Riverside south bank east of the Tower. Greenland Dock

Riverside south of the river and east of the Thames. Greenland Dock

Post to the east Millwall
Post to the south Thames Tributary Earl Sluice - Deptford
Post to the north Nelson Dock, Rotherhithe and Limehouse
Post to the west Surrey Docks

Acorn Pond
Thuis was built as Timber Pond No.4. by the Commercial Dock Company in 1811 and connected to Lady Dock by a cut, In 1931 It was deepened and essentially turning it into a dock rather than a pond in the 1930s. It was named after the Acorn Pub, Much of the area of Acorn Pond lies to the north of this square but in this square it is now the site of the DownTown Area and some of Russia Dock Woodland

Acorn Stairs
Concrete replacements for a set of traditional watermen’s stairs. This was a plying place from 1835. They are immediately upriver from the Surrey Docks Farm. They were named after the Acorn pub .

Acorn Wharf
Acorn Wharf. This was used by Thomas Brocklebank and Peter Rolt timber merchants in the earlier 19th supplying timber to railways. There was an extensive fire there in 1858. The next company, Gabriel Wade and English, specialized in the creosote-treatment of timber, and ran four steam cranes on a network of rail tracks. On the 1868 Ordnance Survey map two cranes are shown here with housing and a pub -The Acorn - along with the surviving dock plus a saw mill and creosote works.  It became the site of the Metropolitan Asylums Board Warf when it was purchased by them in 1883 and subsequently Surrey Docks Farm. A modern site of this name is to the north of this square off Salter Road in Acorn Walk

Acorn Yard
Acorn Yard. This ran down the east side of what became Lady Dock. In 1853 it was described as ship building premises which included a graving dock although this does not appear on maps.  It seems later to have been used for storage of timber, or sugar. New sheds were built here in 1960 for holding plywood and other timber, and became the centre of the storage system in this area.  It was redeveloped with housing in 1986.
Atkins Wharf
Atkins Wharf, This was at 6 Odessa Street and owned by J. &A.Atkins warehousemen
Baltic Quay
Baltic Quay, This is at the east end of South Dock. It was built by Lister Drew Haines Barrow in 1990. It has arched roofs and at 14 storeys visible from a distance. Originally it was to be offices with flats above but the demand for housing meant a change to an entire block of flats.
Barnard Wharf
Barnard Wharf. The name 'Barnard' refers to the shipbuilding family based here, at Ispwich and Deptford. This is now part of the area of The Surrey Docks Farm site Thomas Stanton had a lease on the yard in the mid 1750s, from the Bedford Estate. It has been suggested that Stanton had worked for Captain Bronsden's in Grove Street, Deptford. There was also likely to have been some sort of business relationship with the Wells family. He built here a number of shIps for the Navy. The Wells family were building ships in the late 18th and it is possible that they were built here.  It is thought they built about 77 East Indiamen and 25 ships for the Navy. Barnard may have taken the site over in 1798 buying the freehold from Wells but the record is unclear. Barnard were based in Ipswich and also had a yard at Deptford Grove Street. The Rotherhithe yard had 450ft of river frontage, a field on the opposite side of the road, a large dry dock, a building slip, a mast house and a mast slip so they could fit ships as well as building them. In about 1820 the site was split into an upper and lower yard, both operated by Barnard family interests. The area now covered by the Surrey Docks Farm, made masts and spars while the lower yard was for shipbuilding. The site extended south of the current Farm site to include land now occupied by the housing estate. After 1815 shipbuilding orders fell away and space was leased out. It is thought that Marc Brunel's steamer Regent was built here by J.B. and Thomas Courthope in 1816 and that John Jenkins Thompson built paddle steamer Banshee here launched in 1847.  It was later renamed Acorn Wharf – see above
Bergen Square
This is on the site of Norway Yard
Bonding Yard Walk
This is a walk way northwards from the Greenland Dock between rows of houses.
Mosaic by Jane Higginbotham for Hexagon Housing


Brunswick Quay
This runs along the south end of the north quay of the Greenland Dock on the site of what was Lower Brunswick Yard. It has some of the earliest housing in the area, by Form Design Group of 1985. It has coloured brickwork and a ground-floor arcade, with a double avenue of trees. The houses stretch back into short streets and suburban-looking garages. There are mooring facilities in the Surrey Docks.
Bust of engineer James Walker. This stands near the inlet which marks the line of the Grand Surrey Canal. It is in bronze and is by Michael Rizzello, 1990, for the London Docklands Development Corporation having been commissioned by the Institute of Civil Engineers and unveiled by their president.
Capstan. Probably 1898
Rails - these were for travelling cranes
Berth 14 was in this area and was used for storage of plywood. This was delivered to lorries by fork lift trucks.
Sheds 11 and 10 in this area were used to transit goods delivered by barge from vessels lying in the Canada, Albion, and Quebec Docks. Ships berthed here also ran the only passenger service to what was Leningrad.


