To the LONDON DOCKLANDS alongside the THAMES PATH

East of TOWER BRIDGE, DOCKLANDS territory, North and South of the river

On the map: the ST. KATHARINE DOCKS, immediately to the East of the TOWER, from where I suggest you begin the route that will take you in an Eastward direction following the North bank of the THAMES

The port: trade… money!

London was founded by the Romans as a military and trade colony and, precisely, you are going to leave behind that old LONDINIUM, which would become a very powerful trade centre. They knew what they were doing, those Romans: their ships, replete with wares could sail from London to Central Europe along the THAMES and the RHIN. What a waterway!.

The port grew, and London’s prosperity depending on it. Thus, depending on the THAMES.
BILLINGSGATE and QUENSHITHE became the main quays. They were the LEGAL DOCKS. Then, SUFFERANCE WHARVES were set up to help cope with growing trade.

Finally, ENCLOSED DOCKS had to be built. The huge trade needed them (more ships, more cargos were arriving in London). And security: pilfering had increased on ships moored on the THAMES. Now you understand the reason why the dock companies built those (still surviving) high walls of the dock complexes. And, a final consideration: there is no tidal water inside those docks, which meant more time to load/unload cargoes.

The new ENCLOSED DOCKS were developed by private companies. The first commercial dock was the HOWLAND GREAT DOCK (1696), now the GREENLAND DOCK, in ROTHERHITHE. The last one, the KING GEORGE V, in 1922.

The PORT OF LONDON became the most active port in the world, until the first decades of the 20th c. By then, other ports were growing, while Britain’s trade declined.

NAZI GERMANY attempted to disable Britain’s economy by bombing the port infrastructures , and the industrial sites that accompanied them. And the poor population who lived nearby (the fact that part of the population was JEWISH, might have reinforced the campaign). 57 consecutive nights of incendiariesraining down over the EAST END.

After the War, decline and containerisation sealed the fate of the London harbour.

However, port, shipping and trade have left an important legacy in London: an expertise in financing trade, in chartering and in shipping insurance. Thence the primacy in London as a financial hub and the base of the largest insurance market (LLOYD’S OF LONDON). You are leaving that behind. LONDINIUM is now the CITY OF LONDON.

Before containerisation. Dockers and cranes

The Battle for DOCKLANDS video

Video history

The DLR, a new light railway network was created from the 1980s to serve the DOCKLANDS. Now it is a fantastic way to reach all corners of the DOCKLANDS. Sit down in the front seat (the driver’s seat) of the first carriage, and you are going to enjoy the experience!

You are going to explore the old fishing villages, which became port districts of the East End, along the river. Neighbourhoods that, once the PORT OF LONDON ceased operations, between the 60s and 80s, had to be redeveloped, rebuilt and old buildings restored and converted... And the DOCKLANDS were created.
The institution that led this task was the LONDON DOCKLANDS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, which enjoyed absolute jurisdiction over this huge area for about 20 years. Municipal governments regained their powers at the beginning of the 21st century.

This type of governmental body is being used in other parts of the U.K, and in London the LONDON OLYMPICS LEGACY COMPANY is now operative in and around the precinct of the OLYMPIC PARK.

THREE COLT STREET, LIMEHOUSE

A building that still shows the LOGO of the LDDC, in its weathervane The maritime theme of the escutcheon on the pediment of the door shows that it had a previous use related to navigation

All the main enclosed docks of the PORT OF LONDON before regeneration. This guide refers to those on the North bank of the THAMES. Photo: D. HENDERSON

WHARVES. You have not seen the word WHARF spelled so many times!

More information about the Port of London and trade

Lon Mus Dock

Royal Mar Mus, Greenw

Tower Br

The THAMES PATH: Walking or cycling from the TOWER OF LONDON to POPLAR

WAPPING

Walking Wapping riverfront

To ST.KATHARINE DOCKS

If you find yourself at the TOWER OF LONDON, you are almost in WAPPING. You just have to leave the precinct of the firmer LIBERTY the TOWER (H.M. PALACE AND FORTRESS, used to be a LIBERTY, a separate jurisdiction, neither part of the City, nor part of any other Borough), through the arch that passes under TOWER BRIDGE.
A little secret: as you are passing, to your left, a former guards room (now, a restaurant), and as the soldiers needed some sort of heating… that explains why, on top of the bridge you will see a lamp post without the lamp. It is a chimney, in fact!.

