Riverside north bank east of the Tower. Blackwall
Riverside north bank east of the Tower,
Blackwall
TQ 38410 79235
Riverside area developed for industry in the 19th which included some important shipyards now entirely replaced by modern housing development. The area includes a still functioning entrance to what was the West India and Millwall Dock system. Inland are older communities in areas still under intense development pressure but which include older social support and religious bodies. There is one very eccentric modern riverside building.
North of the river only., The south bank is Greenwich Peninsula West
Post to the south Cubitt Town and Highbridge and Ballast
Post to the west Millwall
Post to the north Old Blackwall
Post to the east Greenwich Marsh
Amsterdam Road
Part of the London Yard Development
Canal Dockyard
Rolt's Yard. In 1703 there was a shipyard south of Coldharbour owned by John Rolt. This site is now under the eastern entrance to the South Dock. The yard had been laid out in the late 1660s by Robert Browne, with two dry docks and its chief business presumably was ship repairing rather than shipbuilding. Rolt was there until 1717 and the yard was probably empty although from 1724 it was held by various shipwrights and eventually apparently derelict.
Canal Dockyard. In 1799 part of the area was purchased by the City Corporation for the City Canal. When the canal was finished, the Corporation leased and sold land which was not needed on the south side of the Blackwall entrance to Thomas Pitcher, the Northfleet shipbuilder. He laid out a dockyard, with two dry docks, and, on the west side of the road, built Canal Row for his workers and Lawn House for himself. His Northfleet yard built for the East India trade, and warships for the navy; the dockyard at Blackwall was for on repairing and refitting. Two graving docks were built as well as an engine house for a Boulton and Watt engine. Pitcher retired in 1815, assigning the business to two of his eleven sons, Henry and William. William Pitcher took over the yard and remained as proprietor until 1850, when he sold it to a local firm of ship-owners, Joseph & Frederick Somes.
J. & F. Somes made a number of improvement s and added a wooden mast-house with sail loft above. In 1866 the yard was acquired by the Merchant Shipping Company Ltd, set up in 1864 - with members of the Somes family as the largest shareholders. They remained until 1886
Dry Docks Corporation of London. They took the yard over in 1886 and were bankrupt by 1889.
John Stewart. By 1891 Stewart was on this site. They were already o the site to the south. By 1912 they were in liquidation and the Canal Dockyard was purchased by the Port of London Authority. John Stewart & Sons (1912) Ltd, however remained here as hull and engine repairers until 1923. The yard then closed.
Port of London Authority. Following Stewarts’ closure in 1923 the yard was cleared and the two dry docks filled with spoil taken from the rebuilt entrance to the South Dock. The northern end of Manchester Road was realigned over part of the old yard. Northern end of the old road survives as an access road in front of 591–613 Manchester Road. The blocked-up former entrances to the dry docs are still visible, from the river between round-ended projections of brick and stone with wooden fenders).
Dock houses. In the 1940s site was then used by the PLA for four houses for assistant dock masters and police officers 3–4 and 6 stand directly above the old dry docks and. 5 partly so. 14 as four-bedroom detached house for the Dockmaster of the India and Millwall Dock was added in 1955 in the south-west corner of the site.
Capstan Square
Early block of private housing, pre-London Docklands Development Corporation
Castalia Square
The original Castalia Street was a British Land Company development of the 1880s which was completely destroyed in Second World War bombing. It was replaced by these buildings in the early 1950s as part of the St. Johns Estate. It was designed by W. J. Rankin, Poplar’s Borough Engineer and Surveyor, and built by the Borough's direct labour force. It is said to be ‘Festival of Britain’ style.
1-17 A three-storey terrace with a row of shops built 1956, refurbished in 1992.
12 There is a foundation stone, in the end wall laid in 1952 to mark the commencement of the estate
21-23 Headstart Nursery.
Clergy House. Built in 1955 this replaced St John's Vicarage which was in Castalia Street and destroyed from a direct hit in the Second World War. St John’s vicarage had been built in 1876. It stood alone in large walled gardens. This is now St Mildred's House which was the name of the former Anglican settlement in Millwall adjacent to St.Paul’s Church in Westferry Road.
Chipka Street
The street was originally developed in the 1850s and 1880s, and a few houses here survived Second World War bombing.
Copper and Brass Works. This belonged to the coppersmith and brass founder George Brockley who built a factory here in 1878. He continued here until 1939, when the site was taken over by John Downton Foundry & Engineering Company, marine engineers, who war hose-coupling manufacturers. They left in 1967.
East Ferry Road
ASDA Superstore. This was the first major modern retail development on the Island. In the early 1980s part of the site of the Transporter Yard to was leased from the PLA by the Leeds-based Associated Dairies. The store was designed by the Whittam Cox Ellis Clayton Partnership. There is an internal row of nine smaller, independent shops a cafeteria, a filling station and 600 parking spaces.
Millwall Football Club. This had been founded in 1885 as Millwall Rovers, a factory team for J. T. Morton & Co. They had had various sites to play on but in 1889 William Clark, of the George Pub arranged for them to lease dock company land near Millwall Dock Station fronting onto East Ferry Road. This was to be a football pitch as well as cricket, tennis, running and cycling tracks. A stand was built on the west side, and the ground opened on in 1890. In 1901 the dock company took the land back for the transporter and the club eventually moved to New Cross.
Transporter. The Millwall Dock Company needed a timber storage system and in the 1890s decided that their land east of East Ferry Road could be used for timber storage. Following a visit to Sweden they decided to use an electrically motivated elevated timber transporter invented by the Stockholm engineers Adolf Julius Tenow and Johan Edward Flodstrom. A trestled timber framework for 400 yards of transporter was ordered and fixed here from the south-east corner of the Inner Dock. Joseph Westwood & Com erected steel bridges to carry the structure across the railway and road. It was installed in 1901. It system proved more expensive than conventional trolleys. It did not save on labour and it ceased to be used in 1909 and, after a fire, it was demolished in 1911.
RAF. During the Second World War the Transporter Yard served as an RAF embarkation point and to the west the site for four Ack Ack guns. The 154 Battery of the 52 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment was stationed here until 1941. Then the 119 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment took over until 1945. The guns were fired by remote control using Radar. The blitz started in 1940, and early on the Guardroom, canteen and stores was destroyed by landmines. 430 people were killed on the Isle of Dogs in the blitz
Mud ASDA stands on land once owned by the Millwall Dock Company. Land to the south of this was used for mud deposits. Other land was leased to McDougall Brothers as allotments for their staff.
Globe Rope Works. This was Hawkins and Tipson's Works. In 1881 George Hawkins had set up the works with Mr. Tipson, a ropemaker, using money made by discovering gold while digging his garden in Australia. Here manila and sisal were twisted into extra thick rope of the sort used in life-boats as fenders. They made Hercules rope but also pioneered nylon rope making. The firm occupied this site between 1881 and 1971. They became an international group of companies and moved to Thamesmead in 1971. The old rope walk is now a pedestrian link between East Ferry Road and
Stebondale Street.
145 Island Health Clinic. Built 1991 by John Duane Architects.
Folly Wall
Folly House. Thomas Davers, son of an admiral, built here a small fort in the mid 18th. It was known as Davers’ folly. After he had sold it in 1754 it became Folly House or Folly House Tavern and well known as a drinking establishment with a cock pit. In the 19th Folly House became a reference point to people sailing along the Thames but it was eventually demolished in 1875.