Bryan Road
This was previously called Trinity Road. In the late 19th Mariner’s Buildings and Bryan’s Place stood here. These were cottages in three storeys, one room above the other with a steep wooden staircase.
Holy Trinity Church. This was designed by Thomas Ford in 1957 with a distinctive curved ceiling and a copper clad roof. A mural painted by Hans Feibusch covers the whole of the wall behind the altar.
Holy Trinity Church, The original church was built in 1837 designed by Sampson Kempthorne on a site been given by the Commercial Dock Company. It was destroyed by bombing in September 1940; it the first church in Britain to be destroyed by German bombs.
Churchyard. There are grave stones from the original church
War Memorial. This survives from the original church
Church Hall. This is in the buildings of Holy Trinity School. This was a National School founded in 1836 next to the church.  It closed in 1910. After the destruction of the church in 1940 it was used for services until 1959.
Holy Trinity Vicarage. The original parsonage was north of the church

Canute's Canal
King Canute is said to have built a 4 mile long canal round London as part of his invasion plans of 1015.  In 1729 workers on the Greenland Dock observed features which has led to a theory that if this canal existed that it discharged into the river in the area of the present, now closed, entrance. It is also thought that an alternative canal was one associated with the building of 'old'  London Bridge in 1290.

Centre Pond
Centre Pond, originally Timber Pond, No.2. This was one of the timber ponds established by the Grand Surrey Dock and Canal Company in 1862. Only the eastern section is in the current square. In the early 1920s it became part of Quebec Dock. It was infilled either in the 1940s or the 1960s.  It later became the eastern end of the Harmsworth plant at Surrey Docks.

Clyde Dry Dock
Clyde Dry Dock.This was sited sighted to the immediate south of the Greenland Dock Entrance.
Commercial Basin
Commercial Basin . This was a long thin stretch of water, of which only the eastern end is in this square built between 1862 and 1868. It appears on 19th maps to the west of the Surrey Canal parallel to the western end of the Greenland Dock – which is on the east side of the canal - and was apparently connected to Russia Dock.  It appears to have been used as part of the enlargement of the Greenland Dock in 1895-1904.

Commercial Dock Pier and Commercial Wharf
Commercial Dock Pier and Commercial Wharf. This ran from the end of Odessa Street. It came from the north end where a cobbled walk way runs to the river bank. There had been a floating pier here but this was replaced by the Corporation of London in 1854 and steam boat services used it. This was the area of Wells shipyard.
Scotch Derrick. Painted red. This is on the site of the Kempton and Collins timber yard.

Commercial Dock Road
This road once ran from Rotherhithe Street and the junction with the road to Commercial Dock Pier, on the section curving south west round the Greenland Basin and parallel to the Surrey Canal,  to eventually meet what is now Plough Way. Some of the line of it is now in the extended Greenland Dock although some of it is covered by Redriff Road.
Swing Bridge over the passage from Norway Dock. .
Ploughbridge Works. This works was on the west side of the road and a number of different works are listed there and it may have been in multiple ownership.  For example in the 1850s Newton and Fuller were there, makers of iron Warehouses, in 1893 the occupants were British Stone and Marble Co and In 1900 Blumann & Stern Ltd; Makers of oils and lubricants.
Custom House
Telegraph Office
Commercial Cottages

Commercial Docks
The Greenland Dock of 1699 was sold in 1806 and passed to the new Commercial Dock Company. In 1811 they opened the Norway Dock and two timber ponds – the future Lady Dock and Acorn Pond. This dock system was entered via the Greenland Dock entrance and was separate from other docks around the Surrey Canal belonging to the Surrey Commercial Dock Co... In 1850 the company bought the East Country Dock – south of the Greenland Dock on the site of the current South Dock. In 1864 they amalgamated with the Surrey Commercial Dock Co. And formed the Surrey Commercial Dock Company and links were opened between the two sets of docks and ponds. They were taken over by the Port of London Authority in 1909
Derrick Street.
This was previously Russell Street built by the Bedford Estate. In the 1890s it was commented that there were Danish names to the shops and a Danish restaurant. It is now part of Elgar Street
6 Lifeboat pub. Closed in 1890 and demolished

Dog and Duck Stairs
Dog and Duck stairs.These are between the entrances to the South and Greenland Docks. They are named for a pub which stood nearby from around 1723. It was hit by a V2 in 1944 and destroyed,