After the arch, behind the ice cream van, you are going to find one the marks of the boundaries of the LIBERTY OF THE TOWER. By the way, one day you might be able to watch the BEATING OF THE BOUNDS ceremony.

To your right, instead, the DEAD’S MAN HOLE was the quay officially designed to recover bodies found in the Thames.
And now you are entering the LIBERTY OF ST.KATHARINE-BY-THE TOWER. Well, again, in the old times. Nowadays you are entering a different district, belonging to a different London Borough or municipality. Welcome to WAPPING, and to TOWER HAMLETS. Precisely, those hamlets which, in case of war, had to contribute with men and arms to the defence of London, from the TOWER.

You are now in ST. KATHARINE DOCKS. A closed, inland system of basins 2 in total) and warehouses (as well as locks, bridges, cranes...) built in the 1820s, which allowed the necessary expansion and improvement of the port. IVORY HOUSE is the only surviving warehouse.
Nowadays, since 1977, the basins are host to leisure and historical ships and the warehouses which used to hold valuable cargos, have been converted into apartments and, as well, contemporary housing and offices have been built over the years . And an awful building, a hotel.

You will find a few restaurants and cafés on the North side of the basins . And, to the an east, the DICKENS INN pub, which looks like a real 16th coaching inn, as it was built with recycled ancient timbers.
This was the first chapter of the reinvention of the old docks… of the creation of the LONDON DOCKLANDS. Before the LDDC.
Opposite the hotel river façade, on the river front, you can drink and eat on the terraces. And enjoy two sculptures, GIRL WITH A DOLPHIN, by DAVID WYNNE and TIMEPIECE by WENDY TAYLOR(who has a workshop in BROMLEY-BY-BOW).

ST.KATHARINE was made a Christian saint as she was martyred tied to a wheel of fire. That is precisely what you can see represented in bollards and lampposts

ST.KATHARINE’s FOUNDATION‘s former HQ, REGENT’S PARK. The JELLING STONE. From DOCKLANDS the REGENT’S CANAL takes you there

The DANISH CHURCH, in REGENT’S PARK

This place has its origins in the 12th century when QUEEN MATILDA founded a priory, ST.KATHARINE-BY-THE-TOWER, which remained here all these centuries (it even survived the DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES of Henry VIII, thanks to the patronage of all English and British Queens. CATHERINE OF ARAGON, even after her demise as a Queen was allowed to patronise the institution, but when CAROLINE, the repudiated wife of GEORGE IV died the King authorised the eviction).

In due course, a village (rather a SLUM) grew around it, until THOMAS TELFORD, the company's engineer, designed the docks and the architect PHILIP HARDWICK built the warehouses, in its place and that you now see and enjoy, as a marina. These DOCKS opened in 1828

The monastic community moved to REGENT'S PARK. But, now, the church of ST.KATHARINE there has become the Danish church, since the institution, reformed, is located in LIMEHOUSE>>>>, again in the port area. You can visit it later on.

And, by the way, the poor slum dwellers were evicted and nobody heard about them anymore…

That round, domed building -the CORONARIUM- was, in fact, designed as a chapel, as attested by the plaque from 1977 (JUBILEE Year), when Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the converted docks. Now you can enjoy a nice drink there, in the AZIMUT CAFÉ . After your enjoying your cocktail you will find a large piece of acrylic on the wall of the hotel… This large lump was commissioned (and finally not used) by STANLEY KUBRICK for his film “2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY“.

The reason for erecting a modern chapel here was to commemorate that for centuries the priory church was located precisely in this site.

Don't miss lVORY HOUSE either, the large pre-Victorian warehouse, supported by enormous cast iron columns, now with its restaurants and cafes. IVORY was one of the most valuable products kept here. In fact, if you leave the enclosure through the North gate (EAST SMITHFIELD) you will see the statues of two elephants on the gate pillars.

