THE DOCKS

See Also: DEVELOPMENTS Canary Wharf; DISTRICT CHANGE; THE EAST END; NAUTICAL; THE THAMES

Decline and Containerisation

In the mid-1960s containerisation hastened the decline of London as a port. The enclosed docks were both too shallow and too small to handle the new larger ships, Tilbury was the only part of the system that continued to thrive. In 1992 the government compelled the Port of London Authority to sell the facility. This ended the body's facet as a dock owner and operator.

See Also: DEVELOPMENTS Canary Wharf; THE HYENA HUNTERS OF SOUTHWARK

Dockers

The London dockers were referred to their Tilbury brethren as gentleman dockers and carrot crunchers .

At the Den, the men who worked in the different docks stood together with their children, the Surrey Docks dockers were behind the home goal. As the docks declined the portions of the ground were occupied by the descendants of the dockers.

The light-fingered temperament of some dockers led to them being termed the Wonder Boys . This was because they wondered what was in that box .

The way in which dockers emptied a warehouse, was the same way in which a field of grain was harvested, from the outside inwards. The final central mass would contain the rats. These were killed.

Docklands History Group

Docklands History Group

Website: www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk

Funereal Respect

In 1965 the dock cranes dipped their arms as Winston Churchill's funeral cortege sailed up the river.

See Also: WINSTON CHURCHILL

The London Gateway

The London Gateway superport is located on the Thames estuary, ten miles east of the M25. The facility opened in 2014. It is capable of handling triple-E class vessels. These ships can carry over 18,000 standard containers and weigh up to 115,000-tons fully loaded. They are a quarter of a mile in length. It was developed by the Dubai government.

Location: 1 London Gateway, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, SS17 9DY

Website: www.londongateway.com

The Museum of London Docklands

The Museum of London Docklands has a collection of artefacts that is focused on docklands and the River Thames. It opened in 2003 in a former sugar warehouse. It is a satellite institution of The Museum of London. The core of its collection is the Port of London Authority's archives, which its parent acquired in 1976.

The Museum is housed in the remnant of what was the largest brick building in the world at the time of its construction. It was a kilometre-long. Three-quarters of it was destroyed in the Blitz

Location: 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, E14 4AL

See Also: MUSEUMS The Museum of London; THE THAMES Warehouses

Website: www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands

The Port of London Authority

The Port of London Authority was set up in 1908 as the government's response to the vicious competition between the businesses that owned the enclosed docks along the Thames.¹ The following year the docks were taken into state ownership through the agency of the Authority.

Location: The Port of London Authority Building, 10 Trinity Square, EC3N 4AJ. In 1976 an insurance business took over the building that had served as the Authority's home during its pomp. (orange, white)

See Also: THE THAMES The Port of London Authority

Website: www.pla.co.uk

¹. This aggressiveness had accentuated the mutual antagonism in the relations between the owners and the dockers.

The Walled Docks

Before the walled docks were built vessels often had to wait for weeks in the Pool of London. During this time they were easy prey for criminal gangs, many of which operated in collusion with members of the ships crews. A commercial drive for a secure form of trans-shipment led to the development of a goods-orientated system of walled docks. This started to be constructed by the Tower of London. The majority of the docks were sited to the north of the Thames. Initially, they tended to specialise in importing items from particular global regions.

The docks expanded eastwards because they made economic sense - the land was cheaper. Even so, to a large degree their development was bound up with the general state of the national economy, with no new ones being constructed during economic downturns. By the 1880s the system extended out to Tilbury in Essex.

See Also: THE POLICE The River Police; THE THAMES The Pool of London; THE THAMES Wharves; WALLS & GATEWAYS

St Katharine's Dock

A spate of dock building commenced as Britain hit the high-water mark of the Industrial Revolution (1830-70). St Katharine s Dock (1828) was built in the mid-1820s by Thomas Telford on the site of St Katharine's Hospital.¹ The dock specialised in luxury materials and goods. In 1864 the ownership St Katharine's Dock was amalgamated with that of London Docks.

St Katharine's Dock closed in 1968. The following year the Port of London sold the 25-acre St Katharine's Docks complex to the Greater London Council. Subsequently, the Council steered the complex's development into being both a commercial and a residential area. This approach preserved many of the facility's original features. In 2004 Taylor Woodrow sold St Katharine's Dock.

Location: St Katharine's Way, E1W 1LA (orange, red)

See Also: BUILDING MATERIALS Excavation Spoil; PHILANTHROPY The Royal Foundation of St Katharine

Website: www.skdocks.co.uk

¹. Originally, St Katharine's Hospital had been a philanthropic establishment under the protection of the Queens of England. However, with time its buildings and grounds of which had gradually turned into a crowded slum. The construction of St Katharine's Dock commenced at a time when there happened not to be a Queen of England to look after the Hospital's interests.

West India Docks

The slaveowner Robert Milligan was a leading figure in the creation of West India Docks. A statue of him stood in front of the Museum of London Docklands. In 2020 George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. Subsequently, there were Black Lives Matter protest in Britain. The Museum took down the figure.

Location: 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, E14 4AL

David Backhouse 2024