TSS Duke of Lancaster: The Abandoned Funship

TSS Duke of Lancaster (A.K.A Mostyn Funship) is currently docked at Llanerch-y-Mor Dock in Mostyn, North Wales.

Post code: CH8 9DT

The TSS Duke of Lancaster history

The Duke of Lancaster was a former railway steamer passenger ship that operated from 1956 to 1979, before being docked at Llanerch-y-Mor Dock, in August 1979. The plan, once docked, was for the ship to become ‘The Funship’, that did open until 1984. However, due to a legal battle with the council the owners eventually felt they had no choice but to walk away from the ship in 2004, and it has been sat there ever since. Apparently, the main issue to ‘Mostyn Fun Ship’ operating was the access to the ship for emergency services. The road leading up to the ship is extremely tight and the other access points have low bridges that unfortunately wouldn’t allow emergency services through.

The former ‘Mostyn Funship’

The Fun Ship used to have bars, arcade rooms, a cinema, restaurants and apparently it even had a zoo! As you can probably imagine, it was one of the most popular attractions in North Wales back in it’s prime. Though, since 2021 there has been talks of restoring the ship, to become open to the public again in some form. In the meantime, you can visit and walk around the nearby area of the ship to see how big it really is!

Where to park to visit TSS The Duke of Lancaster

The post code for the ship (CH8 9DT) will take you on the narrow, gravel road. This leads straight to the ship. Then you will have to walk down a path on one side of the ship, to the main road. Then, back up the other side of the river, to get a good view of the ship. However, there is a car park at Abakhan Stores (CH8 9DX) that brings you out further along the same path. This makes it a shorter walk to the other side of the ship. There are also toilet facilities, a cafe, shops and a play park for children here.

For more things to do in this area visit our 3-day itinerary in Prestatyn blog.

Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed it and found somewhere new to explore! If you have been here, let us know in the comments, we would love to hear from you. 🙂

Lu & Ad x