Folly Yard Yarrow site. New Union Wharf, also known as (Folly Wall Yard. Yarrows, shipbuilders, were established by Alfred Yarrow in the mid-1860s. He had served an apprenticeship with the marine engineers Ravenhill & Salkeld and in 1866 set up an engineering firm in partnership with Robert Hedley. When Hedley left the firm became Yarrow & Co. In 1866 they leased a barge-builder's yard here known as Hope Yard and it became known as Folly Shipyard and it was gradually enlarged. The firm established itself as a builder of steam launches. The Folly House was initially used by the firm, for a drawing office, but it was later demolished. A small dock was built on the foreshore. From 1875 the company made river steamers and gunboats, for Africa and South America. They were leading builders of torpedo boats, and in the early 1890s destroyers – supply both the Royal Navy and foreign navies. The firm expanded into Samuda's Yard in 1885, and in 1898 a London Yard was acquired and the business was moved there so the Folly Shipyard was vacated.
Union Lighterage Company of Blackwall moved into Folly Yard after Yarrow and changed the name to New Union Wharf. They built three slipways, for repairing barges.
Joseph. Bender, moved onto the old Samuda area. They made parquet and woodblock flooring here until the 1940s
2 Prince of Wales. This pub was built by 1859. It was destroyed during the Second World War by bombing.
Friars Mead,
Houses. These were built in 1983-6 by Ronald Quin Associates on a corner of the Transporter site. Quin with Comben Homes had won an early limited London Docklands Development Corporation design competition. It is a secluded, loop of houses and flats forming an island amid the would-be countryside of Mudchute City Farm.
Glengall Grove
This was originally Glengall Road
114 George. At the corner with East Ferry Road. The original building was built in 1864 George Read. It was a big building with a coach-house and stable, it had meeting rooms, dining rooms and a billiards room. There was a Masonic temple in the basement. In 1927 Watney Combe Reid acquired the and demolished it to replace it with the current pub,
Glengall Coffee Palace. This was built in 1883 at the junction with Manchester Road. It was a single storey building with a zinc roof. It included a small hall, and offices. From 1900 1919 it was used by the Island Branch of the Poplar Liberal and Radical Association.
St John’s community centre. Used as a mosque Jumu'ah Salaah among other organisations which use the centre.
Cubitt Town Primary School. This was originally Glengall Road Board School built in 1875. It was also known as Glengall Road Elementary School. It was built in three phases by London School Board's architect, E. R. Robson. There was a further addition in 1935, by Albert Monk. It was reorganized as a primary school in 1970-1 by the Greater London Council’s department of Architecture and Civic Design. The Cubitt Town Primary School in Saunders Ness Road was transferred to Glengall Grove. The buildings were converted to accommodate separate junior and infant sections
The Priory. In 1896 a group of young men decided to establish a monastery with the Benedictine way of life here. They were gone before the Great War.
Lawn House Close
This is named for Lawn House built by Thomas Pitcher at the Canal Dockyard.
Jack Dash House. Tower Hamlets neighbourhood centre on the corner with Marsh Wall. Built 1988-91 by Chassay Architects (Tchaik Chassay and Malcolm Last), one of the few public buildings to be built at this time in Docklands. It was commissioned by the London Docklands Development Corporation for the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Council it was one of the several neighbourhood councils into which the administration of Tower Hamlets was devolved until 1994. It is named for Jack Dash was the outstanding rank and file leader of his generation in the London docks. In retirement he became an advocate for pensioners' rights. It also houses the Jack Dash Gallery which holds regular exhibitions of contemporary art from Britain and all over the world
London Yard
London Yard. In 1856–7 Robert Baillie and Joseph Westwood, set up in business here. They had been managers at Ditchburn & Mare's shipyard at Orchard Place. Their business was as shipbuilders, boilermakers and ironworkers. The name London Yard derived from London Street, which originally gave access to the yard. Westwood, Baillie & Company had difficulty surviving the decline in Thames shipbuilding of the 1860s, and up to 1871 production at the yard continued with Westwood and Baillie acting as managers for the London Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Company Ltd here. From 1872, back in control, they continued with civil-engineering projects, in particular the construction of prefabricated iron and steel bridges for developing countries. The firm was wound up in 1893 and the yard and its contents were sold at auction in 1898 the property was taken over by the local shipbuilding firm of Yarrow & Company.
Yarrow (see Folly Wall above). Some of the existing buildings on Manchester Road were retained and extended, but most of the yard was cleared for redevelopment. four large workshop units in a single building, were built by Sir William Errol & Co., and housed the engineers', boiler makers' and shipbuilders' departments. However Yarrow's business had suffered badly during the engineers' strike of 1897–8, and coupled with the increasing costs of materials and labour, it was impossible to compete with firms on Clyde side and Teesside. Between 1906 and 1908 the Poplar yard was shut down and the firm moved to new premises at Scotstoun in Glasgow, accompanied by 300 workers. In 1917 the wharf was purchased by C. & E. Morton,
Morton's. They were based in Millwall and were manufacturers of soups, pickles and jams. Yarrow's large building was converted into a case-making plant. Morton’s decided to sell the wharf in 1936,
Badcock. After the Second World War the wharf was acquired by D. Badcock (Wharves) Ltd of Greenwich. It was then known as London Wharf. By the early 1960s Badcock's had been joined by a variety of other firms but by 1972 the wharf was unoccupied and derelict. London Yard was eventually acquired by the London Docklands Development Corporation.
London Yard. A Dutch development of flats and houses with a long riverside frontage. It is designed with a central water garden base on a drainage lagoon and a canal bridge. Developed in 1984-8 by Dutch developers VOM and Dutch architects ED, the scheme was executed by BDP.
Manchester Road
Manchester Road and its continuation to the north, Preston's Road, give access to the side of the West India Docks. The area now known as Manchester Road north of the junction with East Ferry Road was once known as Ferry Road.
Blue Bridge. This is the Manchester Road Lift Bridge, a single-span steel drawbridge built in 1967-9 by the Port of London Authority and the sixth bridge on the site. It spans the operational entrance to the South Dock. The original timber bridge of 1804 survived until 1842–3, when it was replaced with a cast-iron swing-bridge supplied by the Butterley Company. In 1866 the entrance lock was widened and the bridge was replaced with a single-leaf wrought-iron hydraulic swing-bridge by the Park Gate Iron Company of Rotherham, and opened in 1870. In 1896 the London County Council replaced that with a wider hydraulic swing-bridge By Thames Iron Works Company. The entrance lock was again widened in 1927 and following representations from Poplar Borough Council, it was decided to place the new bridge outside the outer lock gates to allow less hold ups for road traffic. It was then that the line of Manchester road changed making Glen Terrace a side road. This bridge was by the Horseley Bridge & Engineering Company and was a double-rolling bascule bridge, known as a Scherzer after the inventor. By 1965 deterioration of the steelwork of the bridge and an accidental collision meant that expensive repairs were needed and a replacement was likely to be cheaper. Sir William Arrol & Company made the bridge in Glasgow. The 'Blue Bridge' opened in 1969. Oil hydraulic machinery raises or lowers the bridge in one minute, and is operated from an elevated control cabin. The road and cantilevered footways were surfaced in PVC tile sheeting that was replaced in the late 1980s.
631 The Dockland Scout Project. This is based on the 'Lord Amory' vessel, which is permanently moored here. The Project evolved from a Scouting past, on the Training ship "R.R.S. Discovery", moored on the Embankment, This was Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition vessel, and was used by the 1937 -1979. “Discovery” was relocated to Dundee by the Maritime Trust and the Dockland Scout Project was formed and began in part of a wooden pavilion on the Canary Wharf site. In 1981 the Project acquired the ex-pilot cutter "Algol" now called Lord Amory”. The Project grew with the help of the Port of London Authority and in 1994 with the aid of the London Docklands Development Corporation the boathouse complex was opened by the then Chief Scout Garth Morris. In the late 1990's there landlords became British Waterways. The project has been involved in many activities in Docklands and in the wider scouting movement.
