The area on the northern bank includes the southern extent of the Lower Lee
Valley, Silvertown, North Woolwich and the Royal Docks.
The Lower Lee Valley is a complex area comprising a range of industrial, utility and commercial uses
as well as small pockets of recent residential development. The lower part of
Bow Creek/River Lee is largely inaccessible and mostly hidden from view.
The Royal Docks comprise three very large dock basins, ranging from 1.8 to
3 kilometres in length, which are impressive in their sheer scale. These docks
are Royal Albert Dock, King George V Dock and Royal Victoria Dock. A few
former dock buildings remain, standing isolated amongst the scrubland of the
brownfield sites. The area surrounding the Docks is currently being
redeveloped.
The Docks form a physical barrier to accessing the Thames from
the north, although the Stephen Redgrave Bridge, the Connaught Bridge and
the Victoria Dock Footbridge have improved access.
London City Airport is located on the strip of land between Royal Albert Dock and King George V
Dock. The international exhibition centre, ExCeL, is located on the northern
side of Royal Victoria Dock, and the University of East London is located on
the northern side of the Royal Albert Dock. The northern bank of the river by
Silvertown is dominated by large scale heavy industry, in
particular the Tate and Lyle glucose refinery.
There is one launching site in this on the north bank of Bugsby's Reach:
Bargehouse Causeway
here are five water sports centres associated with the Royal
Docks including: Peter Chilvers Windsurfing Centre, Royal Victoria Dock
Watersport Centre, Royal Albert Dock Rowing Centre, and the London Wetbike
Club. There is also a water sports centre on Bow Creek.
Public access is limited to the riverfront on the northern bank, where the
predominant land use is industrial. Access to the river is provided at the
Thames Barrier Park, Royal Victoria Gardens and the Galleons Lock
development.
The main sites of biodiversity importance are Bow Creek/River Lee, designated
as a Site of Metropolitan Importance and the Royal Docks, designated as a Site
of Borough Importance (Grade 1). Here the river is industrial in character with
habitats including hard flood defence walls, docks and artificial structures. The
Royal Docks provide extensive open water and brackish habitats that are
important for wildfowl, especially for over-wintering. The black redstart is
concentrated on the industrial and brownfield sites here and small populations
of sand martins have been found by the Royal Dock and Lower Lee. ...
There are a number of sites of built heritage importance in this Reach. These
include the Royal Docks, Spiller Millennium Flour Mills and Silo D, Silvertown
Church, the Tate and Lyle Glucose Refinery, the
Thames Barrier.
Archaeological discoveries in the area include prehistoric finds by the mouth
of Bow Creek; fossilised trees and a large elephant tooth by the East India Dock
Basin; Roman finds by the Royal Albert Dock.
Heading upriver on the South bank, from the barrier, we find:
Thames Barrier Park;
Prince Regent's Wharf;
Barrier Point (Silvertown);
United Wharf;
Royal Wharf;
Crescent Wharf;
Venesta Wharf;
Island Jetty (Gulf Oil);
Deansion Wharf;
Lyle Park;
Sunshine Wharf;
Mohawk Wharf;
Esso;
Manhattan Wharf;
Royal Primrose Works;
Plaistow Wharf;
Peruvian Wharf;
;
Courtaulds;
Clyde Wharf;
Dohm Wharf;
Union Mills Wharf;
Alexandra Wharf;
Cable car;
Victoria Dock Barge Roads;
Dock Entrance Wharf;
Victoria Dock Entrance (closed);
Thames Wharf;
Instone Wharf;
Bow Creek;
Trinity Buoy Wharf;
Trinity Jubilee Pier;
Union Wharf;
Orchard Wharf;
East India Dock Entrance (closed);
Thames Barrier Park
The Thames Barrier Park is a 14-hectare (34.6-acre) park in London's docklands,
named after its location on the north side of the River Thames next to the Thames Barrier.
It is intended to aid the regeneration of the area by creating an attractive public space
alongside residential and commercial developments.
It is adjacent to Pontoon Dock DLR station in the Silvertown area of the London Borough of Newham.
Alain Provost of Groupe Signes with Patel Taylor won the international competition to design the park in 1995.
As the first largely post-modern design in London, the park has a fresh modern look with adventurous planting
and dancing water fountains.
The site was built on what was one of the country's most polluted sites, the former PRChemicals factory.
Decontaminating the site took many years and was done with painstaking precision.
Prince Regent's Wharf
In the corner of the Thames Barrier Park east of Barrier Point
Was the home of Burt, Bolton and Heywood who produced Tar & Disinfectants using
the residue from the Gas making process from the Beckton Gas Light & Coke Companies, Beckton Gas Works.
