Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

This was a large rectangular steel structure used to haul boats in and out of the Wellington Dock, dismantled in 1996 and sold. (location accurate to the nearest 5m based on available information).

Monument Types

• SHIP REPAIR WORKS (Post Medieval to Modern - 1880 AD? to 1996 AD)

Full description

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This large Steel structure was dismantled in 1996 and sold. It had been in intermittent use immediately prior to this. It was the opinion of the harbour board that the cradle in its final form is relatively recent, something of a make-shift affair added to over the years. It was certainly clear that the central racking put in for the original cradle was not used in the final structure. Nevertheless, study of early photographs of the structure show that the original cradle was of a very similar form and it seems likely that at least some, if not all of the latest structure was 19th century date. Most probably it dated from the 1880s modifications rather than the 1850s structure.

As surviving in 1996 the cradle consisted of a flat segmented, steel frame-work set on three lines of boly wheels, each guided by a rail track. The cradle was rectangular in shape some 8.25m in width and about 36.5m long. When in use it was surmounted by large detachable v-shaped wood and steel supports upon which the bottom of the boat rested. 19th century photographs show that angled wooden props were wedged between the side of the slipway and the vessel to further support the craft. In recent times, vertical steel uprights were welded to the cradle structure for support.

Precise details concerning the method of winching the boat cradle are now not certain. It is known that the cradle in recent times had to be winched both up and down the slipway, using 2 or 3 separate steel cables, each c.2cms in diameter. These passed through a series of pulleys along the side of the slipway. (summarised from source) (1)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1997, Report on the Patent Slipway, Wellington Dock Dover (Unpublished document). SKE31428.

Sources and further reading

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