Canal Row. This was a terrace of six houses on the west side of Ferry Road (now Manchester Road) opposite the graving docks and Pitcher’s dockyard. They were built before 1813 as accommodation for his staff. They were use to house employees by the various firms using the dockyard until 1875. It was demolished in 1877 for the widening of East Ferry Road.
Lawn House. This was built by Thomas Pitcher as his own house and was on the west side of Ferry Road, overlooking the City Canal. It was completed by 1812 and the Pitcher family lived there until about 1840. There are gardens and pleasure grounds extending to the south. Im1853 J. & F. Somes presented the house, rent-free, to the Sailors' Home Institution, an organization set up to establish moderately priced board-and-lodging houses for seamen. There were medical facilities, an information service about jobs and vacancies on merchant ships, savings banks and reading-rooms. The Poplar home had 50 beds, but room for double that number. But For all its good intentions the Poplar Sailors' Home was a failure and soon closed. The premises, renamed Lawn House, reverted to private a house. Lawn House was demolished in 1941, having twice suffered severe bomb damage.
575-615 Glen Terrace. These houses were called Glen Terrace after the shipping line which had had the site in the 1880s. They were built in 1891 although a coffee house had been there earlier. Houses in this terrace have cement plaques all with different faces on them,
The Britannia Works Site. Behind Glen Terrace to the west was the Britannia Works of Messrs Lane & Neeve, 1893 -1922 sailcloth and sacking manufacturers. This site would have been the garden of Lawn House. Lane & Neeve went into liquidation in 1922 and the site was acquired by the PLA
571 Queen of the Isle. This dated from 1855-6 and was originally called “The Queen”. It was an Allied Breweries House and the name was changed to “Queens” in the 1980s and “Queen of the Isle from 1995. It was demolished in 2004.
St.John’s Park. A small park with sports facilities located slightly to the south of the site of the now demolished St. John’s Church. There is a gazebo, designed to appeal to children, decorated with birds and mushrooms.
416 Pierhead Lock. Built 1997 by Goddard Manton Partnership., flats with white surfaces; sleek curves and nautical railings. It is adjacent to the old graving dock.
393 The London Tavern. It closed in 1954 but survived until the 1960s as a single storey shell
377-379 Dorset Arms. This was originally a private house in 1860 but became a pub within a year. In 1898 it was a Mann, Crossman and Paulin House from 1808 and then later Watneys. It was rebuilt in 1913 and demolished again in 1997 to be replaced with offices.
339 Jubilee Crescent. Flats built for workers retired from the local ship-repairing firm R. & H. Green & Silley Weir Ltd. The blocks, each have six flats but look like interwar houses linked at the first floor by a continuous concrete balcony. On the balcony are relief portraits of King George V and Queen Mary. The garden in front was once a bowling green set back
308 The Manchester Arms. This pub was built in 1858 and closed in 1941 following bomb damage and demolished
262 Cubitt Arms. A plain three-bay pub. It was built in 1864 as part of the development of Cubitt Town. It originally it belonged to the Millwall Canal Company, and was leased to Truman’s Brewery in 1873. It had an intact inter-war period interior, with wood-panelling and old Truman’s Brewery advertising. It closed in 2011 and it is now flats.
Cubitt Town School. This is a much altered early Board School, built three phases by E.R. Robson, 1874-6, 1878, 1884-5 with further additions, 1935-9, by Albert Monk. Reorganized as a primary school, 1970-1. Two to three storeys with towers
Primitive Methodist Church, The stood on the west side of the road on the junction with Glengall Grove. The first building here was by Thomas Ennor of Limehouse in 1862, with the foundation stone laid by Joseph Westwood. There was a schoolroom below the chapel and the building was extended twice. In 1904–5, the freehold of the site was acquired and the chapel was completely rebuilt to designs by Henry Harper. It was still raised above the schoolroom. It was demolished in 1978
Millennium Wharf
Cubitt Town Pier. In 1857 Cubitt built a timber pier at the south end of what is now Millwall Wharf on the boundary with what was Dungeon’s Wharf. Pier Street originally crossed Manchester Road to access it. Cubitt had a steamboat to ferry passengers to Greenwich and elsewhere. This was to serve the new inhabitants of Cubitt Town but it was used mainly by dock workers, and as a Potters Ferry lost more than half its income. Litigation followed and the ferry company won. The pier was demolished in 1892.
Millwall Wharf. James W. Cook & Co, wharfingers, lightermen and shipping agents were occupants of part of the wharf from 1883 and all of it 1900 -n1964. This was originally three wharves and two inland plots. Cook took over James Ash’s lease on the wharf and added to the buildings there using them for storage, of jute and other fibres. In 1900 and 1901 plans for a series of riverside warehouse buildings were prepared by Edwin A. B. Crockett, Surveyor to the London Wharf and Warehouse Committee and they were built in 1902. These sheds were bonded and used for storage of sugar and fibres. Cook & Co. continued to expand taking over areas of land formerly belonging to Yarrow to the north of Millwall Wharf, and building another warehouse there. Cook & Co. remained in occupation of Millwall Wharf until 1964, when the leases were assigned to Cory Associated Wharves Ltd. The freehold was later sold to Cory’s parent company, Ocean Transport & Trading Ltd. The warehouse buildings were demolished in the 1970s, with the exception of the riverside range since converted to housing
James Ash. The southernmost wharf north of Cubitt Town Pier, was taken by James Ash, shipbuilder, in 1862. Ash had C. J. Mare and the Thames Iron Works’ naval architect. In setting up his business Ash had borrowed from Overend Gurney & Co. and he was one of the many businesses forced to close following by their failure in 1866
Plough Wharf. Was to the north of the original Millwall Wharf. This was leased by Cubitt to the London Manure Company 1853- 1861they made artificial manure from crushed bones and sulphuric acid. A jetty was added for manure barges. They went bankrupt in 1892 and James Cook took the wharf over in 1896. They added more buildings
National Guaranteed Manure Company. They had had this plot since 1858. In 1900 the wharf, was taken by Cook & Company, which completed its acquisition of the present-day Millwall Wharf.
Housing of 2000 on Millwall Wharf. The warehouses on the site were converted to flats in 1998. A jetty remains on site described as a private pier for the estate – presumably this is the jetty built for the Manure Co. on Plough Wharf.
Olliffe Street
Entrance piers and gates with old granite setts
Pier Street
This road originally extended across Manchester Road to the river, and the Pier built by William Cubitt
Riverside
Millwall Wharf (see Millwall Wharf above)
Samuda (see Samuda below)
London Yard (see London Yard above)
Blackwall Iron Works. (See Stewart Street below)
Storm Water Pumping Station, (see Stewart Street below)
Folly Yard and The Folly (see Folly above)
Graving Docks and Canal Dockyard (see Canal Dockyard above)
South West India Dock Entrance
Roserton Street
Island House. Community centre and church. The centre opened in 1972 and claims to be the last Presbyterian Church built in the country. It was formed from the Poplar Presbyterian Settlement and St Paul's Presbyterian Church. It was built on a site on the north side of Roserton Street, on the site of the workmen's club and the old St John's mission hall and boys club which was also the post-war venue for St John's Church itself. When that church moved the site was taken by the Presbyterian Church of England to replace St. Paul’s Church in West Ferry Road. The new development included a manse and multi-purpose community space,
St Paul's National School. In 1868–9, a much needed new school was built on a 'patch of waste ground to the west of Manchester Road'. The school building was erected facing Roserton Street, with the adjoining site reserved for a new church and vicarage. The School opened in 1869, and for the next three years the St Paul’s Mission services were able to be held in the new school buildings. The buildings were badly damaged in bombing and had to be demolished soon after.