Down Town Road
This is not and never was ‘downtown’ in the American sense. It was an area cut off from the rest of Rotherhithe by docks and timber ponds and it became a distinct and separate neighbourhood.  The Downtown estate was an estate built between the wars in municipal style for dock workers.  It was very badly bombed in the Second World War., London Docklands Development Corporation developed a ‘Downtown package’, and new town houses were built and others refurbished.    The road itself runs along what was the top of Lady Dock.  Much of the area is that which was once Acorn Pond.
Surrey Docks Health Centre
Durand’s Wharf
Durand’s Wharf. Called Durand’s Wharf because in 1804 it was the finishing line for a rowing race between team of watermen from Gravesend in which Captain Durand played a leading role. It was then a wharf used by mast and block makers. From 1849 It was a timber wharf where  in 1850 Henry Potter was joined by Samuel Boulton and in 1854 Thomas Burt Haywood. They used Bethel's patent process of 1858 to preserve timber using tar oils. Their more famous works was at Prince Regent Wharf in Silvertown and is now in South Wales. The wharf closed in the 1970s and the site was cleared to become a small park. When Work began on the Jubilee Line extension in the early 1990s the park became a work station where excavated spoil was brought up to the surface and loaded into barges for disposal. During the work the discovery of creosote tanks led to remedial work. The area was reinstated as a park in 1998.
A ventilation and escape shaft to service the Jubilee Line Extension stands on the park
Cannon and anchor as decorative items

Elgar Street
This was originally York Street laid out by the Bedford Estate.

Finland Street
This runs the length of what was the north quay of the Greenland Dock and is all late 20th housing. Like other road names in this area it refers to historic links of the area to Scandinavia through initially whaling and then the timber trade.
Berths in this area of the dock were used by shipping lines to North America. There was also an area used for hard wood storage
Berths 3 and 4 were by the dock entrance and 1 and 2 were to the north of them. They were used for plywood storage.

Grand Surrey Canal
The Grand Surrey Canal Company was incorporated in 1801 and ran from an entrance from the Thanes to the north of this square. When complete, the canal passed across Rotherhithe and beneath Greenland Dock towards Deptford before turning south towards Camberwell and Peckham. As the Commercial Dock Company built enclosed spaces to the east of the canal, so the Canal Company realised that the Rotherhithe section of its canal could be developed to compensate for the financial failure of the canal itself. In 1811 they got parliamentary permission to expand the channel of the canal through this area and this included what became Russia Dock. In 1855 the Canal Company changed its name to the Grand Surrey Docks and Canal Company and began to expand.  Local landowner Sir William Maynard Gomm sold land to them which allowed this. Greenland Dock was enlarged in the late 1890s, had to incorporate the Grand Surrey Canal, which now passed across its centre.  Its route can still be traced through the landscape which has replaced the docks, but it ceased to exist as a working canal in the 1970s and much of its length is now landscaped parkland

