Millbay Docks, Inner Basin

Millbay Docks, Inner Basin

This civil dock comprises an inner basin formed by slightly battered walls of the North and East Quays and the inner face of Glasgow Quay to the south. The structure was constructed between 1852 and 1856 as part of a major programme of improvements to existing wharfs on the eastern side of the inlet dating from the 1820s and 1840s. The arrangement of the docks, of which the inner basin forms a significant part, is credited to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the eminent civil engineer (1806–1859).

The basin is rectangular in plan, broadly aligned east to west. It comprises the North Quay, East Quay, and the inner face of Glasgow Quay, now bordered to the west by a 20th-century infill containing the ferry terminal. The angles forming the junctions between North and East Quays, and between East Quay and Glasgow Quay, accommodate sets of curved and recessed access stairs that are fully incorporated into the slightly battered quay walls. The treads of these recessed stairs are formed of locally dressed granite.

The structure is constructed of dressed and regularly or irregularly coursed finely jointed ashlar Grey Devon limestone, with copings of dressed and tooled local granite. The North and East Quays comprise extensive lengths of slightly battered quay wall constructed in irregularly coursed dressed 'fitted rubble' masonry with flush granite coping. Glasgow Quay comprises a length of slightly battered quay wall in regularly coursed, lightly rusticated ashlar masonry.

The North, East, and Glasgow Quays display an assortment of cast iron bollards and mooring ties set both within and behind the granite copings, of varying types and dates, which contribute to the character of the structure.

The inner and outer basins at Millbay were constructed following the acquisition of the site by the Great Western Dock Company in 1846. The company aimed to develop and expand the existing facility of quays and wharfs focused on the lower eastern shore of the inlet, which had been initiated by Thomas Gill for the transport of limestone from his adjacent quarries in the 1820s and reconstructed by James Rendell in 1844. The Great Western Dock Company sought to develop Millbay as a deep water facility that could work in conjunction with the newly arrived railway. The company instructed Brunel to develop a comprehensive facility comprising the inner basin, part of the outer basin, the connecting lock, the graving dock and associated pump house, the outer East Quay, and necessary warehousing.

The connecting lock between both basins was re-sited further to the east of its original position between 1897 and 1902. Glasgow Quay and the now-lost south Quay were also widened on the southern seaward side at this time. The western part of the basin and the Graving Dock were both infilled in 1972, and this new ground now forms the western limit of the basin.

Despite subsequent alteration and infilling, the substantial remains of the inner basin are of national importance in the context of surviving 19th-century civil port facilities. In terms of their quality of construction, degree of survival, and confirmed attribution to I. K. Brunel, one of the great engineers of the heroic age of British engineering, they merit the statutory protection afforded to Grade II listed structures.