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Blackwall Reach South Bank (Blackwall Point to Cutty Sark)
WORK IN PROGRESS
Heading upriver on the South bank, from the Blackwall Point, just north of O2, we find:
Blackwall Tunnel (northbound); Ordnance Wharf; Blackwall Tunnel (southbound); Blackwall Point Drawdock; Point Wharf; Tunnel Wharf; Delta Wharf; Jubilee Line Tunnel; Victoria Deep Water Terminal; Bethels Wharf; Bay Wharf; Molassine Wharf; Primrose Wharf; Morden Wharf; Seawitch Wharf; Tunnel Wharf; Jetty; Enderby's Wharf; Piper's Wharf; Providence Wharf; Badcock's Wharf; Granite Wharf; Parish Dock; Greenwich Wharf; Lovell's Wharf; Union Wharf; Cutty Sark PH; Anchor Iron Wharf; Golden Anchor Stairs; Highbridge Wharf; Highbridge Drawdock; SouthEast London Rowing Club; The Yacht PH; Trafalgar Tavern Rowing Club; Trafalgar Tavern; North Gate Royal Naval College; Greenwich Pier; Cutty Sark Gardens; Tunnel; Dodd's Wharf; DLR Tunnel; Billinsgate Drawdock; Wood Wharf; Victoria & Norway Wharves; Dreadnought Wharf; Granophast Wharf; Greenwich Reach Swing Bridge; Deptford Creek;



Blackwall Tunnel (northbound)


1891: Work began on the eastern tunnel, designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and built by S Pearson & Sons for the London County Council at a cost of £1.4 million. It was then the longest underwater tunnel in the world at 4,410 feet (1,344 m) long. It took six years to construct, using tunnelling shield and compressed air techniques.
1897:The (eastern) tunnel was opened by the then Prince of Wales.
By the 1930s, capacity was becoming inadequate, and consequently the western second bore opened in 1967, to handle southbound traffic while the earlier 19th century tunnel handled northbound.



Ordnance Wharf


from Greenwich Peninsula History:

February 28th 1890: GREAT FIRE IN GREENWICH MARSHES
... The following is Captain Shaw's official report -
"Quarter past twelve am called to Ordnance Wharf, Blackwall Lane, East Greenwich to the premise owned and tenanted by Messrs. Forbes Abbott and Leonard, manufacturing chemists.
Cause of fire unknown
contents not insured,
damaged two buildings, one of one and two floors about 165 by 100 feet (used as manufacture and stores) the other of three floors about 40 by 30 feet used as laboratory offices and dwellings and the contents burnt out and roofs off,
about 1,000 casts of creosote and 300 carboys of sulphuric acid destroyed and still damaged by fire in yard (all adjoining and communicating)
Point Wharf ditto A.R. Edmonds barge builders, front and side front of wharf damaged by fire, about 13 barges nearly destroyed and one laden with reeds seriously damaged by fire and water. In all 14 barges were destroyed or damaged by the fire and several were sunk in the river." ...



Blackwall Tunnel (south)

Opened in the 1967 to handle the southbound traffic.



Blackwall Point Drawdock

The traditional method for unloading barges was simply to tie up to a Draw Dock and wait for the tide to go out. Barges could then be re-floated on the incoming tide. At the end of Tunnel Avenue by Draw Dock Road is a very typical SEGAS gate going into what was Ordnance Wharf. It is the first reminder of the once dominant gas works. This area was the Gas Company tar works--run as a separate site from the main works. Alongside is the drawdock--built by the gas company in the 1880's by order of Parliament--goes to the river. The air vents of the "old" Blackwall Tunnel are adjacent.



Point Wharf

Edmunds Barge Builder (taken over by Humpheries and Grey)
Humphrey & Grey (Lighterage) Ltd (taken over by Hays and moved to Bay Wharf c.1945)
Thos. W. Hughan & Co. Ltd. advertisement.
North Pole Ice Co. Flower and Everett. Barge Repair at north end of the wharf



Tunnel Wharf


Groynes added in 2013 See PLA Chart Correction



Delta Wharf


from Greenwich Peninsula History:

Delta Wharf comprises a long area of land between and overlapping with the areas now known as Victoria Deep Water Wharf to the south and Point Wharf to the north. On the Skinner plan, at the north end of Victoria Deep is a narrow plot owned by Morden College, in the occupation of Thomas Jeffrey and north of this two plots owned by Sir William Sanderson, also in the occupation of Thomas Jeffrey. North of this is a Morden College owned plot occupied by Peter Huck. This northern plot is later shown in the occupation of John Bethell - the dating of this addition to the 1838 Morden College plan is not clear. At the same time the southern Morden College owned plot is in the occupation of Calvert Clark. The middle section has passed into the ownership of Mrs. Suttonstall (or Saltonstall). On the tithe map these sections are all described as 'marsh meadow' or 'foreland'. During the early 1820s a section of sea wall in this area became unstable.