Greenland Dock
Howland Great Wet Dock.  The first 'wet' dock was built here and called ‘The Howland’ which was a family name and became the base of the Greenland whaling fleet. Originally a dry dock only was planned but the wet dock as built was probably the largest in Europe. It became a laying-up and fitting-out basin, It was built in 1696-9 for the Russell family who had acquired the land through the marriage in 1695 of the Marquess of Tavistock, later 2nd Duke of Bedford, to Elizabeth Howland, heiress of landowner John Howland and granddaughter of Josiah Child of the East India Company. . The designer and supervisor was John Wells, a local shipwright working with George Scorold, who had worked on water works schemes. The contractor was William Ogbourne, a house carpenter from Stepney. The underlying Thanet Sands here and the quay foundations led to great delay. The dock was wooden walled with a wooden lock into the Thames and its purpose was to provide shelter for shipping – much of it owned by the East India Company. There were no cargo handling facilities.  Trees were planted around it as a windbreak and there was a big house, the Russell Mansion, at the landward end – although the house was only used by the Wells family and was demolished in the early 19th.  At each side of the dock entrance were shipbuilding and repair yards and the originally planned dry dock. It was managed by the Wells family members, from the 1720s it was used by whalers and was sold by the Bedford estate in 1763 to Wells shipbuilders. It was then renamed Greenland Dock and there was a link with the South Sea Company. 1,000 tons of blubber was boiled here annually to extract the sperm oil. It was bought by William Ritchie who set up the Surrey Commercial Dock Co. in 1807, and reopened as an import dock in 1809, with a new entrance lock by Ralph Walker.
Greenland Dock. The dock was rebuilt in its present form in 1894-1904 by Sir John Wolfe Barry, succeeding J.A. McConnochie, extending the length greatly to the west. It was thus more than doubled in length and in depth. It eventually covered 22.5 acres with a depth of 31 feet. It cut straight across the Surrey Canal which continued across it.  The quays were split up leaving the longest continuous length of quay in as 800 feet despite a total quay length of 2,250 feet. The Entrance lock was designed for ships of 12,000 tons. There was a regular passenger service between London and Russia, via Leningrad and there were also shipping lines going to North America – including Cunard whose A-class vessels of sailed regularly from here to Canada. In 1909 the dock, was taken over by the Port of London ‘Authority. In 1940 bombing Surrey Docks suffered the greatest damage any dock system. New sheds were built after the war to house timber although the dock was also used for general cargoes. From the late 1950s technological changes in the shipping industry pushed the dock into decline. Bulk carriers were too large to be accommodated here. In 1970 the Surrey Commercial Docks were closed. Greenland Dock was sold to Southwark council. The Inner London Education Authority used the dock for a Watersports Centre on the dock for young people. Much of the Surrey Docks was filled in but Greenland Dock escaped this and in 1981 was passed to the London Docklands Development Corporation. The remaining industrial occupiers were evicted and the dock became a residential area. A new water sports centre was built on the site of the old entrance to the infilled Surrey Canal. The dock itself is substantially intact
Greenland Entrance Lock. Designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry and built in 1904. It is now preserved with its original outer and middle steel gates. There is granite coping has a lip as a safety feature. Hydraulic ground sluices and gate rams - early examples of the direct acting pattern - are displayed. Although the lock gates, the granite steps and the hydraulic gear have been preserved, the lock is now blocked off.
Footbridge. This is a bolted steel lattice swing bridge over the dock entrance. It is high arched for the free passage of barges, with hydraulic jiggers to swing it for ships.It was manufactured by Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. The hydraulic equipment is still preserved today in the pits next to the bridge on each side, although they no longer function. The bridge was restored in 1987 to provide a right of way
Lock-Keeper's Cabin. This – along with the Tide Gauge House - was built when the lock was extended between 1894-1904. They were probably designed by James McConnochie for the Surrey Commercial Dock company. They are single-storey structures in a pale brick. They were refurbished 1987 by the London Docklands Development Corporation. The office was manned in three shifts to process ships in and out of the lock when the tide was right.
Tide Gauge House. With the contrasting two-centered window heads that were used for small buildings throughout the Surrey Docks. This building had equipment for determining the state of the tide which was essential for the correct operation of the lock
Greenland Dock. South Shipyard, this was south of the entrance. Opened around 1700 and included a dry dock. Initially leased to the Burchett family who built 60 gun Monck here in 1702. The yard seems to have concentrated on repair work and was lost when the entrance was rebuilt
Greenland Dock. North Shipyard. This was north of the entrance with a dry dock which may have dated from 1662. It was leased to Abraham Wells of Deptford.  East Indiaman, The Tonqueen, was built here in 1681 by Richard Wells. In 1698 the 42 gun Winchester was built here. Randall's shipyard. This lay on either side of the dock. They also had a yard at Nelson Dock. In the 1790s it was Randall & Brent but Randall died in 1802 and Daniel Brent who took the whole yard in 1815. They built 'Rising Star’ in 1822, the first steam ship to cross the Atlantic from east to west. And originally a Cochrane steam warship built for the Chilean Navy. They also built the London Engineer which undertook a regular service to Margate in 1818. It was later used by Charles Lungley in the 1860s to complement his main yard in Deptford. The dry dock was then called the Commercial Dry Dock.
Curlicue.  Art work by William Pye. Thus was commissioned by the London Docklands Development Corporation. This is at the river end on the north side of the lock.
Greenland Passage. This housing scheme now lies either side of the Greenland Entrance Lock. It is by Danish architect Kjaer Richter scheme for ISLEF. There are 152 dwellings in four blocks with landscaping and car parking underneath. It was built 1986-9
Wibbley Wobbly. This is a bar on a boat in the dock. Comedian Malcolm Hardee, died here by falling in the dock.
Steel Yard Cut – the passage from the dock into what was Norway Dock.
Greenland Quay
This housing area covers the south west part of the Greenland Dock site.
Berth 12 sited in the south-western part of the dock for a liner service carrying general export and import goods to and from Canada

Gulliver Street
In Swift’s story Gulliver is said to have lived in this area.
2 Ship and Whale. Docklands pub. Refurbished and for a while a gay pub. The name refers to the local whaling trade connections. It is thought to date from the 1760s although the building is 1880.
Helsinki Square
King Frederick IX Tower.  Built by Danish firm ISLEF in 1886

Holyoake Court
This was previously part of Trinity Street, and before that Acorn Place.

Howland Street
New housing on what was part of Acorn Yard

Lady Dock
Lady Dock. Built by James Walker for the Commercial Dock Co as Timber Pond No.3 in a scheme of 1809. It has a shallow depth and was only used by barges and for floated timber. Here the predominant floating wood was Douglas Fir for cutting into planks.

Lady Dock Path
This runs east west across the area which was Lady Dock going from the end of Bonding Yard Walk to the Russia Dock Woodland.
Lovell Place
New housing on part of what was Russia Yard. Lovell were the development agency.

Lower Brunswick Yard
This was the area on the north west quay of the Greenland Dock. Now Brunswick Quay. New Brunswick in Canada was a source of the timber handled in the Rotherhithe yards.

