thumb|right|upright=1.25|Manchester Dock 9 (top left) at the beginning of the 20th century. Dock 8 is to the right, and the ship canal is in the foreground.
Manchester docks were nine docks in Salford, Stretford and Manchester, at the eastern end of the Manchester Ship Canal in North West England, which formed part of the Port of Manchester from 1894 until their closure in 1982. They marked the upper reaches of the ship canal, and were a destination for both coastal and ocean-bound vessels carrying cargo and passengers, often travelling to and from Canada.
Manchester docks were divided into two sections; the larger Salford docks to the west of the Trafford Road swing bridge and Pomona docks to the east. Each section consisted of four docks in total, the largest being to the west; Dock 5 at Pomona was never fully completed. Of the eight working docks only one, Dock 1 at Pomona, was within Manchester itself. Salford City Council bought the docks in 1984 using a derelict land grant and their redevelopment as Salford Quays began 1985, transforming the area for commercial, residential and leisure use.
- Dock 9 is the largest of the docks and was the site of the Manchester Liners container service to Montreal, Quebec. Today the upper reaches contain cleaned water and have been cut off from their former connection to the ship canal. This cleaned water is accessed from Dock 8 via a new canal through Pier 8, while the lower section remains open to ship canal traffic. This dock was the last to be constructed, built on the former New Barnes site of Manchester Racecourse, and opened in the early years of the 20th century.
- Dock 8 remains largely intact, although its entrance to the ship canal has been made considerably narrower. It is now accessed through a lock beneath a pedestrian drawbridge, which is used as a buffer to separate the cleaned water of docks 7, 8 and 9 from the relatively untreated water of the ship canal. This is the only route into the redeveloped basins of docks 9 and 7. The lock and drawbridge are mechanised and controlled from the Salford Quays Operations Tower.
- Dock 7 has been cut off from the ship canal and divided into a series of small basins, linking Piers 6 and 7 by road and pedestrian footbridges. The basins provide a habitat for wildlife and the introduced fish stock. Access is again from Dock 8, at its north eastern end.
- Dock 6 is retained in largely its original configuration.
The smaller basins into which the docks have been divided are all named after North American lakes, reflecting the area's strong trading links the docks had with North America. named after the Roman goddess Pomona. The swinging roadbridge separating Salford Quays from Pomona docks is now permanently closed, and only small pleasure craft can pass under it into Pomona docks. The gardens gave their name to a public house at Cornbrook. The area is served by the Pomona tram stop on the Manchester Metrolink.
See also
- River Irwell