The Old Dock, as it became known, was Liverpool's first dock, built by Thomas Steers and opened about 1715. It was filled in around 1810 and the site used for the Custom House, and later for the Law Courts. Steers is one of our most important canal engineers as he built the first summit level canal in Britain, the Newry Canal, using ground paddles, the first time they had been used in Britain. e was engineer for the Douglas Navigation, the Mersey & Irwell Navigation, was almost certainly involved with the Weaver Navigation, and surveyed the Calder & Hebble Navigation and the Boyne Navigation, besides training Henry Berry, who built the Sankey Navigation.