Manchester Docks - Pomona Docks

Pomona Docks

Pomona Docks was a set of 5 docks on the Manchester Ship Canal. Unlike the former docks in what is now Salford Quays, there has been little redevelopment.

Dock 5, Ordsall Dock, was a rectangular dock on the opposite bank to the other docks, and was situated directly opposite Docks 3-4. Docks 4-2 left the canal at an angle, running east from the canal, each around 600 feet (180 m) long, whilst Dock 1 (mostly in the City of Manchester) was somewhat longer at 700 feet (210 m), and ran almost parallel to the canal in a NE direction.

• Dock 5 was infilled at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of Dock 9.
• Dock 4 has now been entirely infilled, and almost no trace remains on the ground, although vague outlines of the dock can still be seen on aerial photographs.
• Dock 3 remains intact, having been later used as the point for Pomona Lock (which connects the Manchester Ship Canal to the Bridgewater Canal, replacing the redundant Hulme Lock further upstream).
• Dock 2 has been infilled along most of its length, although a short stump of the dock remains connected to the canal.
• Dock 1 has been infilled, although a depression in the canal bank exists across the former dock mouth.

The official terminus of the canal is several hundred metres further up the canal, at a point where it is crossed by a footbridge. Between the four main docks and Pomona Docks was a swinging road bridge. In the 1960s its openings and closings were announced by a man blowing a hunting horn.

Pomona Docks were built on the site of the Pomona Gardens, named after the Roman goddess Pomona. The swinging roadbridge separating Salford Quays from Pomona Docks is now permanently closed, and only small pleasure craft can pass under it into Pomona Docks. The gardens gave their name to a public house at Cornbrook. The area is served by the Pomona station on the Manchester Metrolink.