London Docks
Those London Docks about which I would like to talk here came to my attention only after I had already spent two and a half years in London. Reading Andrew Davies' book The East End Nobody Knows (London: Macmillan, 1990), I came across an aerial photo which immediately caught my attention. On the photo, Tower Bridge is well visible and one can see St. Katherine Docks east of where the bridge touches the northern bank of the Thames. But what was that for a huge basin a bit more on the east (now framed in red)? Despite my extensive walks in the area, I had never seen it.
Searching for pictures of London's docks on the internet, I found an article in Wikipedia
with a picture of the "London Docks", drawn in 1845. Those London Docks appeared to have been in an area which I knew only under the name "Tobacco Dock". On that old drawing, by the way, one can see the course of the Thames very well and it can be compared nicely with the above aerial photo.
The huge basin was obviously the "Western Dock" of the London Docks, and I even found an old plan of it from 1831 on the internet, again in Wikipedia. I have now combined that old plan with a satelite photo of the area which is available on the Google local website. Changes in the area can well be seen, and I have marked some distinctive spots with red dots. The picture changes from old to new when the mouse is pulled over it.
As can be seen especially well, the southern border of the Western Dock still remains as an "ornalmental canal" which runs all along the former dock. As the mouse pullover shows, even the bridges are still at the same points. Currently (2006), the canal looks like this:
It is remarkable that the Wapping basin was turned into a football field, the former entrance from the river to the basin is still well visible on the satelite photo.
Looking south from the red dot (which is very close to the pub "The Town of Ramsgate") towards the river, one can see that the former entrance to the basin was turned into a nice - but unfortunately private and therefore unaccessable - green.
Looking north from the red dot towards the football field, one can actually still recognise some features from the former entrance to the basin. Unfortunately, this area cannot be accessed either as it is private property now.
Hermitage Basin, in the bottom left hand corner of the above plan / satelite photo still exists, as can be seen from this satellite photo below. The former entrance from the Thames, as well as the connection to the Western Dock - now the ornamental canal - ist still recognisable.
The basin is now a pleasent spot on the corner of Wapping High Street and Thomas Moore Street where mallards have their nests.
The former connection between the basin and the Western Dock, now the space between Hermitage Basin and the ornamental canal, can be seen on the photo below. Mind the old tidal markings on the very right.
Walking through the area, most people are probably not aware that, with all the nice houses around them, they are actually walking in what formerly was the Western Dock. But with open eyes, plentiful remains of the past can be found.
© Dr. Falco Pfalzgraf