Visited with Kromax, ex0 and tweek
After hitting up the Mobil plant, we said our farewells to Xan and headed on over to the Central Hydraulic Tower. Xan and ex0 have gotten some quality pics of the hydraulic tower over the past few weeks so I'm keeping this one slim. It's a lovely mooch, lots of odds and ends kicking about in the lower halls that give the place quite a nice feel. The thing I was really after on this visit though was the tower itself, and thanks to ex0s spot a couple of weeks previous, we were in luck
Cheers for this one mate - get yourselves down to manc and we'll return the favour.
History
The Central Hydraulic Tower was built in 1863 and contained the accumulators and associated machinery used to move the lock gates and bridges up and down the Birkenhead docks.
The tower used to be taller, with a large section on top of the current tower containing a lantern which was bombed off in World War 2. The damage sustained to the rest of the building was repaired, but with no concern for the original style, resulting in vast swathes at the rear being constructed with red brick. .
Peel Holdings have recently bought the site along with pretty much everything else on the Birkenhead docks for their 'Wirral Waters' project, with plans for the Tower extending to the construction of a hotel, bar and restaurant.
Going up?
Sketchy….
View from the top
and back down..
Solid end to a good day, followed by a drive home to a BBQ. Win.
After hitting up the Mobil plant, we said our farewells to Xan and headed on over to the Central Hydraulic Tower. Xan and ex0 have gotten some quality pics of the hydraulic tower over the past few weeks so I'm keeping this one slim. It's a lovely mooch, lots of odds and ends kicking about in the lower halls that give the place quite a nice feel. The thing I was really after on this visit though was the tower itself, and thanks to ex0s spot a couple of weeks previous, we were in luck
Cheers for this one mate - get yourselves down to manc and we'll return the favour.
History
The Central Hydraulic Tower was built in 1863 and contained the accumulators and associated machinery used to move the lock gates and bridges up and down the Birkenhead docks.
The tower used to be taller, with a large section on top of the current tower containing a lantern which was bombed off in World War 2. The damage sustained to the rest of the building was repaired, but with no concern for the original style, resulting in vast swathes at the rear being constructed with red brick. .
Peel Holdings have recently bought the site along with pretty much everything else on the Birkenhead docks for their 'Wirral Waters' project, with plans for the Tower extending to the construction of a hotel, bar and restaurant.
Going up?
Sketchy….
View from the top
and back down..
Solid end to a good day, followed by a drive home to a BBQ. Win.
