More information : [Centred SD 515725] At the farm of Dock Acres, in the parish of Warton, there is an ancient basin and channel, with the Castle and Manor of Merhull or Maurholme, about 100 yards to the southeast, which was surrendered in 1216 to King John. The manor is last heard of in 1435 [See Lancs. 25 NW 1]
The basin, or dock, which like two others in the district, at
Carnforth and Quicksand Pool, may have been used for shipbuilding, is an irregular oval its longest diameter being about 200 yards and the shorter one about 100 yards. Though ordinarily dry, in the wet year of 1903, the bottom of the basin was covered with water. From the southeast corner of this led a cutting which eventually joined the River Keer. This is now partly filled up.
The site appears to have been mentioned first in 1788 (1), when W.Hutchinson wrote of "the remains of large walls like a quay for shipping, built of freestone ..." Baines (1a) in 1836, may have been referring to this site, when he wrote of erosion in the valley of the River Keer revealing "a kind of subterraneous shipyard, in which large quantities of timber, some unwrought and others partly formed into vessels were found. In 1868 Mr. Sharpe (1b) stated that near
Dock Acre farm, there were said to have been found the steps of a Roman dock. (1)
Listed by Cathcart King (2) |