Old Quay Yard. This area was originally important because of the 'Sprinch', a brook that was the town's water supply. It flowed into the River Mersey near this spot. The original ferry service, which began in 1178, operated from this area to Woodend in Widnes. Ship building here since at least 1802, with facilities owned by, amongst others, Johnson Bros., Speakman & Sons, Stubbs, and perhaps most famously, Dennis Brundrit who once lived in South Bank House on Lord Street. Shipbuilding ended here in the 1890s with the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, but ship repair and boat building continued until 2003. Today the site of The Deck residential complex.