View allAll Photos Tagged funship
Duke of Lancaster, otherwise known as the Funship, a fascinating ship and story. Have a great Telegraph Tuesday, folks !
Previously photographed on a grey day , 31 December 2024, now its a bright sunny winters day in 2026.
TSS Duke of Lancaster is a former railway steamer passenger ship that operated in Europe from 1956 to 1979, and is beached at Llannerch-y-Mor Wharf near Mostyn Docks, on the River Dee, in north Wales. She replaced an earlier 3,600-ton ship of the same name operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway company between Heysham and Belfast.
Along with her sister ships the TSS Duke of Rothesay and the TSS Duke of Argyll, she was amongst the last passenger-only steamers built for British Railways.
From the mid-1960s, passenger ships such as Duke of Lancaster were gradually being superseded by car ferries. Rather than undertake the expensive option of renewing their entire fleet, British Railways instead began a part-programme of conversion. In order to maintain ferry services whilst these modifications took place, Duke of Lancaster's duties as a cruise ship ceased.. On 25 April 1970 the ship returned to service, having had her main deck rebuilt to accommodate vehicles via a rear door at her stern. The ship now provided space for 1,200 single-class passengers and 105 cars, with a total cabin accommodation for 400 passengers
Locally this ship is known as the Funship.
TSS Duke of Lancaster is a former railway steamer passenger ship that operated in Europe from 1956 to 1979, and is beached at Llannerch-y-Mor Wharf near Mostyn Docks, on the River Dee, in north Wales. She replaced an earlier 3,600-ton ship of the same name operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway company between Heysham and Belfast.
Along with her sister ships the TSS Duke of Rothesay and the TSS Duke of Argyll, she was amongst the last passenger-only steamers built for British Railways.
From the mid-1960s, passenger ships such as Duke of Lancaster were gradually being superseded by car ferries. Rather than undertake the expensive option of renewing their entire fleet, British Railways instead began a part-programme of conversion. In order to maintain ferry services whilst these modifications took place, Duke of Lancaster's duties as a cruise ship ceased.. On 25 April 1970 the ship returned to service, having had her main deck rebuilt to accommodate vehicles via a rear door at her stern. The ship now provided space for 1,200 single-class passengers and 105 cars, with a total cabin accommodation for 400 passengers
Built in 1956 at Harland and Wolff, Belfast, the ship was used mainly as a ferry from Heysham to Belfast, although also cruises to Denmark, Norway, Spain and around Britain. In 1978 it was laid up in Barrow in Furness. Then in 1979 Sold to Empirewise Ltd who intended to use her as a static Leisure Centre. She was brought into a permanent dock and surrounded by sand for the Dee Estuary and known as the Funship. After a battle with the Local Authority, the owners halted the Funship Business. After it was used as storage, it was then sold again in 2012 but never used. 2024 the vessel is known to be land-locked in North Wales in poor condition and in contention with Flintshire County Council as to its ownership and future use.
Greetings my friends. I hope your week is going well and life is being kind to you. Wishing you a happy Thursday and a good weekend. Take care and have lots of fun.
On August 10th, 1979, a former Sealink passenger ferry called 'The Duke of Lancaster' was beached at Llanerch-y-Môr in North Wales with the intention of turning it into a floating leisure and retail complex called The Fun Ship, but the project never achieved its full potential due to many long running legal disputes with the local council. All these years later the ship is still sitting there waiting to know its fate. In 2012 and 2013 a number of graffiti artists transformed the sides of the ship with works like this one (my personal favourite) by British artist Dale Grimshaw. The latest plan, I believe, is to turn the ship into the largest open air art gallery in the UK. I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed that the ship can be saved.
the SS Duke of Lancaster, permanently moored in North Wales since 1979 following many years service as a passenger ship. Graffiti artists were invited to 'do their thing' in 2012, which is when it caught my interest. Some great artwork from kiwie, dale grimshaw, snub23, spaceshop & dan kitchener.
Wish I could have got closer on either side, but deep mud, razor wire, thick brambles and a permanent security guard were all quite discouraging... I did get some shots of the superb artwork on the starboard side through gaps in the brambles so I'll post those later.