St John's Church. This had its origins in St Paul's Mission. The Mission was established in 1866, and held its services in a wooden hut near the Millwall Docks. Money was offered for a church in 1870 by Mrs. Isabelle Laurie, from Maxwelton and by 1871 work was under way on the new church. The church was aligned north-south because of the restricted site. It was consecrated in 1872 under the new name of "St John's”. It was noted for its 'high' Anglo-Catholic practices but also had high attendances. The site is now that of the medical centre. It was damaged during air raids in 1941 and eventually demolished in the 1950s to make way for the new "Castalia Square".
St John's Mission Hall. This was on the site of Island House, and in 1885–6 a spacious mission hall was erected, together with houses for the verger and senior curate. Additions were made to this group in 1892, and in 1897 a large two-storey workmen's Club-house was built adjoining the hall. After the Second World War the mission hall was refitted as the new St John's church and dedicated in 1955. However, church attendances continued to fall, and in 1965 the congregation was combined with Christ Church. Following fire damage in 1970 this building was demolished to make way for the development of Island House by the Presbyterian Church of England
Boys Club. This was erected to the west of the clergy house in 1900 as part of the St John’s Mission
Workmen’s club. This was built in 1897 as part of the St John’s Mission
Island Medical Centre.
Samuda Estate
Samuda's Wharf also known as Samuda's Yard. Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda was an engineer, shipbuilder, MP and founder-member of the Institution of Naval Architects. In the 1830s he joined his brother Jacob as partner in an ironworks and engineering yard at Southwark and in 1843 in a yard at Orchard Place. After Jacob’s dearth in 1844 Joseph established firm as iron and steel shipbuilders here in 1852. Samuda Brothers were pioneers in their use of steel in shipbuilding, constructing warships, steam packets, and other special-purpose craft. The area was soon expanded. Many orders came from emerging foreign naval powers such as Germany, Russia and Japan, and they were thus able to survive the 1866 financial crash and the decline in Thames shipbuilding. The yard continued in business until Joseph's death in 1885 and the yard closed.
Haskin Wood Vulcanizing Co.. This company was here until 1912–13. The tenancy of the site during the early twentieth century was complex; among tenants were the Star and Sterling Manufacturing Companies, making toys, prams and domestic appliances; the Motor Packing Company and Claridge, Holt & Co., which shipped abroad motor cycles, built in Coventry. Samuda's Wharf was badly damaged by bombing in 1941. After the war the wharf was used for the storage of fibres and other goods. In the 1950s the vacant site was purchased by the LCC for new housing, and it is now occupied by the Samuda Estate
Samuda Estate. The estate is named for the shipbuilding company. The estate was designed by Gordon Tait and built by Tersons Ltd for the London County Council in two phases, beginning in 1965. Work was completed by the Greater London Council and the estate subsequently became part of the Tower Hamlets stock. The estate has four and six-storey blocks arranged around central squares, some connected by covered bridges. The London Docklands Development Corporation built the Samuda Community Centre for the estate in 1986
Skylines Village
Estate of low rise office units at the junction of Marsh Wall and Limeharbour. It was developed in 1964 by Laing and the London Industrial Association and designed by Hutchinson Libby. The blocks give the impression of high steep pyramids with a complicated grid of triangles and windows. About to be redeveloped.
South West India Dock Entrance
The South Dock entrance is the only remaining working lock in the West India and Millwall Docks and thus the only way in to the whole system. It was rebuilt in 1926-9 to serve the whole West India and Millwall system with Frederick Palmer as engineer at a time when the South Dock and South Dock entrance basin were joined. The lock is very big with walls and invert in mass concrete.
St. John’s Estate
Housing. The Metropolitan Borough of Poplar's only big immediately post war estate. This started in 1952, with the object of creating a neighbourhood similar to the LCC's Lansbury.
Stewart Street
Storm water pumping station. The lack of adequate drainage on the Island and the consequent flooding led the Metropolitan Board of Works to build a storm-water pumping station beside the river. The buildings were designed by the MBW Engineer's department. J. Watt & Co provided the engines and machinery. It was completed in 1888. There was also a small brick boiler house. The London County Council added two extra gas driven centrifugal pumps in a second building which was not completed until 1928. By 1953 the engine house was vacant; the chimney had gone, with all the work being done by electric machinery in the extension while the boiler house was used as a coal store. The plant was obsolescent by 1969 and the Greater London Council decided to construct a new pumping station. The old engine house was demolished in the 1980s.
Temple of the Winds. It was the London Docklands Development Corporation in association with Thames Water that commissioned the replacement pumping station, which was erected in 1987–8 to the designs of John Outram. It is a windowless steel-framed building, designed to be vandal-proof, best described as a colorful Post-Modern Egyptian Monumental. There is a roundel in the pediment which is a rotating fan which extracts methane gas from the building. Inside is a pump room, a subterranean chamber 30ft deep, and houses 14 water pumps that pump water to the large surge tank which drains into the Thames.
Wall. The much-repaired brick retaining wall on the north side of the street is a survival from William Pitcher's time. It contains ten iron tie-bars, some of which have shallow pyramidal heads embossed with the legend: 'Leiston Works 1844 / Springall's Patent / Made by Garrett & Sons'.
Blackwall Iron Works. This was established by John Stewart in the 1850s for the manufacture of marine engines specializing in engines for tugboats. Stewarts acquired other adjacent sites including in 1893 the shipyard of Thomas Westbrook to the north and also had Pitcher's former yard, north of the Folly Wall. In 1912 the PLA bought the premises, when Stewarts went into liquidation, with the intention of improving the entrance to the South Dock of the West India Docks, but John Stewart & Sons, remained there as tenants. The works closed in 1924 and the remaining buildings were demolished by the end of 1926. ()
Ovex Wharf. The southern part of the Blackwall Iron Works site was occupied from 1910 by the Ovex Fuel Company, which left in 1913. In 1920 the Ross Smith Steamship Company was used part of the wharf for storage, Thames Plaster Mills Ltd a manufacturer and dealer in plaster of Paris, cements and ceramic ware leased it in 1931 until 1938. Bomb damage in 1940 rendered the wharf unfit and it was later hit by a V1. the Rye Arc Welding Company, a ship-repairing and engineering firm, moved on to the site in 1946 and rebuilt much of the wharf . They remained there until 1973 (
Strattondale Street
Cubitt Town Library. This is a Carnegie Library. Built in 1905 by C. Harrold Norton.
Sources
Bird. Geography of the Port of London
Carr. Dockland
Carr. Docklands History Survey
Exploring East London. Web site
Hostettler. The Isle of Dogs. A brief history
Industrial Archaeology Review
Field. London place names
Historic England. Web site
Island History. Web site
Island House. Web site.
Lost pubs project. Web site
Survey of London. Poplar
GLIAS Newsletter
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Web site
London Encyclopedia
Marcan. London Docklands Guide
Pevsner and Cherry. London Docklands
Port of London Magazine
Samuda Estate. Wikipedia Web site
As ever and once again. Embarrassment at the amount of material taken from the Survey of London – but a plea for people to read it. What I have put is summarised. The Survey itself is a miracle of first class research.
