Built across an inlet on the river Mersey and opened in 1715, the “Old Dock” revolutionized cargo handling at the port of Liverpool, bringing prosperity to the city through the Triangular Trade albeit at a tragic cost to the million-plus enslaved in Africa and transported by Liverpool ships to endure the hardships of plantation life in the Americas. This reimagining of the “Old Dock” focuses on the years leading up to the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and diverse sources are used to present a partial build alongside the stories of some of those who lived and worked there.

By Graham Mills