Carry on exploring the old docks: the LOCK is a working one, and on the old wall you will find a plaque explaining how a lock works. Another plaque commemorates the opening of new improvement works in 1988 by QUEEN BEATRIX OF THE NEDERLANDS. Remember 1688, when the DUTCH PRINCE, WILLIAM, and a STUART, MARY, became joint monarchs of England and Scotland. They had to sign the BILL OF RIGHTS, though, becoming thus the first monarchs who ruled with a limited power, in favour of Parliament. This episode, after the eviction of the absolutist and Catholic King JAMES II, was the GLORIOUS REVOLUTION. 1688: three centuries of peace between the Dutch and the English; can you imagine a military attack of England by the Dutch?.

The LONDON DOCKS

The only surviving DOCKS is the now called SHADWELL BASIN and the TOBACCO

PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY. Former HQ. in the CITY OF LONDON. Now a FOUR SEASONS hotel

POSEIDON. Statue on the former PLA ‘s HQ

PLA vessel

Then you will continue walking along ST.KATHARINE'S WAY. And you will see old warehouses, new apartment blocks, imitating the shape of old warehouses and even social housing built by the LCC (MATILDA HOUSE).
An anecdote: the modern but traditionally-shaped building that you are passing by , to your right, bearing the HMS PRESIDENT name on the plaque, is a "stone frigate" that houses a ROYAL NAVY reserve headquarters. A stone ship!... a ship! You still don't believe it. Well that's right, that's the name given by the Royal Navy to the buildings that have naval functions. HMS means HIS MAJESTY’S SHIP as in “HMS BELFAST”, the battle ship which you have probably already seen, moored on the South bank..

You are leaving the HERMITAGE BASIN, the small dock on the left, behind . You can see the high walls (remember the security reasons) and the entrance of the former LONDON DOCKS precinct, and a building, with the emblem of the PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY, which was a water pumping plant, with the function of maintaining the water level in the basins.

The LONDON DOCKS was a dock system originally built and operated by a different, independent company, but later merged with the ST.KATHARINE DOCKS company. At one stage, the new company even owned the ROYAL GROUP OF DOCKS>>>> (in the LONDON BOROUGH OF NEWHAM>>>>).

Finally, all the private companies were nationalised in 1909, forming the PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY, at a time when the it was the largest and the most active in the world.
(in only a few years it would be overtaken as the largest port in the world by NEW YORK).

You still will see some launches or other vessels on the river belonging to the P.L.A., which still has jurisdiction over the tidal river.

By the way, the PLA is now based in GRAVESEND. And the main container port is the LONDON GATEWAY, in THURROCK, 30 miles East of CHARING CROSS.

You are going to see this PLA emblem in a few buildings during your DOCKLANDS visit

The current port

To SHADWELL: “Inside” the WESTERN DOCK. Or along the THAMES PATH

Map, ornamental channel

HERMITAGE BASIN before redevelopment . Photo from LONDON’S DOCKS

Small artwork in the HERMITAGE BASIN

Bust of JOHN RENNIE, engineer of the LONDON DOCKS, on the site of the former lock

FORTRESS WAPPING & RUPERT MURDOCH.

Photos from THE GUARDIAN

The simplest way is carrying on the THAMES PATH, but I have a possible detour for you, taking you more directly to SHADWELL:

If you enter the HERMITAGE BASIN (admire the sculpture ROPE CIRCLE, by WENDY ANN TAYLOR) and continue straight, then to the left, you will go down the stairs to the current water level of an ornamental canal. Believe you me, you are INSIDE of what used to be a huge dock, the WESTERN BASIN —you can see the granite edge of it and the mooring bollards. You can see,as well, the water lever marks under the modern bridge — and if you follow the ornamental canal you will get to the SHADWELL BASIN>>>> (after crossing another former basin, the EASTERN DOCK, that has been converted into the SHADWELL WOOD). At the first bend, you will see on your right the site where the lock was located (stairs and a BUST OF JOHN RENNIE, engineer of the LONDON DOCKS) and, after the second bend, the TOBACCO DOCK, the old warehouses which became a (failed) shopping centre, in the 80s and 90s, and, nowadays, creative workshops and events space>>>>. The two replica ships were intended as a children’s playing grounds.

