InfoBritain - Travel Through History In The UK :
Docklands
Docklands, London
London has always been a centre of trade. When Romans first reached the site of London there was already a market at what is now Southwark Market. The location of London opposite the Rhine, Europe's greatest waterway, ensured the city's central importance as a port. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a transformation occurred along the Thames between London Bridge and Greenwich. This area of wharfs and warehouses developed into the world's largest port, which was to dominate world trade for over a hundred years. As a centre of trade and waterway communication Docklands was also important in the Industrial Revolution. This was especially true after 1812 when the Limehouse basin was opened, linking the docks to Britain's canal network.
Walking through Docklands it is almost as though the London that most tourists see is a bit of a side show compared to this vast area where the true business of London was done. I suggest starting a walk at London Bridge, and following the Thames along the north or south banks, both of which provide fascinating walks, finishing at Greenwich. Below is a description of historical sites along both paths through Docklands. Each walk would take about two to three hours.
North Thames Path
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge marks the gateway to Docklands. Building a bridge downstream from London Bridge was long considered unfeasible since this part of the river was used by large ships visiting the docks. The Brunels built a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping - more of which later - but a bridge seemed out of the question. Eventually the pressure of traffic drove the building of what was at the time the biggest and most technically advanced "bascule" bridge in the world. The bridge opened in 1894.
Tower Bridge has a permanent exhibition housed in the upper walkway high above the road. This walkway was originally intended for pedestrians to use when the bridge was open.
Opening Times: 1st April to 30th September 10am to 6:30pm, last admission 5:30pm. 1st October to 31st March 9:30am to 6pm, last admission 5pm. Closed 24th - 26th December.
Tower Bridge is close to London Bridge Station. Walk east along the Thames path from the station. Click here for an interactive map centred on Tower Bridge.
Access: wheelchair access is good. Helpers are admitted free.
Contact: +44 (0) 207 403 3761
Web Site: www.towerbridge.org.uk
St Katherine's Docks
From the north end of Tower Bridge cross Tower Bridge Approach to the entrance of St Katherine's Docks. These docks, built under the direction of Thomas Telford in 1826, were designed to handle valuable cargoes such as tea and silver. It is now a commercial, residential and recreational area. The building on the left of this photo, with the clock tower above it, is the Ivory House, where cargoes of ivory were stored.
Click here for an interactive map centred on St Katherine's Docks.
Turner's Old Star
From St Katherine's Dock turn back down to the river, and follow the Thames path through Wapping. This area is strongly linked to the painter John Turner, who drew inspiration from the Thames and Docklands throughout his life. Turner never married, but women were always important to him, and he had four children with a number of mistresses. In 1834 he met Sophia Booth, a widowed landlady from Margate. When Turner inherited two cottages in Docklands he set Sophia up as a landlady in one of them. Her pub was known as the Old Star. The same pub survives today, as Turner's Old Star.
Turner's Old Star can be found in Watts Street, Wapping. Click here for an interactive map centred on Turner's Old Star.
Prospect Of Whitby
Following the Thames path on through Wapping you will come to the Prospect of Whitby, a pub dating to 1520. A notice on the wall of the pub helpfully lists all the monarchs it has seen come and go since the reign of Henry the Eighth.
The pub is named after the coal ships from Whitby which used to dock here. The pub has had many famous visitors, including Charles Dickens, and the artists Whistler and Turner. Whistler painted a scene very near here in his painting Wapping.
Click here for an interactive map centred on the Prospect Of Whitby.
The Prospect of Whitby backs onto the Thames, and there are wonderful views of the river from the garden. On the foreshore behind the pub there is also a scaffold complete with noose. This is a reminder of the days when pirates would be executed on the Wapping foreshore and then hung on display beside the river for passing seamen to view.
Canary Wharf
The Thames Path will now lead on to Canary Wharf. The Canary Wharf development is a financial centre, and a residential complex. There is a good range of shops and restaurants. This was formerly the site of the West India Docks, and the huge basins of the docks remain.
Canary Wharf now has the tallest building in Britain, One Canada Square. A wide range of shops and restaurants can be found at Cabot Place. This shopping centre takes you up into One Canada Square itself.
Close to the path in the area of Canary Wharf is the Museum in Docklands at West India Quay. The museum is housed in one of the old warehouses. There are permanent exhibitions on the history of the Thames, trade, and the docks from Roman times onwards. There are two huge models of Old London Bridge, based on research by John Schofield of the Museum of London. The models recreate the bridge as it was in 1440 and 1600. There are also reconstructions of Docklands streets from the nineteenth century. Historical accuracy includes the smells! The display on the Second World War includes a short film describing the effect of the first German air raid on docklands
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Museum In Docklands
The museum is open every day from 10am to 6pm, last admission 5:30pm. The museum is closed 24th-26th December and 1st January. There is a shop, a cafe and a restaurant.