Lower Quebec Yard
Dock area now probably part of the Stave Hill area. Pictures show sugar being unloaded and stacked here but was mainly used for timber. New sheds were built here in 1927,

Norway Dock
Norway Dock was the first docks built by the Commercial Dock Company for handling timber from the Baltic. It was originally No.2 built in 1811. It was connected to the Thames through Greenland Dock via the Norway Cut. It was latterly an engineering base. A repair yard which was the headquarters of the P.L.A. Marine Engineering, and the depot of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, contractors to the P.L.A. for all floating plant were located there.
Steelyard Cut. This leads from Greenland Dock to what was Norway Dock.
Footbridge. Across the opening to the dock from Greenland Dock is a wrought-iron swing of 1862 by Henry Grissell, and installed for James Walker. It was moved from the South Dock entrance lock by the London Docklands Development Corporation in1987. It was originally hand-cranked. The rivets are countersunk to give the appearance. Wrought-iron cantilevers are stayed by iron rods from cast-iron counterweights, closing to form an arch.
The Lakes. Built in the Norway Dock in 1988 by Shepheard Epstein and Hunter's as an artificial lakeside development. There are semi-detached villas around the lake and a central lake has been created above the level of the infilled dock. The inlet from the dock passes beneath the front block and opens out into a shallow semicircular basin, enclosed by a crescent of two-storey houses. Round the lake are villas resting on timber decks. At the centre of the outer crescent is a pre-existing industrial building of 1918.
Norway Dock is blocked off by Finland Street, and the result is a rectangular duck pond, with nesting pontoons and duck houses

Norway Gate
New housing in an area which once ran down the east side of Norway Dock.

Odessa Street
This was originally Thames Street laid out by the Bedford Estate.  Odessa is a port on the Black Sea, exporting grain and flour. This grain was imported into Rotherhithe
Odessa Wharf building. This is one of the oldest surviving wharves in Rotherhithe, which was used for grain storage and known as Mr. Randall’s Granary. The date of 1810 appears on a lintel and it may actually have been a mould loft. It was converted into flats by Fletcher Priest in 1990 with some uncompromising industrial-style elements bolted on.
Odessa Street Youth Club. Sea Service Hut. This has a partial mural on the back. It originally read, "People Come Together @ the Odessa".
Custom House Reach. There was an incinerator for flotsam and jetsam which could be collected from this point in the river. The riverside here was called The Condemned Hole and was owned by Customs and Excise and where they could collect and dispose of contraband. It closed in 1962.
6 New Caledonia Wharf. Another block of gated flats developed for Rosehaugh in 1989 with architects Hunter. It is said to be a conversion of the previous buildings on site. This block has a swimming pool, bar, gymnasium and sauna. The entrance foyer is said to be ‘New York Style’ – sort of art deco, with banded plasterwork in grey and white plus brown. It appears to be on the site of what was called Redriff Wharf.
Redriff Wharf, also described as Atkin’s Wharf, and probably part of the granary complex on site as Odessa Wharf. It is said to have been used as such into the 1970s.
38 Black Horse pub. This closed in 1925 and has been demolished

Onega Gate
Finland Quay West. Seven linked pavilions by Richard Reid

Onega Yard
This was north of Norway Dock fronting what was then Commercial Dock Road. Onega is a Russian town, where English merchants had rights to fell timber and set up sawmills for export to England. Clearly the Onega Yard dealt with this timber.
Quebec Way
This runs through an area which was yards between Russia and Quebec Docks.
Quebec Way Industrial Estate. This is now being converted to housing.

Rainbow Quay
This development is on what was the south east quay of Greenland Dock.
Berth 15, this was sited south of the dock entrance and handled vessels from Finland.
Berth 2. This was behind berth 15 and was used for sorting and storing import goods delivery to barges in South Dock.
Shed 8 – this was a transit shed built post Second World War where exports were handled mechanically on pallets using fork lift tricks. It had working areas on both Greenland and South Docks - goods being delivered to the Greenland side and on the South Dock side they were loaded into barges. Shipping line from here went to India and Pakistan. 

Randall’s Rents
This is a passageway running down the side of the Ship and Whale. Houses here were built for workers at Randall and Brent’s shipyard. It is the only survivor of a network of passages in the area. It was originally called Wet Dock Lane and was laid out by John Wells in 1698. The name was changed to that of local shipyard owner, John Randall.

Redriff Estate
In the area called Downtown.  This was laid out by the Bedford Estate but the current houses were built in 1930 by Bermondsey Council, and gas lit. It was badly bombed and eventually refurbished by London Docklands Development Corporation and many flats sold off privately. . It is said that the last maker of figureheads was based here.

