Cubitt Town is a district on the eastern side of 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. It includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Haml ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. This part of the former

Metropolitan Borough of Poplar Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a District (Metropolis), district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough in ...

was redeveloped as 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 Se ...

in the 1840s and 1850s by

William Cubitt Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of windmil ...

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

(1860–1862), after whom it is named. It is on the east of the Isle, facing the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London, England. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolita ...

across 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, s ...

. To the west is

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, to the east and south is

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, to the northwest

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

, and to the north — across the Blue Bridge — is Blackwall. The district is situated within the Blackwall & Cubitt Town Ward of

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, also known as Tower Hamlets Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under ...

History

It is named after

(1860–1862), who was responsible for the development of the housing and amenities of the area in the 1840s and 1850s, mainly to house the growing population of workers in the local docks, shipbuilding yards and factories. As it grew, Cubitt also created many local businesses employing manual labourers as well as the streets of housing to accommodate them.

Shipbuilding

The area was home shipbuilders including

Westwood, Baillie Westwood, Baillie and Co was a Victorian engineering and shipbuilding company based at London Yard in Cubitt Town, London. The company was set up in 1856 by Robert Baillie and Joseph Westwood, previously managers of Thames Ironworks and Shipbui ...

, Samuda Brothers, J & W Dudgeon and

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

. , the first British warship designed to carry her main armament in gun turrets, was launched here.

Other industries

The businesses included those involved in cement, pottery and brick production. Asphalt production was another growth industry, coinciding with the growth, development, and industrialisation of areas throughout the British Isles. In Cubitt Town, the Pyrimont Wharf was developed in 1861 by the Asphalte de Seyssel Company of Thames Embankment (later known as the Seyssel Asphalte Company or Seyssel Pyrimont Asphalte Company), with asphalt production taken over in the 1870s by Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company.

Housing

Estates in the area include: * New Union Wharf Estate - East Thames Housing * Samuda Estate - One Housing * St John's Estate - One Housing * Amsterdam Road - Private * Millennium Wharf - Private The area is a mix of old east London working-class communities transplanted into 1960s and 1970s high-rise estates and the middle-class workers in the Canary Wharf complex attracted by relatively low prices for riverside living, plus less recent

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

and

East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

immigrant populations.

Learning and education

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

was financed by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

and built by C. Harrold Norton, being completed in 1905. Will Crooks, the then Mayor of Poplar, had attended a meeting at the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, where Carnegie had promised to fund public libraries. Crooks was able to get a commitment from him to pay for two libraries, this one in Cubitt Town and another in

Bromley by Bow Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. It is an inner-city suburb located 4.7 mil ...

. Carnegie agreed to provide £15,000 for both together. The total expense for this building was £6,805 13s 10d, which included some neighbouring land which originally served as a public garden before providing space for an extension to be used a meeting hall and erected in 1962. The building is currently owned by the

as part of their library service.

Schools

Primary schools

* Cubitt Town School * St Luke's School

Recreation

Cubitt town is home to a number of recreational facilities: * St John's Park * Mudchute, an urban farm, large at .

Transport

The nearest station to Cubitt Town is Crossharbour on the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated medium-capacity rail system, light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financi ...

, which opened on 31 August 1987.

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

contracted routes serve Cubitt Town, with routes 135, 277, D7, D8 and N550. Cubitt Town is connected to London's road network by the north-south Manchester Road A1206. Access across the

is by the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and the

National Cycle Route 1 The cycle-path is located in the United Kingdom. Route Dover to Canterbury Dover , Deal, Kent, Deal , Sandwich, Kent, Sandwich , Canterbury Links with National Cycle Route 2, RCR 16, Kent, Regional route 16, and RCR 17, Kent, Regional r ...

to the west (which also uses the Greenwich Foot Tunnel).

Nearest places

* Coldharbour *

* Blackwall

References

{{Areas of London Areas of London Port of London