London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of
Southwark,
Tower Hamlets,
Lewisham
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...
,
Newham, and
Greenwich. The
docks were formerly part of the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
, at one time the
world's largest port
The world's busiest ports include:
*List of busiest ports by cargo tonnage
*List of countries by container port traffic
*List of busiest container ports
*List of busiest cruise ports by passengers
This is a list of busiest cruise ports by pass ...
. After the docks closed, the area had become derelict and poverty-ridden by the 1980s. The Docklands' regeneration began later that decade; it has been redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The name "London Docklands" was used for the first time in a government report on redevelopment plans in 1971 and has since been almost universally adopted. The redevelopment created wealth, but also led to some conflict between the new and old communities in the area. Case Study - Inner City Redevelopment - London's Docklands - Internet Geography
Establishment
In
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
and
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
times, ships arriving in the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
tended to dock at small quays in the present-day
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
or
Southwark, an area known as the
Pool of London. However, these gave no protection against the elements, were vulnerable to thieves and suffered from a lack of space at the quayside. The
Howland Great Dock in
Rotherhithe (built in 1696, and later to form the core of the
Surrey Commercial Docks) was designed to address these problems, providing a large, secure and sheltered anchorage with room for 120 large vessels. It was a major commercial success, and provided for two phases of expansion during the
Georgian and
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
s.
The first of the Georgian docks was the
West India (opened in 1802), followed by the
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1805), the
East India
East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha
and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magad ...
(also 1805), the Surrey (1807), the
Regent's Canal Dock (1820),
St Katharine (1828) and the West India South (1829). The Victorian docks were mostly further east, comprising the
Royal Victoria (1855),
Millwall (1868) and
Royal Albert (1880). The
King George V Dock (1921) was a late addition.
Development
Three principal kinds of docks existed.
Wet docks were where ships were laid up at anchor and loaded or unloaded.
Dry docks, which were far smaller, took individual ships for repairing. Ships were built at
dockyards along the riverside. In addition, the river was lined with innumerable
warehouses, piers, jetties and dolphins (mooring points). The various docks tended to specialise in different forms of produce. The Surrey Docks
concentrated on timber, for instance; Millwall took grain; St Katharine took wool, sugar and rubber; and so on.
The docks required an army of workers, chiefly
lightermen (who carried loads between ships and quays aboard small barges called
lighters) and quayside workers, who dealt with the goods once they were ashore. Some of the workers were highly skilled: the lightermen had their own
livery company or guild, while the
deal porters (workers who carried timber) were famous for their acrobatic skills. Most were unskilled and worked as casual labourers. They assembled at certain points, such as pubs, each morning, where they were selected more or less at random by foremen. For these workers, it was effectively a lottery whether they would get work on any particular day. This arrangement continued until as late as 1965, although it was somewhat regularised after the creation of the
National Dock Labour Scheme
The National Dock Labour Board (NDLB), which administered the National Dock Labour Scheme, was an administrative board for the operation of British docks.
Creation of National Dock Labour Board
In 1947, Parliament introduced the "Dock Workers� ...
in 1947.
The main dockland areas were originally low-lying marshes, mostly unsuitable for agriculture and lightly populated. With the establishment of the docks, the dock workers formed a number of tight-knit local communities with their own distinctive cultures and slang. Due to poor communications with other parts of London, they tended to develop in some isolation. Road access to the
Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...
, for example, was only via two
swing bridges. Local sentiment there was so strong that Ted Johns, a local community campaigner, and his supporters, in protest at the lack of social provision from the state, unilaterally declared independence for the area, set up a so-called "Island Council" with Johns himself as its elected leader, and blocked off the two access roads.
20th century
The docks were originally built and managed by a number of competing private companies. From 1909, they were managed by the
Port of London Authority (PLA) which amalgamated the companies in a bid to make the docks more efficient and improve
labour relations. The PLA constructed the last of the docks, the King George V, in 1921, as well as greatly expanding the
Tilbury docks
The Port of Tilbury is a port on the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex, England. It is the principal port for London, as well as being the main United Kingdom port for handling the importation of paper. There are extensive facilities for contai ...
.
German bombing during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
caused massive damage to the docks, with 380,000 tons of
timber destroyed in the Surrey Docks in a single night. Nonetheless, following post-war rebuilding they experienced a resurgence of prosperity in the 1950s. The end came suddenly, between approximately 1960 and 1970, when the shipping industry adopted the newly invented
container system of cargo transportation. London's docks were unable to accommodate the much larger vessels needed by containerization, and the shipping industry moved to deep-water ports such as Tilbury and
Felixstowe
Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London.
H ...
. Between 1960 and 1980, all of London's docks were closed, leaving around eight square miles (21 km
2) of derelict land in East London.
Redevelopment
Efforts to redevelop the docks began almost as soon as they were closed, although it took a decade for most plans to move beyond the drawing board and another decade for redevelopment to take full effect. The situation was greatly complicated by the large number of landowners involved: the PLA, the
Greater London Council (GLC), the
British Gas Corporation, five borough councils,
British Rail and the
Central Electricity Generating Board
The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s.
