The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe.

In the late 17th-century the small town of Falmouth developed with shipbuilding and chandlers and the import of iron, coal, charcoal and timber, and the export of fish to the Mediterranean countries and tin.

[2] Falmouth Docks are built on the northern shore of Pendennis Point, on the estuary of the River Fal which is also known as Carrick Roads.

[1] The Grain Store built between 1860 and 1862 of killas rubble, rock-faced granite dressings and granite-coped parapet with Delabole slate roof.

In the following year the Western Breakwater collapsed and disappeared from sight, and on 11 May 1866 (on a day known as Black Friday or the Panic of 1866) the Bank of England increased interest rates to 10%.

[1] In 1882 the sea bed alongside the Eastern Pier and the Western Wharf was dredged in preparation for an anticipated increase in large steam traffic and a decrease in sail.

[6] In the early days the dock was run in a similar fashion to an industrial estate with many different individuals and organisations hiring the facilities.

The Docks, Foundry and Engineering Company (renamed Cox and Co in 1871) carried out ship-repairs and the fishing fleet from Lowestoft landed its catch on the beach.

The British and Irish Steam Packet Company ran a regular service from Dublin to London landing at Falmouth on the Eastern Breakwater.

Due to the German submarine offensive, ship-repair was of enormous strategic importance but the facilities and workforce was unable to deal with the added workload.

A London firm of ship-repairers R H Green and Silley Weir sent men to help clear the backlog and their managing director realising the potential of Falmouth bought the dockyard in 1918.