Since the construction of the Cross Keys Bridge and embankment, and then the arrival of the railways, the main event in the history of Sutton Bridge was the construction (soon followed by the collapse) of the dock. The instigator of the project was George Frederick Young of Osborne House, Wisbech, who in 1875 secured the Act of Parliament creating the Sutton Bridge Dock Company. The first ship entered the dock on 14 May 1881. However, because the dock was built on quick silt, it started to collapse in 1882, and shipping was diverted until the dock was repaired. But by 1899, no satisfactory plans for repair had been devised, and so the dock was never repaired. In the dock area were dock chambers (offices), a hydraulic engine house, a wooden warehouse, a coil hoist, a slope for unloading timber and an acid plant (1913-18). A short length of railway conencted the dock buildings to the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line between Spalding and King's Lynn, to the immediate west of Sutton Bridge station. {1}{2}{3}{4}