Fawcus's Floating Dock

A Floating Dock built by the 1850s when it was a part of Fawcus's Repair Yard and lay immediately to the south of their slipway. Part of the yard was taken over by Hepples who made marine engines and the yard was subsequently subsumed within the Edwards Bros. It appears to have been out of use by 1895 as the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey plan shows the dock covered by "Limekiln Shore" (HER ref. 2135) {Smith's Journal describes the floating dock as: …a wooden construction with a gate at one end only. When a vessel was docked it waited till the tide filled the dock and then floated in. When the tide receded, the dock was left dry. The flap gate was then closed and caulked and repair work commenced. When the tide rose again, the dock - and vessel in it - floated and work was continued.