The accommodation for discharging, lairing, slaughtering and storing at the foreign animals' wharfs, Birkenhead / by Francis Vacher.

  • Vacher, Francis, 1843-1914.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The accommodation for discharging, lairing, slaughtering and storing at the foreign animals' wharfs, Birkenhead / by Francis Vacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    m 4 oOO feet by 80 feet, and the one situated between the lali- age and the dock has been fitted for the slaughter of pigs and sheep. These extra slaughter-liouses were built in the summer of 1879, each measuring 40 feet by 32 feet, and shortly after three meat stores, each 50 feet by 32 feet, were added. The roof over the slaughter-houses and stores is continuous, and rails are laid in the twelve feet way between, so that meat trucks can be loaded under cover. Rails have also been laid for loading from the Avooden slaughter-house; and there are lines in the rear of the sheds on the quay. Hay stores, fat and hide sheds, offices, &c., sufficient for the accommodation of all engaged at the wharf, have been added. A large part of the deck of the Wallasey stage has been fenced off for the exclusive use of cattle arriving from infected countries, and a passage from this part of the stage to the lairs has been fenced off and ])aved. The length of this passage is 1,550 feet. An area of about 30,000 square yards has been appropriated to the cattle trade at Wallasey. More recently the large sheds on the north side of the dock have been divided into pens for sheep and pigs, and special provision for slaughtering sheep has been made. A large shed at the south side of the dock, capable of holding 342 head of cattle, has been fitted for animals arriving from countries free from disease, and a passage from the south bridge of the Wallasey stage to this shed has been fenced in. A second shed, lying next this, is also used for animals, and divided into pens, as occasion requires, by means of moveable hurdles. Lairs, very similar to those at Wallasey, but separateil into tAvo compartments instead of four, have been built at Woodside. A loading staith of six pens Avas made in con- nection Avith them, and a small branch line, the lairs being first intended for cattle from countries free fi’Oin disease. Owing to the growth of the American trade it aa'Us deemed expedient to have a Foreign Animals’ Wharf at Woodside also, and the consent of the Privy Council Avas obtained. Accordingly a portion of the lairage Avas set apart as a temporai’y slaughter-house, and the construction of six [)ermanent slaughter-houses, Avlth corresponding meat stores, Avas at once proceeded with. The permanent slaughter-houses Avere in use in August, 1879, and all the buildings, Avith hay sheds, offices, &c., Avere completed by the end of the year. Branch lines of raihvay Avere also laid doAvn the covered AA^ay between the slaughter-houses and the meat stores. Each of the tAvo compartments of the lairs measures 190 It. by 130 ft.