Listing verified as genuine
Posted on 18th August 2015 / 988
Site Type : Industrial Heritage Sites / Organisation
Category : Maritime / Crane / Maritime / Dock / Maritime / Maritime / Maritime - other / Maritime / Ship / Vessel
Location : England / South West England / England / South West England / Bristol Area / England
Industry Type : Maritime, Transport
Power Type : Steam, Wind
Public or Private Site? : Public Access
Condition : Restored, Partially Restored

When launched in 1843 she was by far the largest vessel afloat.

She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with an iron hull, a propeller and sails (the belt and braces approach) to be a trans-Atlantic passenger liner.

For a while things went well, but in 1846 she went a cropper in Dundrum Bay – an expensive navigational error. She was sold in 1852 and given a new life carrying immigrants to Australia, until converted to sail in 1881. But in 1884 she was retired in the Falkland Islands, where she was used as a quarantine ship, a warehouse, and coal hulk until she was deliberately sunk in 1937!

Thankfully, that wasn’t to be her fate and a large donation by Sir Jack Hayward saw her returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was built.

The ship can be viewed from nearly all angles and has been brilliantly restored.

Find all the juicy detail on Wikipedia HERE and visitor information HERE!

Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Rd, Bristol BS1 6TY.

SS Great Britain

When launched in 1843 she was by far the largest vessel afloat.

She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with an iron hull, a propeller and sails (the belt and braces approach) to be a trans-Atlantic passenger liner.

For a while things went well, but in 1846 she went a cropper in Dundrum Bay – an expensive navigational error. She was sold in 1852 and given a new life carrying immigrants to Australia, until converted to sail in 1881. But in 1884 she was retired in the Falkland Islands, where she was used as a quarantine ship, a warehouse, and coal hulk until she was deliberately sunk in 1937!

Thankfully, that wasn’t to be her fate and a large donation by Sir Jack Hayward saw her returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was built.

The ship can be viewed from nearly all angles and has been brilliantly restored.

Find all the juicy detail on Wikipedia HERE and visitor information HERE!

Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Rd, Bristol BS1 6TY.