Redriff Road
Swing bridge over the Russia Dock Passage. The hydraulic gear survives on the side of the lock. Thus dates from the late 19rh and is .by Sir WG Armstrong, Mitchell & Co Ltd. It was restored in the 1980s. There is a hand-operated iron capstan on the south-east side of bridge and a Larger, hydraulic capstan on north-east side of bridge.
100 Cafe East. This was once a pub called the Quebec Curve which closed in 2008

Rope Street
This runs between Greenland and South Docks and was once quayside with warehouses, transit sheds and granaries,
Lift bridge – there is a modern bridge which takes Rope Street to pass over the cut to south Dock while allowing vessels to pass between the two docks. 
322 The Danish Seamen's Mission
Building on the corner with Sweden Gate. This was known as the Yard Office and was built in 1902. It was originally the toll building for the Great Surrey Canal. It later was converted to an electricity substation
Tideway Sailability. Sailing club for people with or without a disability.
Surrey Docks Watersports Centre. Thus was originally a two storey boathouse – ‘tin shed’ designed and built by the Greater London Council  in the 1980s and since then, has trained thousands of people in sailing, canoeing and other water sports. In the 21st London Borough of Southwark has refurbished it and provided new facilities. An artificial beach preserves the line of the Grand Surrey Canal,

Rotherhithe Street
Rotherhithe Street. At the south end the current road is made up of a number of other roads following the changes in the area during the 1980s and earlier. Some of it was once part of Redriff Road and other roads including also Queen Street. Queen Street, for instance, had become known as Upper Trinity Street following expansion of the Wells brothers’ shipyard. These changes can be traced through historic maps.
339 Acorn Pub. This pub’s original address was in Trinity Street and it dated from the late 1860s. It lasted until the Second World War. It closed in 1942 and has been demolished.
344 Wheatsheaf Pub. Closed in 1909 and demolished
351 Orange Bull Pub. This has had a number of names and stands at the junction with Derrick Street, although the address has changed as streets have been reconfigured. It is believed the pub was built on the site of the 'Union Jack Beer House' 1832. It opened about 1865 as the Surrey Commercial Docks Tavern. Between 1920-28 it was known throughout the world via foreign seamen who visited it as "Fitchetts" after the licensee and a lamp in the shape of a barrel with ‘Fitchett;’ on it  hung outside. It later became called the 'Aardvark'
364 A small house here had a garden full of gnomes until the 1990s.
375 The Ship York Pub. It was first recorded as The York in 1809. The name may refer to the York launched by Randall and Brent in 1807 and later used as a prison hulk. Closed and likely to be demolished. It has had a number of different addresses as roads and sites have altered
380 Noah’s Ark Pub. This was demolished in 1933
642 India Arms. This was at 642 Rotherhithe Street 1813 -1929
654 St.Pelagia’s Home for Girls. This was run by  the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Mary and Jesus. There was a network of these homes in London. Apparently named for 'St.Pelagia, the Harlot'. This one was for girls who had been leading an irregular life or who had turned to drink. The building was destroyed in Second World War bombing.
656 Waterman’s Arms pub. This was at what were then 656, Rotherhithe Street. It was first recorded in 1860 and lasted until 1933. Bryan House flats are now on the site.
Blundell’s School Mission. Blundell’s is a public school dating from the 17th in Tiverton, Devon. They appear to have had this ‘mission’ to work with deprived boy.
Docklands Settlement. This was the Scandinavian Mission Church, also called Ebenezer Chapel, which moved to the Limehouse side of the Rotherhithe Tunnel in 1929. It was taken over by the Settlement and apparently rebuilt. The Centre consisted of the chapel which had structural problems, a house and a linked hall, gardens and a football pitch. The complex has been demolished and replaced with flats called Oscar Court owned by a housing association. There is also a new community building and a new football pitch. There us also a new dance studio with mirrors along one wall, an indoor sports hall and a third hall used as a cafe and also by Southwark Youth Club. There is also meeting and classroom space and a community garden open to all.
Surrey Docks Farm. The Farm was first established in 1975 on a site between the entrance to Greenland Dock and the River by Hilary Peters. In 1986 it was re-located to its present site at South Wharf, previously the Met. Asylums site and before that an 18th shipyard. It was designed as a farm by Styles Landscape for the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1986-90. There is a sculpture of bronze farmyard animals, by Philip Bews, H Gorvin, Nathan David, Althea Wynne, and Marjan. It has space for pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, donkeys and sheep. In the 21st it was managed by Barry Mason until his tragic death in Spain.

Russell Street
This is now part of Elgar Street. It was laid out by the Bedford Estate and Russell is their family name

Russia Dock
Russia Dock. Originally an extension along the line of the Grand Surrey Canal which was dug in 1811-12 by the Surrey Commercial Dock Company. The Company sought to exploit the Rotherhithe section of the canal and in 1811 had parliamentary permission to expand the channel. They expanded it into the Grand Surrey Outer Dock with the canal flowing down the middle. Later further extensions led to a number of docks including Russia. It was expanded and connections to other docks were improved in the 1850s.  This was the only one of the north-eastern series of docks, which could take ships but only those with a draught less than seventeen feet. Mainly dealt in Baltic timber.Was destroyed in Second World War bombing and never re-opened but Mulberry Harbours built there,
Russia Dock Woodland. This linear wooded park was created by London Borough of Southwark in 1980 from the former Russia Dock basin and part of the old canal wall and boat moorings remain visible. It contains a water feature that connects streams, a canal and lagoon, and two ponds. It attracts a waterfowl including mallard, moorhen and even reed bunting. There are footbridges - including one named for Alfred Salter - and paths, one of which is Waterman's path which goes along the stream. The Council manages the wood and seasonal mowing of grass along the paths encourages wildflowers.  Its paths follow the remnants of the stone quaysides. There is dense planting of trees of various species such as willows and poplars.
Russia Dock Passage
Russia Dock Passage. When the Greenland Dock was extended across the line of the Surrey Canal in 1898 a passage was built through to connect with the Russia Dock taking the line of the Surrey Canal. This has been preserved as an underpass under Redridff Road. The passage itself is exposed in the subway under Redriff Road. Here are the preserved turntable and hydraulic gear of the dismantled 1898 Swing Bridge. There is a plaque which explains all this and that there had been a lock here, on the canal, since 1804.

