Swing Bridge, Victoria Dock, Dundee Harbour

Heritage listing

Category A Date Added 02/02/1989 Local Authority Dundee Planning Authority Dundee Burgh Dundee NGR NO 40958 30366 Coordinates 340958, 730366 — Begun 1833 by James Leslie to Thomas Telford's projections. Completed 1869-75 by David Cunningham, with Charles Ower 'consulted on all questions of importance'. Nearly rectangular wet dock of 10.7 acres with a quayage of 3,860 feet, depth 16 feet, entrance width 54 feet. Kingoodie ashlar. W wall compleed 1833-6, S wall formed 1837, altered at E end 1869-75 for graving dock. N and W walls later, and with slightly larger ashlar blocks. Capstans and other dockside furniture. SWING BRIDGES: at entrance between Camperdown and Victoria Docks. PEDESTRIAN: segmental arched 2-leaf plate iron swing bridge. Each leaf pierced by 9 portholes, diminishing in size towards the centre. Arms of the Dundee Harbour Board at fulcrum point. Tubular iron handrail, timber deck. Counter weight with sockets for levering the bridge. VEHICULAR: level single-leaf wrought-iron bridge, probably hydraulically operated. Tubular iron handrail; flat timber deck. — After James Watt Dock, Greenock, and Leith Docks, Edinburgh, now the largest enclosed dock in Scotland. It remained unfinished during the town's depression and bankruptcy. By 1848 an eastern tidal harbour had been built and rough protection walls placed around Victoria Dock, which was then a shallow basin. In 1869 an Act was passed to construct a tidal basin and entrance to Camperdown Dock, construct a graving dock betweeen Camperdown and Victoria Docks, and deepen and complete Victoria Dock. The dock opened on 16 August 1875. Still used, primarily for ship repairs and laying-up, official visits, and for historic ships. The 90-ton steam crane was scrapped in 1976. Its base is still identifiable on the S

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.