St George's Quay, with its picturesque converted warehouses and Georgian Customs House, was the port of Lancaster in the early 18th century when trade with the Caribbean and the American colonies was booming. Note how narrow the River Lune is here: access to the port was restricted by shoals a short distance below the quay. The Customs House now houses the Lancaster Maritime Museum, containing a wide range of exhibits on the town's seafaring activities.
The old Lancaster to Glasson Dock Branch Line — whose disused trackbed has been converted into a footpath and cycle track — was opened in 1883, closed to passenger traffic in 1930, and to freight in the 1950s. Little remains of the modest wooden station buildings at Glasson Dock, but traces of the halt at Aldcliffe (the private wooden platform serving Ashton Hall) and the crossing keeper's cottage at Conder Green can still be seen.
The raised sections of the railway provide good vantage points for watching birds in the Lune Estuary, and trackside hedges and scrub provide cover. The best viewing is an hour or so either side of high tide: a range of seabirds, wildfowl, and waders can be seen, particularly rewarding during spring and autumn migration periods when waders such as ruff, little stint, common greenshank, and godwit can be spotted, alongside other birds in the woods around Ashton Hall and hedgerows along the old railway track.
The woodlands east of the railway surround Ashton Hall, a 14th-century red sandstone tower house with a grey stone addition in the mid-19th century (adjoining the hall are a Jacobean gateway and stables). In 1884 the hall and its estate were bought by James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton, whose linoleum works beside the Lune west of Lancaster were Lancaster's largest industry in the early 20th century and provided much of the traffic for the branch line.
Glasson Dock was planned in 1779 as an outport for Lancaster. Although it had been one of the busiest ports in England in the mid-18th century, the shallowness of the Lune Estuary and a rock bar below St George's Quay prevented large vessels from reaching the town.
Glasson Dock opened in 1787 and is accessible for only about one hour at high tide. In 1826 the dock was connected to the Lancaster Canal by a short branch with six locks, and a canal basin was built adjoining the dock and connected to it by a lock so small coasters could enter the canal.
Though Glasson Dock failed to revive Lancaster's failing fortunes as a port, it still handles a variety of cargoes, and many features survive from its late 18th- and early 19th-century heyday. On the south side of the harbour you can see the entrance gates to the former graving dock (now filled in), while the Georgian Customs House and many surrounding buildings date from the period.
Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.