Russell Place
6 Moby Dick. Pub built with the estate in the 1980s

Russia Yard South
This yard was to the south of Russia Dock, north of Redriff Road and Onega Yard. The area is now roughly Farrow Place and Russia Dock Woodland. In the early 20th this was occupied by seven single storey sheds, with a roadway running through them, used for handling timber and owned by the Dock Company.  By the 1970s there were no buildings on the site.

Rice Mill corner on junction of Russia Dock, Stave Dock and Island Dock. Very difficult to navigate. Mill eventually burnt down.

Salter Road
The road was built by London Borough of Southwark in the late 1970s/early 1980s as a new distributor road through the defunct Surrey Docks. It was named for Alfred Salter – the charismatic doctor and Labour MP who transformed Bermondsey and Rotherhithe in the period before 1945.
Redriff Primary School. This single-storey building opened in 1990, and replaced an earlier building nearer the River which had opened in 1910 as a three storied building in Rotherhithe Street. This school was totally destroyed in Second World War bombing. The children returned in 1945 and were taught in local houses. In 1949 a single story infant block was opened and a new school was built on Cow Lane on the site of a blacksmiths forge. This has now been replaced.
400 Docklands Settlement – these are the new buildings of the settlement which previously fronted onto Rotherhithe Street.

South Dock
The South Dock. This originated as the independent East Country Dock of 1807-11 and constructed by their engineer David Matthews who replaced Ralph Dodd who had been sacked. The East Country Dock Company had been formed in 1807 and was named for its trading connections with the eastern Baltic.  The dock was built for the Baltic timber trade and it is thought that the distinctive granite bollards, unique in Rotherhithe, date from this time.  In 1850 it was purchased by the Commercial Dock Company and entirely rebuilt in 1851-5 by James Walker who doubled its width, extended its area and depth. Then known as South Dock it was connected to Greenland Dock and the rest of the Commercial Dock network. It had extensive grain warehouses, since demolished. In September 1940 these docks suffered the greatest damage any single dock system. No less than 176 timber sheds were destroyed, mostly by fire, and 57 had to be demolished. After the war warehouses were replaced but traffic fell off due to containerization of cargo. South Dock was filled in and re-excavated later. Although the docks closed to shipping many of the warehouses continued in use, and some in South Dock warehouses were bonded warehouses.  It now houses London's biggest marina, and has an operational connection to the Thames. It provides temporary and residential moorings for about 200 berths and is operated by Southwark Council. 
Lock.  Lock has walls of sandstone ashlar and was redesigned and rebuilt by James Walker.  A self-acting sluice was installed in 1855 and is preserved. A bridge was erected across the lock and this was moved in 1987 to Greenland Dock, where it crosses Norway cut. In 1862 Henry Grissell's swing bridge was installed across the entrance lock and is now across Steelyard Cut between South and Greenland Docks. It was badly damaged in Second World War bombing and was sealed but reopened after the war. When the dock was reopened under London Docklands Development Corporation a lock control building was commissioned. This overlooks the hydraulically operated lock at South Dock and was built by Conran Roche between 1986-9. It has a bowed control room and reflective glass, on a cantilevered pedestal.
Mulberry Harbours. Eight of these units to be used in Second World War D Day landings were built in the South Dock.  The entrance lock had already been damaged in bombing and it the dock was then turned into a huge dry dock and the units built. So, in 1944 the dock was drained, the floor was spread with rubble and it was used for the construction of the concrete sections. Then the connection to the Greenland dock was opened and the new units were floated out,
Riverside by the entrance lock. Site of a timber yard and ship breakers belonging the City of London leased by Blight & Co.
Sluice. Thus is Lawrence's patent self-acting 1855. Preserved.

