The fascinating discoveries made under Liverpool's historic docklands revealing 200-year-old traces of past
Material dating back more than 200 years has been uncovered as part of construction work to revamp part of Liverpool’s historic docklands.
A £15m renovation project is underway to upgrade Canning Quayside within the National Museums Liverpool (NML) waterfront transformation project.
NML said the transformation of Canning Dock will reflect its history which is rooted in Liverpool’s deep involvement in transatlantic slavery and create a space for contemplation of its significance. Archaeologists within the team have been busy at work excavating the site in preparation for development.
It has now been revealed that artefacts dating back to the time of George III and the Industrial Revolution have been found within the dock. Some of the items detail the city’s historic links to the slave trade.
Within small test pits dug around Canning Dock, items found include pieces of porcelain, potentially brought to Liverpool from Staffordshire for export, and locally-made tiles and pottery, which represent the history of the site and its global connections. The most common of the finds in Canning Quaysides is fragments of sugar moulds.
This pottery was used in the processing of the raw sugar into sugar loaves which were ready for sale. The slave-produced sugar, processed in Liverpool, was imported from plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean.
This type of find can be linked to known sites and people in Liverpool’s history – such as Jonas Bold, after whom Bold Street is named – a merchant, slave trader and sugar baker nearby on The Strand. Bold also invested in a factory making the sugar moulds.
Since it was built in 1765, the south dry dock within Canning Quayside has been restricted to public access. The project to revamp the area began last Autumn and is being led by architects Asif Khan Studio and artist Theaster Gates.
Visitors will be able to access the historic dock via a staircase and lift to a new contemplation space. A footbridge will also be built from the Royal Albert Dock across to the Canning quayside, which will be enhanced with level pathways and an open-air events space.
Work is expected to be complete in 2029 alongside the regeneration of the museums which closed at the start of last year. Liz Stewart, head of Museum of Liverpool, said: “Construction work around the historic waterfront always piques the interest of archaeologists because we know there’s a chance it will uncover interesting material.
“The redevelopment of Canning Quaysides and Dry Docks is not only about protecting the heritage of the site but also better understanding the layers of its history, so it is very exciting to see what has been hidden in the ground for all these years and consider what stories they tell us.”
It is expected the items found within the dock will go on display when the museum reopens in three years’ time.