Tower Dock is an inlet of 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 ...

immediately west of the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

. Only the head of the dock remains with the rest having been filled in during the late 1950s.

Location

Tower Dock lay immediately west of the Tower of London's entrance complex, and contributed to the defensibility of that complex. The dock formed part of the boundary of the

Tower Liberty The Liberties of the Tower, or the Tower Liberty is a small neighbourhood in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London, which includes both Tower Hill and the Tower of London. The area was defined sometime after 1200 to provide an open are ...

, an area managed by the Tower of London, in part to ensure that there was a clear undeveloped area around the fortress, as the presence of buildings would have given cover to attackers. These boundaries of the Liberty have been inherited by the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

, as part of its boundary with the

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 ...

Origin and demise

The origin of the dock is obscure but may represent a section of the natural shoreline left behind when the wharves on either side were built. The first stage of Tower Wharf, to the east, was extended out into the river around 1276–1324. Tower of London plan 1563

The dock appears to have once been much more extensive. A report written in 1623 described the dock as the remaining part of a moat around a now lost feature called the ''Bulwark'', built around 1480, which was the outermost part of the Tower's western gateway complex. It is not known whether it was a wet or dry moat but it presumably connected to the main moat. At the time of the report the Bulwark still stood, but its moat, save for the surviving part of Tower Dock, had been filled in. In 1706 more of the dock ''"between Thames Street and Tower Hill"'' was filled in with rubbish from the locality. In the late 1950s, all but the head of the dock, was filled in and paved, during the construction of the now demolished and replaced Three Quays House.

Events

In 1617

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebelli ...

led an unsuccessful attempt to plunder Spain's colonial empire in the Americas and also find the mythical city of gold,

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king ...

. The expedition was a failure and the King of Spain applied enormous diplomatic pressure for Raleigh's arrest and execution. Expecting him be seized at any moment, Raleigh's wife arranged an escape plan. Raleigh donned a disguise and made his way to Tower Dock where a boatman awaited him. The boat slipped out into the Thames, intending to take Raleigh 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 ...

where a ship awaited. But Raleigh had been betrayed by someone he trusted; a second boat awaited him in the river. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower.The Tower of London, by Arthur Poyser p133. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/55504/55504-h/55504-h.htm#page_103

References

Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Geography of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Castles in London Fortifications of London {{coord missing, London