It was established on 1 Janu ...
.
To address this problem, in 1981 the
Secretary of State for the Environment,
Michael Heseltine, formed the
London Docklands Development Corporation
The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its seventeen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an ...
(LDDC) to redevelop the area. This was a statutory body appointed and funded by central government (a
quango), with wide powers to acquire and dispose of land in the Docklands. It also served as the development planning authority for the area.
Another important government intervention was the designation in 1982 of an
enterprise zone, an area in which businesses were exempt from property taxes and had other incentives, including simplified planning and capital allowances. This made investing in the Docklands a significantly more attractive proposition and was instrumental in starting a property boom in the area.
The LDDC was controversial; it was accused of favouring elitist luxury developments rather than affordable housing, and it was unpopular with the local communities, who felt that their needs were not being addressed. Nonetheless, the LDDC was central to a remarkable transformation in the area, although how far it was in control of events is debatable. It was wound up in 1998 when control of the Docklands area was handed back to the respective local authorities.
The massive development programme managed by the LDDC during the 1980s and 1990s saw a huge area of the Docklands converted into a mixture of residential, commercial and light industrial space. The clearest symbol of the whole effort was the ambitious
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
project that constructed Britain's tallest building at the time and established a second business district (CBD) in London. However, there is no evidence that the LDDC foresaw this scale of development; nearby
Heron Quays had already been developed as low-density offices when Canary Wharf was proposed, and similar development was already underway on Canary Wharf itself,
Limehouse Studios
Limehouse Studios was an independently owned television studio complex built in No. 10 Warehouse (30 Shed) of the South Quay Import Dock. This was located at the eastern end of Canary Wharf in Limehouse near the Isle of Dogs in London, which op ...
being the most famous occupant.
Canary Wharf was far from trouble-free; the property slump of the early 1990s halted further development for several years. Developers found themselves, for a time, saddled with property that they were unable to sell or let.
Transport
The Docklands historically had poor transport connections. This was addressed by the LDDC with the construction of the
Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which connected the Docklands with the city. According to Transport for London, the owner of the project, it was a remarkably inexpensive development, costing only £77 million in its first phase, as it relied on reusing disused railway infrastructure and derelict land for much of its length. The LDDC originally requested a full
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
line, but the Government refused to fund it.
The LDDC also built the
Limehouse Link tunnel, a
cut and cover road tunnel linking the Isle of Dogs to
The Highway
A highway is a long road giving a relatively fast connection between two places.
Highway may also refer to:
Roads in England
* The Highway (London) (previously Ratcliff Highway), a road in the East End of London
* The Highway, a road in B ...
(the A1203 road) at a cost of over £150 million per kilometre, one of the most expensive stretches of road ever built.
The LDDC also contributed to the development 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 ...
(
IATA airport code LCY), opened in October 1987 on the spine of 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 ...
.
The London Underground's
Jubilee line was extended eastwards in 1999; it now serves Rotherhithe/
Surrey Quays at
Canada Water station
Canada Water is a London Underground and London Overground station located in Canada Water, in south London, England. It takes its name from Canada Water, a lake which was created from a former dock in the Port of London.
The station is locate ...
, the Isle of Dogs at
Canary Wharf tube station,
Greenwich at
North Greenwich tube station and the nearby Royal Docks at
Canning Town station. The DLR was extended in 1994 to serve much of the Royal Docks area when the
Beckton
Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barki ...
branch was opened. The Isle of Dogs branch was extended further south, and in 1999 it began serving Greenwich town centre—including the
Cutty Sark museum—
Deptford and finally
Lewisham
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...
. In 2005, a new branch of the DLR opened from Canning Town to serve what used to be the eastern terminus of the
North London Line, including a station at
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 ...
. It was then further extended to
Woolwich Arsenal in 2009.
Future developments
Further development projects are being proposed and put into practice within the London Dockland area, such as:
* Extensions of the DLR, possibly to
Dagenham.
*
Crossrail links to central London,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
and
Heathrow Airport.
* Further development of
Canada Water
Canada Water is an area of the Docklands in south-east London. It is named after a freshwater lake and wildlife refuge. Canada Water tube, Overground and bus station is immediately north of the lake, along with Canada Water Library which ov ...
.
* Redevelopment of
Blackwall Basin
The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follo ...
and
Wood Wharf
Wood Wharf is a 23 acrehttps://group.canarywharf.com/portfolio/wood-wharf/ Wood Wharf, Canary Wharf Group PLC, Retrieved 26 April 2018 site in Canary Wharf, London. It is currently under construction to provide offices, residential homes and ret ...
, east of Canary Wharf.
* New skyscrapers to be built at Canary Wharf, including the
Riverside South towers, the
Heron Quays West
Heron Quays West is a skyscraper development under construction in Canary Wharf, London. The plan is for two large skyscrapers connected by a large atrium at the base, not unlike the Riverside South development. The site is at the south west of ...
double-skyscraper development and the
North Quay project, consisting of three towers.
