BARRY, Sir John Wolfe, BAKER, Sir Benjamin & HURTZIG The Port of Bristol. Report upon the dockisation of the River Avon. London, 28th May, 1900
4to. 28pp. 2 litho plates, 1 very large and folding. Orig. full limp leather, gilt. By the end of the 19th century the Port of Bristol was in a permanent state of decline. Its facilities were by now far too small to attract large ocean-going liners and access up the winding River Avon remained a major obstacle. Also, the docks at Avonmouth and Portishead had become inadequate, again because of the size of vessels and the consequent increase in cargoes. Thus the dockising of the river, originally suggested during the 1850s, was once again considered as a solution. In this thoughtful report, by some of the most famous engineers of the later 19th century, they suggest dockising the mouth of the river only and regarding the work as an extension of Avonmouth docks. However, reduced in scale as this might have been in comparison to closing off the entire waterway as far as Bristol, the proposed works were nevertheless extremely ambitious in scale. They involved the provision of a diversion and new outfall for the river, an extensive reclamation embankment and a masonry dam and 12 miles of railway. However, nothing came of the scheme.
£250
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