- home ›
- services directory ›
- sharpness docks
Sharpness Docks
Sharpness
Gloucestershire
This evocative, windswept port is where the Midland waterways meet the trade routes of the world.
At Sharpness Docks, you leave the security of the inland waterways for the vicissitudes of the Severn Estuary. This is where the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal - a ship canal, true, but an accommodating and leisure-friendly one nonetheless - finally gives up and turfs its inhabitants out into tidal waters.
The docks are a fascinating place to visit. Light on visitor facilities (there is a small picnic site, but little else besides) but with great views down the Bristol Channel towards the Severn Bridge. The dock is often busy with boats from across Europe, cargoes of a scale rarely seen elsewhere on the waterways, and an intriguing array of industrial architecture. The dry dock also attracts an interesting mix of vessels from large US Navy tugs to smaller canal boats. For the wildlife enthusiast there are plenty of birds to be seen and the dock has even been visited by a seal.
Vessels of all sizes can navigate up the Bristol Channel, through the enormous ship lock, and continue up the canal to Gloucester and a calmer part of the River Severn. But many commercial ships end their journey at Sharpness, dumping their cargo for onward transport by water or road. That said, some specialist freight and cruise ships can be seen using the canal; tall ships, Royal Navy vessels and large gravel barges being some of the more interesting sights.
For more information about Sharpness, visit local enthusiast Hugh-Conway Jones' excellent site.
Services offered:
- Leisure attraction
