Wooden dock gates constructed at Haverton Hill for Grimsby Docks. c1919 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Wooden dock gates constructed at Haverton Hill for Grimsby Docks. c1919
I worked on the Dock Gates with Bill Davis. I can see him now with his beret on and sat smoking his pipe. I believe that his father or he had a boatyard on the opposite side of the Victoria Bridge to the Flour Mill. When I was at HW he either owned a House Boat or was working on one in his spare time.
My dad Bill Davis worked on the dock gates at Head Wrightsons, he was a shipwright – does anyone remember him? He worked there up to his early death in 1968 when he was 54.
At Head Wrightsons the Dock Gates were set out by starting them on large blocks of wood and the gates were made laid flat over the Slipway. When they were finished the Joiners and Shipwrights would Jack the gates up and slowly let them down on top the slipway which was prepared for them. On the high tide they would be launched into the River and Tugs towed them to whichever Port they were for. Mind you the only Dock Gates that were prepared in this way were for the East side and Southern Ports. Anything that was made for the West side of the Country were made on site. Bristol and Liverpool come into mind. The only repairs that I know of, we had to travel and stay in the Town that they belonged to. Remembering Dover. The Dock Gate was towed into Dry Dock at high tide and then levelled out and laid on blocks. When finished it was then lowered onto the Slipway and launched then taken to the given Dock to be placed back in position.
Hi Len Nicholson. The names you mentioned were there when I first started in the Joiners Shop. Benny, a true Gentleman. Would say that in all my working life he was the best Supervisor I ever had, Benny and Charlie Pickering, I am still in touch with. Both Charlie and Benny are very good friends and live near each other in the Redcar District,both members of the RW Club. Benny is 86 now. Blondy, I have never seen for years but lives up on the Larun Beat at Yarm. Don”t know much about Sammy but John Hope has just died recently. Thanks Len for bringing those names up.
We built & refurbished dock gates at Head Wrightsons when they were laid down.I remember the conditions Bob Irwin has mentioned,it was not a nice place to be December to February on the riverside,I also remember the joiners squad Benny the chargehand,Charlie Pickering,John Hope,Blondy & Sam Ferguson.
I started at Head Wrightsons in 1953 as an Apprentice Joiner. I later worked on the Dock Gate section as a Joiner working jointly with Shipwrights. We made new Gates as well as refurbishing them. The timber we used was Greenhart. I had to get used to tools I had never used before especially the Adze. Also Piano Wire and Compass Planes. I always remember if getting a spelk with the Greenhart it infected straight away. Mind you when working outside on the Riverside it was very cold and we made fires in big oil drums and used the Greenhart chippings which burned very well. In fact we would take the chippings home for our room fires
Order no 223 LOCK ENTRANCE GATES FOR THE NEW FISH DOCK AT GRIMSBY(1933). Three pairs of gates were made from English Oak. The gates were scrapped in 1996. I have spent the last 20 years working at most of the major ports refurbishing dock gates.The surprising thing about the photograph is that the gates were built standing up instead of lying flat.Not many shipwrights employed at haverton hill in 1974 would have had much experience of refurbishing dock gates.
I was very suprised to see these gates here made at haverton hill because i worked at haverton hill 1974 , i live in grimsby and in recent years i have worked on the repairing of the dock gate there .The holes in the wall on the right of the pictures are the old chain lockers which they used to pull the gates closed ,i have worked round these gates while the tide is low never seen it in this stage great pictures learnt a lot from them and answered a lot of questions i always thought what it looked like