SS Great Britain
Site Type : Industrial Heritage Sites / Organisation
Category : Maritime / Crane / Maritime / Dock / Maritime / Maritime / Maritime - other / Maritime / Ship / Vessel
Location : England / South West England / England / South West England / Bristol Area / England
Industry Type : Maritime, Transport
Power Type : Steam, Wind
Public or Private Site? : Public Access
Condition : Restored, Partially Restored
Features
Reviews
There are no reviews yet, why not be the first?
Leave a Review
You must be to post a review.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Search by Location or Industry
    CLOSE
    SEARCHRESET
    Featured Sites
    Please donate!
    GooseyGoo
    Related Listings
    Calderdale Industrial Museum has 4 floors containing a complete collection of industrial machinery. It even has a beam engine! Gathered together over a number of years this special collection represents a wide cross section of industry that operated in and around Calderdale. Some of the machines are the only surviving examples in the country and…
    Cockington Watermill has a gorgeous overshot water wheel. It was formerly known as “Water Mill to Granary, Cockington Lane” – hmmm, catchy! Anyway, the wheel at Cockington Watermill is dated 1878, but is suspected to have older origins. The cast-iron wheel has the founders’ mark; H Beare and Sons, Newton Abbot, 1878. It probably ground…
    Double Locks are the longest in the country! It is situated on the Exeter Ship Canal, which was built in the 1560s, so pre-dates the “canal mania” period and is therefore one of the oldest artificial waterways in the UK! Exeter Ship Canal was opened in 1566, built to bypass weirs that had been erected…
    Sunderland Maritime Heritage is dedicated to preserving the shipbuilding skills and history of the City of Sunderland. You can immerse yourself in all things maritime and learn about Shelties and Navy Cutters. You can see the 1/10th scale model of H.M.S Venerable – the ship which Sunderland sailor Jack Crawford served aboard during the Battle…
    Fulwell Mill is a grade II* listed tower mill. It is the only working tower mill in the North East! There has been a windmill on this site for some time and Fulwell Mill wasn’t the first! An earlier mill is evidenced on a map dated 1785.  Fulwell Mill was built in the early 1800s for…
    Durham Mining Museum is dedicated to the work and lives lost during the mining period across County Durham. The museum has 3 display areas, manned by volunteers, many of whom have worked underground. Two of the display areas contain the smaller items of mining artefacts and models of larger machines collected or donated to the…
    Being Brunel is a new museum beside Bristol’s Floating Harbour. Visitors are invited to step into the mind of Isambard Kingdom Brunel as he is brought vividly to life with never-before-seen personal possessions, documents and artefacts. Brunel’s inventive genius is celebrated at Being Brunel, and the personality behind the icon explored. The new museum will…
    The Manx Electric Railway has been running since 1893 along the eastern coast of the Isle of Man. The majority of Victorian & Edwardian infrastructure and rolling stock is still in use! The Manx Electric Railway is an electric tramway that connects Douglas, Laxey and Ramsey on the Isle of Man. It connects with the…
    The Snaefell Mountain Railway is a unique Victorian enterprise which winds its way up 2,000 feet to the top of Snaefell. It’s the only place in the British Isles where you can see 7 kingdoms – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Heaven, Mann and the Sea – just by turning around! The Snaefell Railway was built…
    The Groudle Glen Railway is a 2 ft narrow gauge railway north of Douglas in the Isle of Man. It is owned and operated by a small group of enthusiastic volunteers and operates on summer Sundays. The line was built in the late Victorian era in response to increasing demand for transportation down Groudle Glen…
    The Isle of Man Steam Railway is the longest narrow gauge steam line in Britain that still uses its original locomotives and carriages. The 3 ft narrow gauge railway was opened in 1874 and runs through the Island’s charming countryside between the Island’s capital and a range of destinations in the south. Originally the southern…
    At the Dent Museum and Heritage Centre you will learn about the working lives and social customs of the Dales folk who inhabited this beautiful area in times past. The centre was designed and built entirely by local labour; they beautifully converted and extended the former  filling-station for Dent town. Most of the exhibits are…
    The Jet Age Museum is thrilling and it’s FREE! The jet engine was designed by British engineering genius Sir Frank Whittle (1907–1996) and his son, Ian, is a patron of Jet Age Museum. Jet Age is the museum of Gloucestershire aviation, a museum of local history, based on Meteor Business Park on Cheltenham Road East…
    Bideford Railway Heritage Centre is located at the old Bideford Station. The same group manage the delightful Instow Signal Box – both on the former railway line from Barnstaple to Bideford in North Devon, now part of the popular Tarka Trail! North Devon’s first railway was a goods line operated by horses and was 30 miles…
    Clyston Watermill is a working watermill nestled by the River Clyst on the Killerton estate. It is one of the South West’s last remaining working watermills! Killerton House and Garden are now run by the National Trust and at the Clyston Watermill you can get a feel for life on Killerton’s wider estate. Step into…
    Cricklepit Mill is the only surviving water-mill in Exeter. A mill was originally granted on this site circa 1180! After the Norman invasion, the Earls of Devon took possession of Exe Island and Shilhay and it was sometime between 1180 and 1190 that Robert Courtenay granted Nicholas Gervaise the right to construct a mill.  Cricklepit Mill…
    Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker, is one of the most complete surviving examples of a twine making site in England – with its original Victorian machinery! Dawe’s Twineworks has origins dating back over 600 years. It was built in 1895 on the site of an earlier rope or twine walk and closed in 1968. Its machinery…
    Market Lane Mill is also known as Kings Garth Mill. Instead of grinding corn there, you can now buy a pint there! It stands in the centre of town overlooking Market Lane, sitting right on top of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground. It was a 6-sailed, 8-storeyed mill and it is rumoured that one of the…
    Poole Museum covers everything Maritime! Entrance to Poole Museum is free and is, reportedly, the 5th most visited free attraction in the South West! Set in a Victorian quayside warehouse with a modern atrium, Poole Museum’s galleries tell the story of the historic maritime town of Poole and Poole Harbour from prehistory to the 21st…
    Devon Railway Centre is the place for family fun! It is located on the site of Bickleigh station, which was built in 1885 by the South Devon Railway. The line closed in 1963 and the station was boarded up. Thankfully, Devon Railway Centre took over and in 1997, restoration began and now the station houses…