Now, as you can see, the whole area around here is mostly residential, including the site of former basin which has been filled in.

However, the North half of the WESTERN BASIN, became the site, between the 1980s and the 2000s of the editorial offices and the printing presses of NEWS INTERNATIONAL (now, NEWS UK, based in BERMONDSEY, beside the SHARD. What was known as “FORTRESS WAPPING”, of infamous souvenir. The former printing and editorial complex has become a luxury residential quarter.

SHADWELL BASSIN is 5 min. away, after the TOBACCO DOCK.

If you decide to follow the THAMES PATH, alongside the streets and, sometimes, right on the river embankment, the HERMITAGE MEMORIAL GARDENS offer good views towards BUTLERS WHARF, the converted warehouse complex on the South bank, in the district of BERMONDSEY. Visit it, if you can, you will find good restaurants and cafés along SHAD THAMES.

In the GARDENS , the frame of the dove is the MEMORIAL TO THE EAST END VICTIMS OF THE BLITZ. The East End of London was one of the worst bombed areas during the BLITZ, because the of its key factories and its port.
Look at the moored boats. Precisely in this small "floating town" lived JO COX, a British parliamentarian, who was murdered in 2016.

The EAST END VICTIMS of the BLITZ MEMORIAL

VIEW from the shore, near WAPPING OLD STAIRS, towards the SHARD and GUY’S HOSPITAL

Alongside WAPPING LANE, after WAPPING LONDON OVERGROUND STA

Photo from THE GUARDIAN

The former lock, on the site where you are now

TOWN OF RAMSGATE PH. The oldest waterside inn?

You keep going East, sometimes right along the embankment, if you wish and if allowed. You will see another WENDY ANN TAYLOR artwork. A good fish restaurant, SMITH’S.

This is the HIGH STREET of WAPPING. A few decades ago, this must have been a very busy place. 100 years 36 or so taverns and inns lined the street, and other types of entertainment for sailors, and shops, especially sailors’ victualers, and other trades to seafaring. And lodging houses. Already in the 16th c. JOHN STOW, the historian, described it as a continual street, or a “filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages”. And, according to PEPYS, the seamen living or staying here caused some disturbances… PEPYS explains everything about life in London in his DIARY, but the truth is that he was in these port areas in business, as he held hight office in the ADMIRALTY.
Anyway, this was like a village, where boatbuilders, sailmakers and other trades related were predominant.

You will also pass, WAPPING PIER. Now, you see some charming, private gardens, belonging to the Georgian houses that you see (built c.1811], which were occupied, during the 19th c. by officials of the LONDON DOCKS COMPANY.
Instead of gardens, 100 years ago you would have seen how merchant ships negotiated a lock that cut off the street (a bridge was in place, of course) allowing merchant ships to enter the LONDON DOCKS. First, the WAPPING BASIN, then the WESTERN DOCK (you see the site of the lock entrance, on the other side, if you walk the shortcut related above, marked by a flight of stairs and a bust of John RENNIE).

By the way, JOHN LENNON lived for a while in one of the houses and the BEATLES used the place for one of their photo-shots.

Afterwards, the WAPPING OLD STAIRS, lead down to the river (and, according to legend, were used by some of the convicts who were transported to Australia, in order to board the waiting ship).

Normally, stairs were in place to give WATERMEN access to the river.

And then, a fantastic, really historical pub: the TOWN OF RAMSGATE (whose cellars, down under, following London lore, housed some those waiting to be transported).

After your beer, and your fish & chips, you can go down the stairs if the river is at low tide, and maybe you will find a contemporary MUDLARK. Now, you have just learned a London’s English word. A scavenger of the river, in search of lost treasures. Only that mudlarks were here in search of lumps of coal, or other objects discarded from the ships that would help to their survival.

