King George V Dock is one of three docks in the

Royal Docks Royal Docks is an area and a ward in the London Borough of Newham in the London Docklands in East London, England. The area is named after three docks – the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock. They are mo ...

of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.

History

Begun in 1912 by the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

, the King George V was the last of London's upstream enclosed docks to be built. After delay by the First World War, construction was completed in 1921. Although at of water it was smaller than the other royals, it had its own entrance from the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

through a lock and bascule bridge. The dock could berth liners as large as the . At its western end was a large graving dock (since filled in) and machine shop used for ship repairs by Harland and Wolff. From the 1960s onwards, the King George V Dock experienced a steady decline – as did all of London's other docks – as the shipping industry adopted containerisation, which effectively moved traffic downstream to

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...

. It finally closed to commercial traffic along with the other Royal Docks in 1981. Redevelopment in the late 20th century included the construction of

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

which was built on the north bank of the dock with a single runway and completed in 1987. King George V station on the London City Airport branch of the Docklands Light Railway, which opened in December 2005, is named after the dock.

History

References

Further reading