In the early 21st century, redevelopment is spreading into the more suburban parts of east and southeast London, and into the parts of the counties of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
that abut the
Thames Estuary. See
Thames Gateway and
Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...
for further information on this trend.
Docklands series buses
History
The numbers of several
London Buses routes are prefixed ''D'' for Docklands; all run on the north bank of the River Thames as part of the London bus network, and act as feeder buses to the DLR. The ''D'' network was developed in the early stages of Docklands redevelopment; it was originally much larger, but as transport rapidly improved across east London, the need for the ''D'' routes reduced. Today only four remain, running primarily in
Tower Hamlets and briefly into
Newham and
Hackney.
Stagecoach London operate route D3 and D8,
HCT Group operate route D6 and
Docklands Buses operate route D7.
21st century
The population of the Docklands has more than doubled during the last 30 years, and the area has become a major business centre. Canary Wharf has emerged as one of Europe's biggest clusters of skyscrapers and a major extension to the financial services district of the City of London.
Although most of the old wharfs and warehouses have been demolished, some have been restored and converted into flats. Many of the docks themselves have survived and are now used as marinas or watersports centres; a major exception is the Surrey Commercial Docks, which are now largely filled in. Although large ships can—and occasionally still do—visit the old docks, all of the commercial traffic has moved downriver further east.
The revival of the Docklands has had major effects in other run-down surrounding areas. Greenwich and Deptford are undergoing large-scale redevelopment, chiefly as a result of the improved transport links making them more attractive to commuters.
The Docklands' redevelopment has, however, had some less beneficial aspects. The massive property boom and consequent rise in house prices has led to friction between the new arrivals and the old Docklands communities, who have complained of being squeezed out. It has also made for some of the most striking disparities to be seen anywhere in Britain: luxury executive flats constructed alongside run-down public housing estates.
The Docklands' status as a symbol of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
's Britain has also made it a target for terrorists. After a failed attempt to bomb Canary Wharf in 1992, a large IRA
bomb exploded at South Quay on 9 February 1996. Two people died in the explosion, forty people were injured and an estimated £150 million of damage was caused. This bombing ended an
IRA ceasefire. James McArdle was sentenced to 25 years of jail time but released in 2000 under the terms of the
Good Friday Agreement and
royal prerogative of mercy officially signed by Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
.
In a further sign of regeneration in the area, the Docklands now has its own symphony orchestra,
Docklands Sinfonia
Docklands Sinfonia is a symphony orchestra in London's Docklands. Since January 2009, the orchestra has been based at St Anne's Limehouse near Canary Wharf.
History
Docklands Sinfonia was formed in January 2009 by conductor Spencer Down and ...
; which was formed in January 2009 and is based at
St Anne's Limehouse.
'Docklands Sinfonia' strikes chord to put East End on culture map
''East London Advertiser'', 16 September 2008
Economy
The offices of ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' group of publications were at one time situated in the Docklands. In 2008, Independent News & Media announced that ''The Independent'' would be moving its offices to Northcliffe House in Kensington.[Ponsford, Dominic.]
Sharing with Mail 'will safeguard future of Independent'
" '' Press Gazette''. 28 November 2008. Retrieved on 6 September 2011. "Under a deal signed today, the Independent titles will share back office functions with the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and Evening Standard at Northcliffe House in Kensington."
London's Docklands has become one of the world's leading global internet hubs since the opening in 1990 of the carrier-neutral Telehouse
Telehouse is a major carrier-neutral colocation, information and communications technology services provider based in Docklands, London. Established in 1988, it operates eight facilities in London, Paris and Frankfurt. Part of the global Te ...
campus, which hosts the vast majority of LINX's internet peering traffic, occupying over 73,000 square metres. In August 2016, Telehouse Europe opened the $177 million North Two data centre of 24,000 square metres that became the only UK data centre to own a 132 kV on-campus grid substation that is directly connected to the National Grid, reducing transmission losses and improving power density and service continuity.
See also
* Burrells Wharf
Burrells Wharf is a riverside residential estate, owned by its leaseholders, in London, England. It is situated in Docklands on the Isle of Dogs and the North bank of the River Thames (facing Deptford). The residential estate is one of 18 buildi ...
* Island History Trust
The Island History Trust was a local history institution based on the Isle of Dogs in east London, England. The Trust was created by local people, who started to collect photographs in 1981. At that time the docks and nearly all the local fact ...
* Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
* Safeguarded wharf
* Stepney Historical Trust
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...
* University of East London
References
Further reading
*Kevin d'Arcy
Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ).
The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...
. ''London's 2nd City: Creating Canary Wharf.'' Rajah Books .
*
External links
The Docklands newspaper
London East Research Institute
Royal Docks Information
{{Authority control
Geography of the London Borough of Newham
Geography of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Geography of the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Docklands
Docklands
Docklands
River Thames