Click here for an interactive map centred on the Museum In Docklands.
Access: wheelchair access to all parts of the museum is good. There are adapted toilet facilities. For visitors with hearing and sight problems there is also good provision.
Contact:
telephone: 0870 444 3850
web site: www.museumindocklands.org.uk
Beyond Canary Wharf the path will continue into Millwall on the Isle of Dogs. Information panels will describe former factories and boatyards you will be passing. Factories at Burrells Wharf, for example, used to produce paint. The information panel here describes chimneys producing coloured smoke, and pigeons with feathers tinged pink.
One of the most interesting features of this part of the walk is the Great Eastern Launch Site. It was here between November 1857 and January 1858 that Isambard Kingdom Brunel struggled to launch the largest ship then built. Timbers thought to be those that once supported the stubborn bulk of the Great Eastern survive in a grassy area beside the path.
About ten minutes on from the Great Eastern Launch Site you will come to Island Gardens. Island Gardens provides a convenient end point for a walk through Docklands. There is a cafe, great views of Greenwich on the south bank, and transport, via the Docklands Light Railway back to central London. Alternatively you could walk through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to Greenwich, where there are many places to eat. River boat services back to central London are available from Greenwich pier. See www.tfl.gov.uk for details of sailings.
South Thames Path
Hays Galleria
On the South Thames Path you might want to start a walk at Hay's Galleria, just up river of Tower Bridge, close to HMS Belfast.
Built in the mid 1850s by Henry Cubitt, this was once the dock receiving tea clipper ships which had raced around Cape Horn from China. The area has been carefully restored and is now an attractive complex of shops and restaurants. Pictures on the wall at the entrance show the galleria as it was once was. Click here for an interactive map centred on Hays Galleria.
Butler's Wharf/Shad Thames
Walking past Tower Bridge, you will come to Butler's Wharf, and a curious street called the Shad Thames. This is an area of former warehousing with raised walkways linking the buildings on either side of the street. These walkways were once used for moving cargoes between buildings. The old warehouses now house many boutique shops and restaurants.
Click here for an interactive map centred on Butler's Wharf/Shad Thames.
Dr Salter's Daydream
At the end of Shad Thames you will pass the Design Museum, and then continue into Bermondsey. Here Cherry Garden Street recalls a long lost cherry garden, where in the seventeenth century Samuel Pepys used to stop to buy cherries on his regular walks between his office in the City, and the naval base at Greenwich. Into the nineteenth century the fields Pepys walked through were a distant memory for the residents of one of the most deprived areas in Docklands. In Bermondsey the path passes the poignant statue of Doctor Albert Salter. Dr Salter started work at Guy's Hospital in 1889. Shocked by the poverty of his Bermondsey patients, he took up residence in the area, established an insurance society, an adult school on Sunday mornings, and annoyed his colleagues by only charging sixpence for a consultation. Working with his wife Ada, who became London's first woman mayor, a convalescent home in Kent for Bermondsey patients was founded. There was also a long battle to replace one hundred and eighty year old tenements with lower density housing. Dr Salter's houses can still be seen in Wilson Grove, just off the path. Tragically residence in Bermondsey led to the death from scarlet fever of the Salter's only child, Joyce, aged eight, in 1910. Diane Gorvin's statue shows a kindly Dr Salter in old age waving to his daughter Joyce, leaning against the Thames wall with her cat nearby. "It represents the daydream of an old man remembering happier times when his 'sunshine' was still alive."
Whilst recovering from the harrowing tale of Dr Salter, you then move onto Rotherhithe. Here Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel are commemorated at the Brunel Museum. The museum is housed in one of the engine sheds which kept the Thames Tunnel free from water. The Thames Tunnel was the first tunnel to be dug beneath a navigable waterway, and was Isambard's first engineering project following the completion of his education.
From here you could continue on through Rotherhithe. You will actually pass a working farm on this section of the walk, a reminder of the past rural nature of this area. The walk then finishes in Greenwich, which has been associated with the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. You might want to have a meal and a drink at the Trafalgar Tavern, where the nineteenth century prime minister William Gladstone used to enjoy a "whitebait supper" after a long day in the House of Commons. The Docklands Light Railway has a station close to the Cutty Sark, with connections to the Underground back to central London. Alternatively you could return to central London by boat from Greenwich pier. See www.tfl.gov.uk for details of sailings.