Grimsby Dock Tower dominates the skyline, no matter which direction you enter the town it is viewable.

The Tower was completed in 1851.

Photograph to the left was taken from the rear of the customs building on the docks.

The red brick tower is 309 Feet High and was built as part of the lock gate hydraulic system, and grimsby was the first major dock to use hydraulic power to do this.

The local rumour is the dock tower stands on a foundation of cotton wool, which is a myth, it is actually sat on a foundation of solid masonry, which in turn is built on timber pile bearings. The myth regarding the cotton wool probably started because someone said of the trade in the Royal Dock that had its foundations on cotton. Or the import of cotton paid for the building of the tower.

The hydraulic system. When docks layout in the mid-nineteenth century was being planned a decision to use hydraulic pressure to open and shut the ten pairs of lock gates, to operate the cranes in the Royal Dock and even control railway crossing gate. To achieve this they needed a high water pressure, and a reservoir holding 30,000 gallons of water was installed inside the tower (247 feet up) giving the required 100lbs per square inch pressure.

In 1900 a new system was put in place causing the tower to be redundant, just 49 years after it was built.

The tower was designed on similar lines to the Palazzo Publico in Sienna, Italy, by the architect Mr J W Wild.

The water used in the tower was pure drinking water and not salt water as you would have expected, and due to this it also supplied drinking water to the ship trade.

Rumour has it that during World War II a plan was made to demolish the tower, as the german planes were using it as a landmark to bomb the docks of Kingston Upon Hull (Hull) on the other side of the estuary.