TSS Duke of Lancaster is a former railway steamer passenger ship that operated in Europe from 1956 to 1979, and is currently beached near Mostyn Docks, on the River Dee, north-east Wales. It replaced an earlier 3,600-ton ship of the same name operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway company between Heysham and Belfast.
The once proud 'Duke of Lancaster' sailed the Irish Sea routes and beyond, but now lies derelict and abandoned in North Wales.
in last row of the Mikado Theatre on the Carnival Elation there were several marble tables with some low lighting. Took this shot on the Captain's Introduction when the drinks were "on the house"...
...or is that "on the ship?"
More activity taking place on The Duke. The sound of hammers could be heard from the coast path and there are people on board and on the dock.
Dale Grimshaws artwork on the Duke Of Lancaster, Or the Fun Ship as its alternatively known.
I found the detail and textures fascinating, Consequently i made a tun of photographs :)
Explored Dec 21,2014. #192
I wondered what the story of this piece was , i found this in an interview with Dale explaining The image .....
"Grimshaw’s new work on the street goes under the working title of ‘2 Worlds.’ These large outdoor pieces portray figures from Indonesian or African tribes, in ceremonial dress, placed in alien settings, such as Western cityscapes or amusement parks. The juxtaposition of these elements is intended to emphasize the gap between these two worlds. The artist is keen to portray the strength and beauty of the tribal people and their traditional make-up and decorative elements, set against more mundane or bleak images of Western society. He poses the question about how do we measure the quality of our existence, in a world so full of cultural and financial differences? As the artists says ‘the age-old, spiritual, tribal, and organic meets the corporate monsters of the West, such as Disney, in a riot of color and intensity, but behind all these visual games is the frightening reality that dominant cultures are encroaching on every corner of the world, causing ecological and environmental vandalism."
It's really slippy and a bit risky getting round the stern of this ship. Climbing round the lethal razor wire, if you don't slip on a rock and snap your ankle you might fall on a jagged end of rusty reinforcing steel spearing skyward from a broken block of concrete. Or you might get caught by the security guard or his heavies he calls on to deal with intruders. After the last time when three men armed with sharp implements came rushing down the rocks towards us as we tried to beat a hasty retreat I was a little nervous as I struggled over the twisted rocks and debris on the high tide mark. A quick escape is not possible. But this time I had just got out round the razor wire when I heard the voices of two men. My heart skipped a beat as I saw their heads appear above the skyline as they headed towards me. And then....shock, horror, I realised one of them held a rifle at the ready! This was not going to end nicely! "Don't let them know you're scared", I told myself as I moved up the rubble towards them. Fortunately they asked me if there was anyone down 'there' and I was pleased to be able to tell them, yes, the man they wanted was still down there. They seemed keen to hurry past down to the 'intruder' as I assumed they thought he must be. Only at that point did I manage to see the rifle clearly. It was an air-rifle, and I realised I would probably survive to post my picture on flickr.
The funship moored at Mostyn, Flintshire, North Wales.
There are now calls for it to be removed as it is an "eyesore".
Probably the most photographed eyesore on the North Wales coastline....
This was taken back in 2012, there is a lot more graffiti now, the owner invited graffiti artists to come along, I think some even came from Europe...
Well I've managed to do a 52 week project. Somewhere though it seems that I might have put two images in for one week. I think next year I will have to make sure I shoot my 52 on a certain day so there shouldn't be any mistakes.
More activity taking place on The Duke. The sound of hammers could be heard from the coast path and there are people on board and on the dock.
The Duke of Lancaster arrived in Llanerch-y-Mor in August 1979 to start her new life as the Funship.
Is meant to be a ‘funship’ i.e. it has events on board, but the owners, after several legal wrangles with the council, have walked away, leaving it to rot. It is permanently docked and, from the look of it, permanently closed.
Not your normal take on this venue, but you know me i'm always looking for something different, saying that you would not want to be standing where i am now in an hours time when the tide is in, this is a typical harsh winters sun shot, lots of light and shadows, tricky to get the right exposure.
I'm quite keen to re-visit this ship very soon, its been brought back to life after being covered in intricate street art, the hull of the rusting Duke of Lancaster has been used as a blank canvas by a host of international graffiti artists,who call themselves The DuDug Collective. Mostyn on the North Wales Coast is the venue