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HMS_Cleopatra_(1779) James Hillhouse by Nicholas Pocock — HMS Cleopatra built By James Hillhouse Ship Builders at Hotwell Dry Dock in 1779 – painting by Nicholas Pocock

GK Stotherts Clifton Marine Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Works at Hotwells late 19c advert

Stotherts Hotwell Dry Dock repairing steam boat St Davids early 1900s

Hotwell Dock (now Pooles Marina) had been built in 1765 by William Champion. Hillhouse Ship Builders were there from 1772 until c1823 when they moved to the Albion Dockyard. By the first half of the 19th Century there were numerous shipbuilding and repairing docks to the East of Hotwell Dock. Then the Poole Brothers developed the area for their coal and sand business, filling in the docks. They turned the area to the East of Hotwell Dock into a large wharf which continued operating up until the 1980s.

Pooles Wharf Entrance Hotwells Road in 2019

Pooles Wharf 1920s - RW — Pooles Wharf 1920s – Reece Winstone

River Police-formed 1844-at Pooles Sand Wharf -1970

PBAP692 1971 “Sand Gem” discharging sand from its berth in the former Stothert’s dry dock, with a gantry crane overhead.

This dock is now Pooles Wharf Marina between the Rownham Mead (foreground) and Poole’s Wharf Court (background) housing developments.