Blackwall
TQ 38410 79235
Riverside area developed for industry in the 19th which included some important shipyards now entirely replaced by modern housing development. The area includes a still functioning entrance to what was the West India and Millwall Dock system. Inland are older communities in areas still under intense development pressure but which include older social support and religious bodies. There is one very eccentric modern riverside building.
North of the river only., The south bank is Greenwich Peninsula West
Post to the south Cubitt Town and Highbridge and Ballast
Post to the west Millwall
Post to the north Old Blackwall
Post to the east Greenwich Marsh
Amsterdam Road
Part of the London Yard Development
Canal Dockyard
Rolt's Yard. In 1703 there was a shipyard south of Coldharbour owned by John Rolt. This site is now under the eastern entrance to the South Dock. The yard had been laid out in the late 1660s by Robert Browne, with two dry docks and its chief business presumably was ship repairing rather than shipbuilding. Rolt was there until 1717 and the yard was probably empty although from 1724 it was held by various shipwrights and eventually apparently derelict.
Canal Dockyard. In 1799 part of the area was purchased by the City Corporation for the City Canal. When the canal was finished, the Corporation leased and sold land which was not needed on the south side of the Blackwall entrance to Thomas Pitcher, the Northfleet shipbuilder. He laid out a dockyard, with two dry docks, and, on the west side of the road, built Canal Row for his workers and Lawn House for himself. His Northfleet yard built for the East India trade, and warships for the navy; the dockyard at Blackwall was for on repairing and refitting. Two graving docks were built as well as an engine house for a Boulton and Watt engine. Pitcher retired in 1815, assigning the business to two of his eleven sons, Henry and William. William Pitcher took over the yard and remained as proprietor until 1850, when he sold it to a local firm of ship-owners, Joseph & Frederick Somes.
J. & F. Somes made a number of improvement s and added a wooden mast-house with sail loft above. In 1866 the yard was acquired by the Merchant Shipping Company Ltd, set up in 1864 - with members of the Somes family as the largest shareholders. They remained until 1886
Dry Docks Corporation of London. They took the yard over in 1886 and were bankrupt by 1889.
John Stewart. By 1891 Stewart was on this site. They were already o the site to the south. By 1912 they were in liquidation and the Canal Dockyard was purchased by the Port of London Authority. John Stewart & Sons (1912) Ltd, however remained here as hull and engine repairers until 1923. The yard then closed.
Port of London Authority. Following Stewarts’ closure in 1923 the yard was cleared and the two dry docks filled with spoil taken from the rebuilt entrance to the South Dock. The northern end of Manchester Road was realigned over part of the old yard. Northern end of the old road survives as an access road in front of 591–613 Manchester Road. The blocked-up former entrances to the dry docs are still visible, from the river between round-ended projections of brick and stone with wooden fenders).
Dock houses. In the 1940s site was then used by the PLA for four houses for assistant dock masters and police officers 3–4 and 6 stand directly above the old dry docks and. 5 partly so. 14 as four-bedroom detached house for the Dockmaster of the India and Millwall Dock was added in 1955 in the south-west corner of the site.
Capstan Square
Early block of private housing, pre-London Docklands Development Corporation
Castalia Square
The original Castalia Street was a British Land Company development of the 1880s which was completely destroyed in Second World War bombing. It was replaced by these buildings in the early 1950s as part of the St. Johns Estate. It was designed by W. J. Rankin, Poplar’s Borough Engineer and Surveyor, and built by the Borough's direct labour force. It is said to be ‘Festival of Britain’ style.
1-17 A three-storey terrace with a row of shops built 1956, refurbished in 1992.
12 There is a foundation stone, in the end wall laid in 1952 to mark the commencement of the estate
21-23 Headstart Nursery.
Clergy House. Built in 1955 this replaced St John's Vicarage which was in Castalia Street and destroyed from a direct hit in the Second World War. St John’s vicarage had been built in 1876. It stood alone in large walled gardens. This is now St Mildred's House which was the name of the former Anglican settlement in Millwall adjacent to St.Paul’s Church in Westferry Road.
Chipka Street
The street was originally developed in the 1850s and 1880s, and a few houses here survived Second World War bombing.
Copper and Brass Works. This belonged to the coppersmith and brass founder George Brockley who built a factory here in 1878. He continued here until 1939, when the site was taken over by John Downton Foundry & Engineering Company, marine engineers, who war hose-coupling manufacturers. They left in 1967.
East Ferry Road
ASDA Superstore. This was the first major modern retail development on the Island. In the early 1980s part of the site of the Transporter Yard to was leased from the PLA by the Leeds-based Associated Dairies. The store was designed by the Whittam Cox Ellis Clayton Partnership. There is an internal row of nine smaller, independent shops a cafeteria, a filling station and 600 parking spaces.
Millwall Football Club. This had been founded in 1885 as Millwall Rovers, a factory team for J. T. Morton & Co. They had had various sites to play on but in 1889 William Clark, of the George Pub arranged for them to lease dock company land near Millwall Dock Station fronting onto East Ferry Road. This was to be a football pitch as well as cricket, tennis, running and cycling tracks. A stand was built on the west side, and the ground opened on in 1890. In 1901 the dock company took the land back for the transporter and the club eventually moved to New Cross.
Transporter. The Millwall Dock Company needed a timber storage system and in the 1890s decided that their land east of East Ferry Road could be used for timber storage. Following a visit to Sweden they decided to use an electrically motivated elevated timber transporter invented by the Stockholm engineers Adolf Julius Tenow and Johan Edward Flodstrom. A trestled timber framework for 400 yards of transporter was ordered and fixed here from the south-east corner of the Inner Dock. Joseph Westwood & Com erected steel bridges to carry the structure across the railway and road. It was installed in 1901. It system proved more expensive than conventional trolleys. It did not save on labour and it ceased to be used in 1909 and, after a fire, it was demolished in 1911.
RAF. During the Second World War the Transporter Yard served as an RAF embarkation point and to the west the site for four Ack Ack guns. The 154 Battery of the 52 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment was stationed here until 1941. Then the 119 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment took over until 1945. The guns were fired by remote control using Radar. The blitz started in 1940, and early on the Guardroom, canteen and stores was destroyed by landmines. 430 people were killed on the Isle of Dogs in the blitz
Mud ASDA stands on land once owned by the Millwall Dock Company. Land to the south of this was used for mud deposits. Other land was leased to McDougall Brothers as allotments for their staff.
Globe Rope Works. This was Hawkins and Tipson's Works. In 1881 George Hawkins had set up the works with Mr. Tipson, a ropemaker, using money made by discovering gold while digging his garden in Australia. Here manila and sisal were twisted into extra thick rope of the sort used in life-boats as fenders. They made Hercules rope but also pioneered nylon rope making. The firm occupied this site between 1881 and 1971. They became an international group of companies and moved to Thamesmead in 1971. The old rope walk is now a pedestrian link between East Ferry Road and
Stebondale Street.
145 Island Health Clinic. Built 1991 by John Duane Architects.
Folly Wall
Folly House. Thomas Davers, son of an admiral, built here a small fort in the mid 18th. It was known as Davers’ folly. After he had sold it in 1754 it became Folly House or Folly House Tavern and well known as a drinking establishment with a cock pit. In the 19th Folly House became a reference point to people sailing along the Thames but it was eventually demolished in 1875.