Almost opposite the pub, the firmer churchyard and the Church of ST. JOHN’S WAPPING and the old charitable BLUE COAT school, both built in the 18th century, and now converted into apartments On SCANDRETT ST, little further on, the former TURK’S HEAD pub has become BISTRO BARDOT.

You will see a few converted huge Victorian warehouses. Look up: OLIVER’S WHARF was the place where CHER, the American singer and actress bought an apartment in the 1990s, when the London DOCKLANDS where becoming a sought after place. By the way, the word WHARF is everywhere. And the name of each one. A WHARF is the place, the building, where goods are loaded and unloaded, always on the banks of a watercourse or the sea ... which is why some linguists claim that it is an acronym (Ware Housing At River Front).

The blue colour of the modern building you are now passing reveals that it is the pier of the MARINE POLICING UNIT of the METROPOLITAN POLICE.
Further ahead, note the headquarters of the MARINE POLICE, founded in 1798, more than 20 years before the METROPOLITAN POLICE, of which it currently forms a unit. You will find the MUSEUM there. By the way, the METROPOLITAN POLICE MUSEUM is in SIDCUP. If you decide to visit it, do not miss OLD BEXLEY. including HALL PLACE and the RED HOUSE.

The bridges or walkways that you see, over the street, allowed the cargoes unloaded from the ships to be transported by porters in order to be stored in a second line of warehouses... Try to go and visit the SHAD THAMES ones, in BERMONDSEY.

You will also pass a small garden.. the alleged place where the EXECUTION DOCK was located (that is, the gallows, the scaffold, intended for seafarers or those condemned for crimes related to trade and seafaring, who, according to tradition, were kept hanging on the shore of the THAMES for three consecutive tides. Of course, the actual site must have been on the shore, the embankment is more recent).

If you continue along the main street, WAPPING HIGH ST., you will pass a pub that is not old at all (although the building is, as it used to be a warehouse), the CAPTAIN KID PH. You will like it. It sells only beers brewed in TADCASTER, YORKSHIRE, by SAMUEL SMITH’S OLD BREWERY. Such Captain Kid, was a 18th c. seafarer that had as his mission that of "cleansing" the Caribbean seas of pirates but... he himself became one of them. And he ended up hanged.

A MET boat. BOBBIES on the river!. The NINA MCKAY III

SIR ROBERT PEEL STATUE in PARLIAMENT SQUARE. Sir Bobby set up the MET POLICE. They were nicknamed BOBBY’S BOYS, thence BOBBIES!

EXEC DOCK

Press gangs roamed the streets. recruiting for the ROYAL NAVY. A type of punishment…

A THAMES TUNNEL FAIR

The OVERGROUND is not part of the LONDON UNDERGROUND or TUBE, although you will see the network as part of the diagram of the TUBE (always in ORANGE). It is under concession, control and branding of TFL, but operated by a private company.

Look well at this network: it will take you to very interesting places, especially in N and SW London

The statue of MARK ISAMBARD BRUNEL, in VICTORIA EMBANKMENT GARDENS

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL. STATUE in PADDINGTON STA

If you continue walking a little further you will reach the WAPPING OVERGROUND Station.
The station is an historical one. Or rather, it is the TUNNEL through which the trains go along, which crosses the THAMES here. The THAMES TUNNEL is considered the first in the world that crosses under a navigable river. It was opened to the public in 1843, after more than 20 years of works, and a few accidents and casualties . It takes you (on the LONDON OVERGROUND) to ROTHERHITHE (another old fishing village that I recommend you to visit, on your way to/from GREENWICH). There you will find the BRUNEL MUSEUM, dedicated to the tunnel and the eminent engineers who bear that name.
The father, was monarchist, who fled Revolutionary France and, after spending a period in NEW YORK, working there in building projects for the local authorities, and becoming an American citizen, then settled here in England (he was married to an English woman) and devised the first technology that allowed tunnels to be excavated without removing the ground from the surface (here, the river). And his very young son, ISAMBARD KINGDOM, helped him out in this project and, later in his life, would become the most brilliant and renowned engineer of his age, designing railways, bridges, ships>>>>.