Barrier Point (Silvertown)
Overlooking the Thames Barrier and Barrier Park, this award-winning development was one of the first residential redevelopment schemes within the Royal Docks. Designed by Goddard Manton Architects, this 18-storey tower and eye-catching strip of cascading terraced apartment blocks has turned an industrial wasteland into a striking modern landmark. There are 252 apartments in all, with elegant landscaping that integrates the development with the nearby Barrier Park.
United Wharf
Oil stores
Royal Wharf
Minoco Wharf? Minoco, later Gulf Lubricants. Status as a safeguarded wharf now lost.
Crescent Wharf
ICE Chemical Works, previously Brunner Mond, the site of the Silvertown Explosion in 1917.
Venesta Wharf
No longer useable. Venesta were manufacturers of Plywood and Packing cases.
later Aluminium Foils Ltd
Island Jetty (Gulf Oil)
Deansion Wharf
Lyle Park
There is a break in the Industrial landscape as Lyle Park comes into view. This Park was financed by the Lyle Family and opened in 1924.
Sunshine Wharf
Mohawk Wharf
Anglo-American Oil Company
Esso
Manhattan Wharf
At Manhattan Wharf, the Oil works are owned by William Simpson & Co who are Petrolane Merchants.
Royal Primrose Works
Plaistow Wharf
The main part of Lyles at Plaistow Wharf.
Abraham Lyle opened his Sugar refinery in 1881 and it began to produce syrup in 1888.
Tate, whose factory is further down the river, joined up with Lyle in 1921 to make
the world famous company Tate & Lyle.
Peruvian Wharf
Also part of Tate & Lyle. Previously Peruvian Guano Wharf
Courtaulds
Clyde Wharf
Dohm Wharf
Union Mills Wharf
Alexandra Wharf
formerly Carlsberg
Cable car
Victoria Dock Barge Roads
Dock Entrance Wharf
Victoria Dock Entrance (closed)
Thames Wharf
Instone Wharf
Bow Creek
Trinity Buoy Wharf
Website - Dockland's Most Exciting Arts Quarter -
The Corporation of Trinity House was originally a voluntary association of shipmen and mariners, and was granted a charter by Henry VIII in 1514 as "The Guild or Fraternity of the most glorious and undividable Trinity of St Clement". It received its coat of arms in 1573 and with it the authority to erect and maintain beacons, marks and signs of the sea, "for the better navigation of the coasts of England". Since then it has been the famous company responsible for buoys, lighthouses and lightships and pioneering the techniques involved.
Trinity House had its headquarters in a fine building in the City designed by the great James Wyatt in 1798, and established Trinity Buoy Wharf as its Thames-side workshop in 1803. At first wooden buoys and sea marks were made and stored here, and a mooring was provided for the Trinity House yacht, which was used to lay the buoys and collect them for maintenance and repair. The river wall along the Lea was rebuilt in brick in 1822, making this the oldest surviving structure on the site.
Many new buildings were constructed during the Victorian period, and a number still survive of which the earliest, the Electrician's Building, was built in 1836. It was designed by the then Chief Engineer of Trinity House, James Walker, originally for the storage of oil. He rebuilt the remainder of the river wall in 1852, and the first of two lighthouses here in 1854. On his death in 1862 he was succeeded by James Douglass who designed the lighthouse that still stands todayas London's only remaining Lighthouse.
The iconic Experimental Lighthouse, and its neighbour the Chain and Buoy Store were built by Douglass in 1864 and were in constant use to test maritime lighting equipment and train lighthouse keepers.
The roof space ajoining the present lighthouse housed the workshop for the famous scientist Michael Faraday.
In 1869, Trinity House set up an engineering establishment at Trinity Buoy Wharf to repair and test the new iron buoys then coming into use. Overcrowding soon became a problem, and in 1875 the works expanded westwards into the neighbouring property, previously Green's Shipyard. By 1910 Trinity Buoy Wharf was a major local employer, with some 150 engineers, platers, riveters, pattern makers, blacksmith, tinsmiths, carpenters, painters, chain testers and labourers working here.
The Wharf continued through the twentieth century to be responsible for supplying and maintaining navigation buoys and lightships between Southwold in Suffolk and Dungeness in Kent. It was modernised and partially rebuilt between 1947 and 1966, and finally closed on 3rd December 1988 when it was purchased by the London Docklands Development Corporation. In 1996 Urban Space Management took the site on a long lease.
Blackwall Lighthouse, 1846, LEFT bank -
Blackwall Experimental Lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf
Trinity Jubilee Pier
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Jubilee Pier was built to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2001.
Located on the river Thames opposite the O2 Arena, the pier was a valuable education point for local schools,
so soon after it was built Container City added two floating classrooms to the existing pontoon.
In 2008 Thames Clippers developed the pontoon into one of London's longest piers where the former classrooms are now used as mess rooms for the crews.
Union Wharf
Orchard Wharf
East India Dock Entrance (closed)