Folly Yard Yarrow site. New Union Wharf, also known as (Folly Wall Yard. Yarrows, shipbuilders, were established by Alfred Yarrow in the mid-1860s. He had served an apprenticeship with the marine engineers Ravenhill & Salkeld and in 1866 set up an engineering firm in partnership with Robert Hedley. When Hedley left the firm became Yarrow & Co. In 1866 they leased a barge-builder's yard here known as Hope Yard and it became known as Folly Shipyard and it was gradually enlarged. The firm established itself as a builder of steam launches. The Folly House was initially used by the firm, for a drawing office, but it was later demolished. A small dock was built on the foreshore. From 1875 the company made river steamers and gunboats, for Africa and South America. They were leading builders of torpedo boats, and in the early 1890s destroyers – supply both the Royal Navy and foreign navies. The firm expanded into Samuda's Yard in 1885, and in 1898 a London Yard was acquired and the business was moved there so the Folly Shipyard was vacated.
Union Lighterage Company of Blackwall moved into Folly Yard after Yarrow and changed the name to New Union Wharf. They built three slipways, for repairing barges.
Joseph. Bender, moved onto the old Samuda area. They made parquet and woodblock flooring here until the 1940s
2 Prince of Wales. This pub was built by 1859. It was destroyed during the Second World War by bombing.
Friars Mead,
Houses. These were built in 1983-6 by Ronald Quin Associates on a corner of the Transporter site. Quin with Comben Homes had won an early limited London Docklands Development Corporation design competition. It is a secluded, loop of houses and flats forming an island amid the would-be countryside of Mudchute City Farm.
Glengall Grove
This was originally Glengall Road
114 George. At the corner with East Ferry Road. The original building was built in 1864 George Read. It was a big building with a coach-house and stable, it had meeting rooms, dining rooms and a billiards room. There was a Masonic temple in the basement. In 1927 Watney Combe Reid acquired the and demolished it to replace it with the current pub,
Glengall Coffee Palace. This was built in 1883 at the junction with Manchester Road. It was a single storey building with a zinc roof. It included a small hall, and offices. From 1900 1919 it was used by the Island Branch of the Poplar Liberal and Radical Association.
St John’s community centre. Used as a mosque Jumu'ah Salaah among other organisations which use the centre.
Cubitt Town Primary School. This was originally Glengall Road Board School built in 1875. It was also known as Glengall Road Elementary School. It was built in three phases by London School Board's architect, E. R. Robson. There was a further addition in 1935, by Albert Monk. It was reorganized as a primary school in 1970-1 by the Greater London Council’s department of Architecture and Civic Design. The Cubitt Town Primary School in Saunders Ness Road was transferred to Glengall Grove. The buildings were converted to accommodate separate junior and infant sections
The Priory. In 1896 a group of young men decided to establish a monastery with the Benedictine way of life here. They were gone before the Great War.
Lawn House Close
This is named for Lawn House built by Thomas Pitcher at the Canal Dockyard.
Jack Dash House. Tower Hamlets neighbourhood centre on the corner with Marsh Wall. Built 1988-91 by Chassay Architects (Tchaik Chassay and Malcolm Last), one of the few public buildings to be built at this time in Docklands. It was commissioned by the London Docklands Development Corporation for the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Council it was one of the several neighbourhood councils into which the administration of Tower Hamlets was devolved until 1994. It is named for Jack Dash was the outstanding rank and file leader of his generation in the London docks. In retirement he became an advocate for pensioners' rights. It also houses the Jack Dash Gallery which holds regular exhibitions of contemporary art from Britain and all over the world
London Yard
London Yard. In 1856–7 Robert Baillie and Joseph Westwood, set up in business here. They had been managers at Ditchburn & Mare's shipyard at Orchard Place. Their business was as shipbuilders, boilermakers and ironworkers. The name London Yard derived from London Street, which originally gave access to the yard. Westwood, Baillie & Company had difficulty surviving the decline in Thames shipbuilding of the 1860s, and up to 1871 production at the yard continued with Westwood and Baillie acting as managers for the London Engineering & Iron Shipbuilding Company Ltd here. From 1872, back in control, they continued with civil-engineering projects, in particular the construction of prefabricated iron and steel bridges for developing countries. The firm was wound up in 1893 and the yard and its contents were sold at auction in 1898 the property was taken over by the local shipbuilding firm of Yarrow & Company.
Yarrow (see Folly Wall above). Some of the existing buildings on Manchester Road were retained and extended, but most of the yard was cleared for redevelopment. four large workshop units in a single building, were built by Sir William Errol & Co., and housed the engineers', boiler makers' and shipbuilders' departments. However Yarrow's business had suffered badly during the engineers' strike of 1897–8, and coupled with the increasing costs of materials and labour, it was impossible to compete with firms on Clyde side and Teesside. Between 1906 and 1908 the Poplar yard was shut down and the firm moved to new premises at Scotstoun in Glasgow, accompanied by 300 workers. In 1917 the wharf was purchased by C. & E. Morton,
Morton's. They were based in Millwall and were manufacturers of soups, pickles and jams. Yarrow's large building was converted into a case-making plant. Morton’s decided to sell the wharf in 1936,
Badcock. After the Second World War the wharf was acquired by D. Badcock (Wharves) Ltd of Greenwich. It was then known as London Wharf. By the early 1960s Badcock's had been joined by a variety of other firms but by 1972 the wharf was unoccupied and derelict. London Yard was eventually acquired by the London Docklands Development Corporation.
London Yard. A Dutch development of flats and houses with a long riverside frontage. It is designed with a central water garden base on a drainage lagoon and a canal bridge. Developed in 1984-8 by Dutch developers VOM and Dutch architects ED, the scheme was executed by BDP.
Manchester Road
Manchester Road and its continuation to the north, Preston's Road, give access to the side of the West India Docks. The area now known as Manchester Road north of the junction with East Ferry Road was once known as Ferry Road.
Blue Bridge. This is the Manchester Road Lift Bridge, a single-span steel drawbridge built in 1967-9 by the Port of London Authority and the sixth bridge on the site. It spans the operational entrance to the South Dock. The original timber bridge of 1804 survived until 1842–3, when it was replaced with a cast-iron swing-bridge supplied by the Butterley Company. In 1866 the entrance lock was widened and the bridge was replaced with a single-leaf wrought-iron hydraulic swing-bridge by the Park Gate Iron Company of Rotherham, and opened in 1870. In 1896 the London County Council replaced that with a wider hydraulic swing-bridge By Thames Iron Works Company. The entrance lock was again widened in 1927 and following representations from Poplar Borough Council, it was decided to place the new bridge outside the outer lock gates to allow less hold ups for road traffic. It was then that the line of Manchester road changed making Glen Terrace a side road. This bridge was by the Horseley Bridge & Engineering Company and was a double-rolling bascule bridge, known as a Scherzer after the inventor. By 1965 deterioration of the steelwork of the bridge and an accidental collision meant that expensive repairs were needed and a replacement was likely to be cheaper. Sir William Arrol & Company made the bridge in Glasgow. The 'Blue Bridge' opened in 1969. Oil hydraulic machinery raises or lowers the bridge in one minute, and is operated from an elevated control cabin. The road and cantilevered footways were surfaced in PVC tile sheeting that was replaced in the late 1980s.
631 The Dockland Scout Project. This is based on the 'Lord Amory' vessel, which is permanently moored here. The Project evolved from a Scouting past, on the Training ship "R.R.S. Discovery", moored on the Embankment, This was Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition vessel, and was used by the 1937 -1979. “Discovery” was relocated to Dundee by the Maritime Trust and the Dockland Scout Project was formed and began in part of a wooden pavilion on the Canary Wharf site. In 1981 the Project acquired the ex-pilot cutter "Algol" now called Lord Amory”. The Project grew with the help of the Port of London Authority and in 1994 with the aid of the London Docklands Development Corporation the boathouse complex was opened by the then Chief Scout Garth Morris. In the late 1990's there landlords became British Waterways. The project has been involved in many activities in Docklands and in the wider scouting movement.