South Wharf
South Wharf Receiving Station. This site had been Acorn Wharf and is now part of the Surrey Docks Farm.  In 1882 the Metropolitan Asylums Board moved its smallpox hospital ships - the Atlas, the Endymion and the Castilia - from Deptford to Long Reach. This meant that a River Ambulance Service was needed to ferry patients there and wharves were to be built at Rotherhithe, Poplar and Fulham.  In 1883, they bought Acorn Wharf and a floating pier was built along with a covered shed at the land end where the ambulances delivered the patients.  The ships usually ran once a day. In 1885 Acorn Wharf was renamed South Wharf and in 1893 two shelters were built for dubious cases.  These were corrugated iron buildings lined with wood with a separate Nurse's Duty Room.  Later staff quarters were built for the nurses and domestics who worked on the steamers. In 1901 more female staff quarters were added plus a house for the Medical Officer and other facilities. The river service was reorganised in 1913, with the South Wharf dealing with general fever cases and by 1921 it had 24 beds so patients could be kept overnight. In 1930 the Metropolitan Asylums Board was abolished and the LCC took over control of the River Ambulance Service but after an accident all patients were transported by road. In 1940, during WW2, the South Wharf Receiving Station was destroyed by firebombs. One shed at the northeast of the site survived the Blitz and is now used as a blacksmith's shop.


South Sea Street
This new road runs along the east – river – end of Greenland Dock connecting it to South Dock.

St George’s Wharf
St George’s wharf is located between South Dock and the River. The site includes car parking and a boat repair yard. This was once the site of the Dockmasters Office and other facilities.

Stave Hill
Stave Hill. Tumulus, created in 1984, using spoil from the redug Albion Channel and allows views across the Thames and elsewhere. It includes a circular bronze sculpture of the Surrey Docks in 1896 by Michael Rizzello for the London Docklands Development Corporation. It also gives distances and pointers to other features.
Stave Hill Nature Park. The nature park is run by the Trust for Urban ecology and contains a created habitat scheme which includes such things as a toad hollow and a bee observation area. It has grassland surrounded by ash and maple woodland. There are ponds near the middle of the site. A variety of birds - gold finches, wagtails and warblers are resident. Families of foxes inhabit the area.

Stave Hill Path

Butterfly Sanctuary 

Wind turbine.  

Surrey Docks
The Surrey Docks had their origin in Britain's first wet dock, the Howland Great Wet Dock, now rebuilt as Greenland Dock.  It was made up of 11 basins interconnected by cuttings, enclosed within a bend in the south side of the river, Aat one time there were four separate dock companies. In 1801 the Grand Surrey Canal Company had built their canal through the area. By 1809, the Commercial Dock Co. had taken over the Greenland Dock and, by 1811, had built Norway and Lady Docks. There was also the Eastern Country Dock later called South Dock. The two companies combined as the Surrey Commercial Dock Co. in 1865.  Two ship entrances, the Greenland and the Surrey, gave access to the docks and to the Canal. In the Second World War 176 sheds were burnt down, 57 had to be demolished, most of the warehousing and all the cold-store accommodation was destroyed, as was the South Dock Entrance. In 1939 there had been space for 80,000 standards of softwood timber under cover; in 1952 there was only space for 24,000. Timber was the predominant cargo dealt with everywhere. The Port of London Authority sold the docks in 1969 to Southwark Council, who infilled most of them during the 1970s working with the Dockland Joint Development Committee's. In 1981 the Thatcher government installed The London Docklands Development Corporation.
Timber trade. The timber trade was seasonal and most merchants had little storage capacity of their own – and many of them were directors of the dock companies. Ships could bring cargoes here at the height of the season and the wood could then be sorted out and put out to be sold. The directors did not see the need of providing cranes. The sorting operation was carried out here on the quays rather than in sheds. Men carried the lumber from the quay to the shed – called deal porters who carried timber on their shoulders whole running along the gangway plank.   

Sweden Gate
Grain Office. This dates from 1890s built by J.A. McConnochie. Only the rear office, refurbished in 1997, survives

Swedish Quays
Housing on the area between South and Greenland Docks built by David Price & Gordon Cullen, 1985-90. It was intended that the elevations and roofscape reflect the sail shapes of ships
Capstans. There are two large hydraulic ones with their working parts displayed

Thames Street
Built as part of the Bedford Estate
Trinity Street
An old name for a stretch of Rotherhithe Street
Trinity Road.
This is now Bryan Road
Trinity Wharf
The wharf dealt with timber and paper and general goods
Upper Quebec yard
This was the southern of the yards between Quebec and Russia Docks. It appears to be near the site of the Quebec Way Industrial Estate


Sources
Allinson and Thornton. Guide to London’s Contemporary Architecture
A Rotherhithe blog.
Banbury. Shipbuilders of the Thames and Medway
Barnard. Building Britain’s Wooden Walls
Bird. Geography of the Port of London
British Listed Buildings. Web site
Canal History. Web site
Carr. Dockland.
Carr. Docklands History Survey
Closed pubs. Web site
Exploring Southwark, Web site
GLC Home Sweet Home
Holy Trinity. Web site
Industrial Archaeology Review
London Borough of Southwark., Web site
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Pevsner and Cherry. South London
Pevsner and Williamson. London Docklands
Rankin, Maritime Rotherhithe. History Walk