Brunel's system was improved, in the1890s, by the engineer JAMES HENRY GREATHEAD (Statue by the ROYAL EXCHANGE, in the CITY), which allowed the construction of the DEEP LEVEL lines of the London Underground, well… what we should call the TUBE. More recently, in the 2000s, the excavation system used to build CROSSRAIL (technical name for the ELIZABETH LINE) is no other than an evolution of the BRUNEL method.

The THAMES TUNNEL became an authentic touristic attraction, for lack of a better use. As road access was not build, it lost its original purpose. Until the railway company bought it.

Beside the station, the D3 bus takes you to (or brings you here from) WHITECHAPEL and BETHNAL GREEN, or to/from CANARY WHARF, and the 100 bus from/to ST.PAUL'S CATHEDRAL (and very close to the TOWER), or to SHADWELL stations (DLR and the OVERGROUND)>>>>.

And, beside the station, you can have a lovely coffee in URBAN BARISTAS.

Of course, your aim is following the THAMES PATH. But…. Why not a circular tour of WAPPING?.
First, along WAPPING LANE

Alongside WAPPING LANE, you will find some cafes, pubs and restaurants. I love the CINNAMON.

To your left, at the end of the WAPPING GREEN, the pub is the TURNER’S OLD STAR which, it seems, had been owned by the great painter TURNER, while leading a secret life here, far away of the limelight of fame. His mistress, Mrs. BOOTH must have been in charge.

Not far away, in REARDON ST., you are going to find the forbidding walls that enclosed the LONDON DOCKS, and the site where CAPTAIN BLIGHT lived. He had sailed with CAPTAIN COOK and with the eminent botanist JOSEPH BANKS. Why happened that infamous mutiny?.

Afterwards, along the LANE, ST.PETER'S CHURCH, LONDON DOCKS. Notice that "MASS" is announced; that is it, this is an ANGLO-CATHOLIC MISSION; an ANGLICAN church, yes, but belonging to a branch that brings it closer to CATHOLICISM. The plaque outside honours the vicar WAINRIGHT, and, inside the courtyard, another to rector LOWDER.

LOWDER founded the ST.GEORGE’S MISSION, in 1856, and this parish, in 1866, becoming a vicar. The mission became ST.PETER’S MISSION, since then.
WAINWRIGHT was vicar here for 49 years, until the 1920s.

They provided, apart from spiritual care, schools, cheap canteens, clubs for boys… in an extremely deprived area.

Nearby you will find access to the TOBACCO DOCK, that linked the Western and the Eastern Docks. Sometimes you can visit the former warehouses (1811, and where wool, wines and spirits, and tobacco were unloaded); in the 80s, until the mid-90s, they were converted into a shopping centre (it failed; by the way, the ships you see are replicas intended as a children's play area) and currently it is a centre for creative industries and place for special events. You can join the path along the <<<>ornamental canal, to SHADWELL BASIN>>>>.

On the right, RAINE STREET; the building to the right is the old school created thanks to the legacy of HENRY RAINE, the WAPPING brewer. You admire the typical statues that denote its use as a charitable school, set up in the 17th century. This school still exists, currently based in <<<<BETHNAL GREEN, next to VICTORIA PARK.

If you follow WAPPING LANE to the end you reach ST.GEORGE'S-ON-THE-EAST, a HAWKSMOOR church (one of the 3 he designed in the EAST END) and CABLE STREET.

Before you cross, though, on your left, PENNINGTON STREET, with its long row of converted warehouses (the rear of the TOBACCO DOCKS and others) part of the former LONDON DOCKS complex.

This unbuilt plot has had some archeological excavations made recently: a Roman bikini was found here, inside the remains of baths and other buildings.

ST.PETER’S LONDON DOCKS. Note that this church, being an Anglo-Catholic parish, has chosen to be under the jurisdiction of the BISHOP OF FULHAM

RAINE’s in WAPPING, now an arts and community centre

Another incarnation of RAINE’s SCHOOL. This one is in NEW ROAD. Well, now it has been taken over by a fishmonger!

TOBACCO DOCKS. Cast-iron columns, timbertrusses, original vaults. Photos fromISLE OF DOGS LIFE