Canal Row. This was a terrace of six houses on the west side of Ferry Road (now Manchester Road) opposite the graving docks and Pitcher’s dockyard. They were built before 1813 as accommodation for his staff. They were use to house employees by the various firms using the dockyard until 1875. It was demolished in 1877 for the widening of East Ferry Road.
Lawn House. This was built by Thomas Pitcher as his own house and was on the west side of Ferry Road, overlooking the City Canal. It was completed by 1812 and the Pitcher family lived there until about 1840. There are gardens and pleasure grounds extending to the south. Im1853 J. & F. Somes presented the house, rent-free, to the Sailors' Home Institution, an organization set up to establish moderately priced board-and-lodging houses for seamen. There were medical facilities, an information service about jobs and vacancies on merchant ships, savings banks and reading-rooms. The Poplar home had 50 beds, but room for double that number. But For all its good intentions the Poplar Sailors' Home was a failure and soon closed. The premises, renamed Lawn House, reverted to private a house. Lawn House was demolished in 1941, having twice suffered severe bomb damage.
575-615 Glen Terrace. These houses were called Glen Terrace after the shipping line which had had the site in the 1880s. They were built in 1891 although a coffee house had been there earlier. Houses in this terrace have cement plaques all with different faces on them,
The Britannia Works Site. Behind Glen Terrace to the west was the Britannia Works of Messrs Lane & Neeve, 1893 -1922 sailcloth and sacking manufacturers. This site would have been the garden of Lawn House. Lane & Neeve went into liquidation in 1922 and the site was acquired by the PLA
571 Queen of the Isle. This dated from 1855-6 and was originally called “The Queen”. It was an Allied Breweries House and the name was changed to “Queens” in the 1980s and “Queen of the Isle from 1995. It was demolished in 2004.
St.John’s Park. A small park with sports facilities located slightly to the south of the site of the now demolished St. John’s Church. There is a gazebo, designed to appeal to children, decorated with birds and mushrooms.
416 Pierhead Lock. Built 1997 by Goddard Manton Partnership., flats with white surfaces; sleek curves and nautical railings. It is adjacent to the old graving dock.
393 The London Tavern. It closed in 1954 but survived until the 1960s as a single storey shell
377-379 Dorset Arms. This was originally a private house in 1860 but became a pub within a year. In 1898 it was a Mann, Crossman and Paulin House from 1808 and then later Watneys. It was rebuilt in 1913 and demolished again in 1997 to be replaced with offices.
339 Jubilee Crescent. Flats built for workers retired from the local ship-repairing firm R. & H. Green & Silley Weir Ltd. The blocks, each have six flats but look like interwar houses linked at the first floor by a continuous concrete balcony. On the balcony are relief portraits of King George V and Queen Mary. The garden in front was once a bowling green set back
308 The Manchester Arms. This pub was built in 1858 and closed in 1941 following bomb damage and demolished
262 Cubitt Arms. A plain three-bay pub. It was built in 1864 as part of the development of Cubitt Town. It originally it belonged to the Millwall Canal Company, and was leased to Truman’s Brewery in 1873. It had an intact inter-war period interior, with wood-panelling and old Truman’s Brewery advertising. It closed in 2011 and it is now flats.
Cubitt Town School. This is a much altered early Board School, built three phases by E.R. Robson, 1874-6, 1878, 1884-5 with further additions, 1935-9, by Albert Monk. Reorganized as a primary school, 1970-1. Two to three storeys with towers
Primitive Methodist Church, The stood on the west side of the road on the junction with Glengall Grove. The first building here was by Thomas Ennor of Limehouse in 1862, with the foundation stone laid by Joseph Westwood. There was a schoolroom below the chapel and the building was extended twice. In 1904–5, the freehold of the site was acquired and the chapel was completely rebuilt to designs by Henry Harper. It was still raised above the schoolroom. It was demolished in 1978
Millennium Wharf
Cubitt Town Pier. In 1857 Cubitt built a timber pier at the south end of what is now Millwall Wharf on the boundary with what was Dungeon’s Wharf. Pier Street originally crossed Manchester Road to access it. Cubitt had a steamboat to ferry passengers to Greenwich and elsewhere. This was to serve the new inhabitants of Cubitt Town but it was used mainly by dock workers, and as a Potters Ferry lost more than half its income. Litigation followed and the ferry company won. The pier was demolished in 1892.
Millwall Wharf. James W. Cook & Co, wharfingers, lightermen and shipping agents were occupants of part of the wharf from 1883 and all of it 1900 -n1964. This was originally three wharves and two inland plots. Cook took over James Ash’s lease on the wharf and added to the buildings there using them for storage, of jute and other fibres. In 1900 and 1901 plans for a series of riverside warehouse buildings were prepared by Edwin A. B. Crockett, Surveyor to the London Wharf and Warehouse Committee and they were built in 1902. These sheds were bonded and used for storage of sugar and fibres. Cook & Co. continued to expand taking over areas of land formerly belonging to Yarrow to the north of Millwall Wharf, and building another warehouse there. Cook & Co. remained in occupation of Millwall Wharf until 1964, when the leases were assigned to Cory Associated Wharves Ltd. The freehold was later sold to Cory’s parent company, Ocean Transport & Trading Ltd. The warehouse buildings were demolished in the 1970s, with the exception of the riverside range since converted to housing
James Ash. The southernmost wharf north of Cubitt Town Pier, was taken by James Ash, shipbuilder, in 1862. Ash had C. J. Mare and the Thames Iron Works’ naval architect. In setting up his business Ash had borrowed from Overend Gurney & Co. and he was one of the many businesses forced to close following by their failure in 1866
Plough Wharf. Was to the north of the original Millwall Wharf. This was leased by Cubitt to the London Manure Company 1853- 1861they made artificial manure from crushed bones and sulphuric acid. A jetty was added for manure barges. They went bankrupt in 1892 and James Cook took the wharf over in 1896. They added more buildings
National Guaranteed Manure Company. They had had this plot since 1858. In 1900 the wharf, was taken by Cook & Company, which completed its acquisition of the present-day Millwall Wharf.
Housing of 2000 on Millwall Wharf. The warehouses on the site were converted to flats in 1998. A jetty remains on site described as a private pier for the estate – presumably this is the jetty built for the Manure Co. on Plough Wharf.
Olliffe Street
Entrance piers and gates with old granite setts
Pier Street
This road originally extended across Manchester Road to the river, and the Pier built by William Cubitt
Riverside
Millwall Wharf (see Millwall Wharf above)
Samuda (see Samuda below)
London Yard (see London Yard above)
Blackwall Iron Works. (See Stewart Street below)
Storm Water Pumping Station, (see Stewart Street below)
Folly Yard and The Folly (see Folly above)
Graving Docks and Canal Dockyard (see Canal Dockyard above)
South West India Dock Entrance
Roserton Street
Island House. Community centre and church. The centre opened in 1972 and claims to be the last Presbyterian Church built in the country. It was formed from the Poplar Presbyterian Settlement and St Paul's Presbyterian Church. It was built on a site on the north side of Roserton Street, on the site of the workmen's club and the old St John's mission hall and boys club which was also the post-war venue for St John's Church itself. When that church moved the site was taken by the Presbyterian Church of England to replace St. Paul’s Church in West Ferry Road. The new development included a manse and multi-purpose community space,
St Paul's National School. In 1868–9, a much needed new school was built on a 'patch of waste ground to the west of Manchester Road'. The school building was erected facing Roserton Street, with the adjoining site reserved for a new church and vicarage. The School opened in 1869, and for the next three years the St Paul’s Mission services were able to be held in the new school buildings. The buildings were badly damaged in bombing and had to be demolished soon after.
