dock]]; the world's first purpose-built railway dock.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=53.}}</ref> A new customs house was built to mark the event.<ref name=st63/>

Runcorn's status as an independent customs port was not a success. Few large ships were registered in the port or transferred from the Liverpool register, and on 12 April 1850 it returned to the Port of Liverpool.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=66.}}</ref>  However, the port's prospects improved with the abolition of the [[Navigation Acts]] (which had restricted the use of foreign shipping) in 1849, and an increasing number of foreign vessels began to arrive at the docks.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=68.}}</ref>  Trade increased so much that the Bridgewater Trustees were having difficulty in coping with the increased trade.  In 1853, an act promoted by the [[Earl of Ellesmere]] led to the construction of a short canal, the [[Runcorn and Weston Canal]], which connected the Bridgewater Docks to the Weston Canal and Weston Point Docks.  This opened for traffic on 25 February 1860. In the same year, the Bridgewater Trustees opened Alfred Dock, which was fitted with [[Hydraulic machinery|hydraulic]] cranes.<ref>{{citation  |  title = Commercial Directory and Gazetteer | publisher = Morris and Co. | year = 1874 | pages = 559 }}</ref> At this time, the Runcorn docks were coming under increasing competition from the railways, especially from the [[St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway|St Helens Canal and Railway Company]] which opened [[Old Dock, Garston|Garston Dock]] downstream on the north bank of the Mersey.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|pp=85–86.}}</ref>

[[File:Henry Mark Anthony - Runcorn Gap.jpg|thumb|Painting entitled ''Runcorn Gap'' by [[Henry Mark Anthony]] depicting the Bridgewater Docks and Runcorn Railway Bridge under construction]]

Runcorn was appointed again as an independent customs port on 1 January 1862.<ref>{{citation  | title = Port of Runcorn: Limits of Ports and Legal Quays | publisher = [[Her Majesty's Customs and Excise]] | date = 1862-01-01 }}</ref> In 1862, a [[Telegraphy|telegraph line]] was installed which linked the dock with the Bridgewater Trustees' offices in Manchester and their dock in Liverpool.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1990|p=180.}}</ref> From around this time, there was a considerable increase in trade. In April of that year, over 110 vessels entered the port, which was more than could be conveniently accommodated.<ref>{{Citation | newspaper = Warrington Advertiser | date = 1862-04-12 }}</ref> In order to deal with the increased trade, the Bridgewater Trustees began to build a new dock in 1867 and to remove obstructions from the river.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=92.}}</ref> It was named Arnold Dock and opened in 1870.<ref>{{citation |url= http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.25&chapterId=113 |title= Runcorn Dock expansion |access-date= 2008-08-18 |publisher= [[Chambré Hardman|E. Chambré Hardman]] Archive |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110525020524/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.25&chapterId=113 |archive-date= 25 May 2011 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>  Before the repeal of the Navigation Acts, most of the trade had been coastal, with virtually no foreign trade in 1845. Whereas in 1871, the export trade amounted to 43,000 tons and the imports more than 30,000.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=93.}}</ref> The Mersey and Irwell docks were not as successful as there were no major dock improvements after 1829 and the approach channels silted up.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=94.}}</ref> On the north bank of the Mersey, [[West Bank Dock]] at Widnes was busy especially with importing raw materials and exporting chemicals and fertilisers.  The other major materials passing through the port were raw cotton, potter's clay, salt, coal and soap.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|pp=98–101.}}</ref>

During the 1870s, the business of the port was beginning to decline because of the progressive silting of the shipping channels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|pp=111–114.}}</ref> When the Duke of Bridgewater died in 1803, he left his coal mining and canal businesses to be run by a Trust. In 1872, the navigation part of the trust was sold to the Bridgewater Navigation Company at a cost of £1,115,000. This consisted of the Bridgewater Canal and the Mersey and Irwell Navigations, together with their docks and warehouses.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|pp=150–151.}}</ref> The company developed further improvements including a new dock, the Fenton Dock (named after the chairman of the company), which was completed in 1875 at a cost of £50,000.  This was equipped with hydraulic cranes and served by high level tramways and railway sidings.  Meanwhile, the Weaver Trustees were developing their trade, having built the Delamere Dock in 1870.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=151.}}</ref>  The engineer for this dock was [[Edward Leader Williams]] who later became the engineer for the Manchester Ship Canal.<ref>{{citation |url= http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.25&chapterId=185 |title= Runcorn Docks - Weston Point |access-date= 2008-08-18 |publisher= [[Chambré Hardman|E. Chambré Hardman]] Archive |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110525020617/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConNarrative.25&chapterId=185 |archive-date= 25 May 2011 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>  There were no further large scale developments at the port until the Tollemache Dock was opened at Weston Point in 1885.<ref>{{Harvnb|Starkey |1983|p=156.}}</ref>