St John's Church. This had its origins in St Paul's Mission. The Mission was established in 1866, and held its services in a wooden hut near the Millwall Docks. Money was offered for a church in 1870 by Mrs. Isabelle Laurie, from Maxwelton and by 1871 work was under way on the new church. The church was aligned north-south because of the restricted site. It was consecrated in 1872 under the new name of "St John's”. It was noted for its 'high' Anglo-Catholic practices but also had high attendances. The site is now that of the medical centre. It was damaged during air raids in 1941 and eventually demolished in the 1950s to make way for the new "Castalia Square".
St John's Mission Hall. This was on the site of Island House, and in 1885–6 a spacious mission hall was erected, together with houses for the verger and senior curate. Additions were made to this group in 1892, and in 1897 a large two-storey workmen's Club-house was built adjoining the hall. After the Second World War the mission hall was refitted as the new St John's church and dedicated in 1955. However, church attendances continued to fall, and in 1965 the congregation was combined with Christ Church. Following fire damage in 1970 this building was demolished to make way for the development of Island House by the Presbyterian Church of England
Boys Club. This was erected to the west of the clergy house in 1900 as part of the St John’s Mission
Workmen’s club. This was built in 1897 as part of the St John’s Mission
Island Medical Centre.
Samuda Estate
Samuda's Wharf also known as Samuda's Yard. Joseph D'Aguilar Samuda was an engineer, shipbuilder, MP and founder-member of the Institution of Naval Architects. In the 1830s he joined his brother Jacob as partner in an ironworks and engineering yard at Southwark and in 1843 in a yard at Orchard Place. After Jacob’s dearth in 1844 Joseph established firm as iron and steel shipbuilders here in 1852. Samuda Brothers were pioneers in their use of steel in shipbuilding, constructing warships, steam packets, and other special-purpose craft. The area was soon expanded. Many orders came from emerging foreign naval powers such as Germany, Russia and Japan, and they were thus able to survive the 1866 financial crash and the decline in Thames shipbuilding. The yard continued in business until Joseph's death in 1885 and the yard closed.
Haskin Wood Vulcanizing Co.. This company was here until 1912–13. The tenancy of the site during the early twentieth century was complex; among tenants were the Star and Sterling Manufacturing Companies, making toys, prams and domestic appliances; the Motor Packing Company and Claridge, Holt & Co., which shipped abroad motor cycles, built in Coventry. Samuda's Wharf was badly damaged by bombing in 1941. After the war the wharf was used for the storage of fibres and other goods. In the 1950s the vacant site was purchased by the LCC for new housing, and it is now occupied by the Samuda Estate
Samuda Estate. The estate is named for the shipbuilding company. The estate was designed by Gordon Tait and built by Tersons Ltd for the London County Council in two phases, beginning in 1965. Work was completed by the Greater London Council and the estate subsequently became part of the Tower Hamlets stock. The estate has four and six-storey blocks arranged around central squares, some connected by covered bridges. The London Docklands Development Corporation built the Samuda Community Centre for the estate in 1986
Skylines Village
Estate of low rise office units at the junction of Marsh Wall and Limeharbour. It was developed in 1964 by Laing and the London Industrial Association and designed by Hutchinson Libby. The blocks give the impression of high steep pyramids with a complicated grid of triangles and windows. About to be redeveloped.
South West India Dock Entrance
The South Dock entrance is the only remaining working lock in the West India and Millwall Docks and thus the only way in to the whole system. It was rebuilt in 1926-9 to serve the whole West India and Millwall system with Frederick Palmer as engineer at a time when the South Dock and South Dock entrance basin were joined. The lock is very big with walls and invert in mass concrete.
St. John’s Estate
Housing. The Metropolitan Borough of Poplar's only big immediately post war estate. This started in 1952, with the object of creating a neighbourhood similar to the LCC's Lansbury.
Stewart Street
Storm water pumping station. The lack of adequate drainage on the Island and the consequent flooding led the Metropolitan Board of Works to build a storm-water pumping station beside the river. The buildings were designed by the MBW Engineer's department. J. Watt & Co provided the engines and machinery. It was completed in 1888. There was also a small brick boiler house. The London County Council added two extra gas driven centrifugal pumps in a second building which was not completed until 1928. By 1953 the engine house was vacant; the chimney had gone, with all the work being done by electric machinery in the extension while the boiler house was used as a coal store. The plant was obsolescent by 1969 and the Greater London Council decided to construct a new pumping station. The old engine house was demolished in the 1980s.
Temple of the Winds. It was the London Docklands Development Corporation in association with Thames Water that commissioned the replacement pumping station, which was erected in 1987–8 to the designs of John Outram. It is a windowless steel-framed building, designed to be vandal-proof, best described as a colorful Post-Modern Egyptian Monumental. There is a roundel in the pediment which is a rotating fan which extracts methane gas from the building. Inside is a pump room, a subterranean chamber 30ft deep, and houses 14 water pumps that pump water to the large surge tank which drains into the Thames.
Wall. The much-repaired brick retaining wall on the north side of the street is a survival from William Pitcher's time. It contains ten iron tie-bars, some of which have shallow pyramidal heads embossed with the legend: 'Leiston Works 1844 / Springall's Patent / Made by Garrett & Sons'.
Blackwall Iron Works. This was established by John Stewart in the 1850s for the manufacture of marine engines specializing in engines for tugboats. Stewarts acquired other adjacent sites including in 1893 the shipyard of Thomas Westbrook to the north and also had Pitcher's former yard, north of the Folly Wall. In 1912 the PLA bought the premises, when Stewarts went into liquidation, with the intention of improving the entrance to the South Dock of the West India Docks, but John Stewart & Sons, remained there as tenants. The works closed in 1924 and the remaining buildings were demolished by the end of 1926. ()
Ovex Wharf. The southern part of the Blackwall Iron Works site was occupied from 1910 by the Ovex Fuel Company, which left in 1913. In 1920 the Ross Smith Steamship Company was used part of the wharf for storage, Thames Plaster Mills Ltd a manufacturer and dealer in plaster of Paris, cements and ceramic ware leased it in 1931 until 1938. Bomb damage in 1940 rendered the wharf unfit and it was later hit by a V1. the Rye Arc Welding Company, a ship-repairing and engineering firm, moved on to the site in 1946 and rebuilt much of the wharf . They remained there until 1973 (
Strattondale Street
Cubitt Town Library. This is a Carnegie Library. Built in 1905 by C. Harrold Norton.
Sources
Bird. Geography of the Port of London
Carr. Dockland
Carr. Docklands History Survey
Exploring East London. Web site
Hostettler. The Isle of Dogs. A brief history
Industrial Archaeology Review
Field. London place names
Historic England. Web site
Island History. Web site
Island House. Web site.
Lost pubs project. Web site
Survey of London. Poplar
GLIAS Newsletter
London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Web site
London Encyclopedia
Marcan. London Docklands Guide
Pevsner and Cherry. London Docklands
Port of London Magazine
Samuda Estate. Wikipedia Web site
As ever and once again. Embarrassment at the amount of material taken from the Survey of London – but a plea for people to read it. What I have put is summarised. The Survey itself is a miracle of first class research.
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