Jubilee Line Tunnel

The Jubilee Line Extension levels:


Source



Victoria Deep Water Terminal

A large area including the site of the Victoria linoleum works later became the Victoria Deep Water Terminal in 1966
Operator: Hanson Aggregates
Berths: 2.
Length: 259 metres total length.
Depth: 12.73 metres MHWS (5.6 metres at Chart Datum).
Cargo Accommodation: 7 Hectares of Open storage.
Specialisation: Accommodation for both self-discharging vessels and land grab crane discharge.
Aggregates, Sub-Base-Type 1 Material. Dry Bulks: Aggregates



Bethels Wharf


IMPROVED WOOD PAVEMENT CO. LTD. Road Contractors and Wharfingers
DELTA WHARF Delta Works, Metal Manufacturers and Engineers
J.P.Knight's Tug Moorings



Bay Wharf


This area was owned by Morden College and was part of the Great and Little Pits The area appears to have been divided into two - the southern section, now part of Morden Wharf and 'Bay Wharf' the area around Horseshoe Breach (or The Great Breach).
Before 1600 an inrush of water destroyed the river wall.
Shipbuilders took advantage of the resulting bay to site their slips. Here the innovative National Company for boat building by Machinery tried but failed to produce 6,000 boats a year, all to a standard pattern.
They were succeeded by the ship building division of the great Maudesley engineering company. Here were built iron sailing clippers and huge complex steam engines were fitted into battleships. They were succeeded by barge builders and barge repairers.
The present derelict concrete buildings covered barge building shops belonging to Humpheries and Grey.



Molassine Wharf

New mooring (PLA)
1950: MOLASSINE MEAL CO. LTD. Manufacturers of Cattle Foods and Dog Biscuits



Primrose Wharf

Primrose Wharf Habitat Enhancements:-
The small inlet upstream of Primrose Jetty, and the downstream concrete apron extending in to Bay Wharf, are part of a habitat creation initative by the Deptford Discovery Team in collaboration with the Environment Agency.
Terraced beds have been created and planted with reeds, to be colonised by intertidal species.
Primrose Wharf Jetty:-
Access improvements and surfacing to the jetty, with its spectacular views up and down river, were carried out in 1998, resulting in a large increase in public usage. The jetty surface and flood defence wall were adapted to enable disabled access.
The environment along the Thames foreshore and path was considered the main barrier to increasing wildlife population rather than the pollution of the Thames. The Thames has become a lot cleaner in the last 20 years - the numbers of cormorants, whose only source of food was fish, were testament to that.
There are a limited number of appropriate sites for a reed bed habitat along the Thames, but fortunately the foreshore either side of Primrose Wharf and leading up to Bay Wharf was identified as a potential site. Terraced beds were re-introduced and planted with reeds that will be colonized by inter tidal species. This new environment along the Thames gives greater credence to the idea that the Thames is a living river. The jetty provides unobtrusive access to this new natural environment as well as great views of the riverscape. Improvements to the surface and access to the jetty had increased public usage and included in this improvement were renovations to allow greater disabled access.



Morden Wharf


Sweet dreams on the Thames riverfront:

In March 2012, U+I acquired Morden Wharf, a former sweeteners refinery on the Greenwich Peninsula and one of the few remaining significant London riverfronts left for major regeneration.
The major riverside regeneration site is adjacent to the O2 Arena, with 500 metres of Thames riverside frontage. It demonstrates our ability to undertake complex corporate transactions and to acquire land assets with significant development challenges in areas of major change.
Morden Wharf will to play a key role in the delivery of the Royal Borough of Greenwich's Masterplan for the area. The Peninsula West Masterplan maps out a transformation of the area to the west and south of the O2 Arena into London's premiere entertainment zone, with multi-purpose sports, entertainment and educational facilities, as well as homes for 10,000 Londoners.
With the appointment of world-class architects OMA, we're creating a 2m sq ft, £1 billion scheme with inspiring public places and a mix of uses that acknowledge the history of the site as well as contributing to the regeneration ambitions of the local council.



Seawitch Wharf

Another barge builder from the 1860s was a James West whose barge house was alongside the Sea Witch Pub. He was either part of, or next to, a barge yard belonging to George Bullock who also had a 'grid iron for ships' further north, but advertised his services as a ship repairer and timber merchant from an address in Thames Street, Greenwich. (Greenwich Rate Books)



Tunnel Wharf

Source:

Shrubsall was another important Greenwich barge builder. They were an established company with a yard at Ipswich and at Limehouse and also at Sittingbourne. Then, in 1900 Horace Shrubsall rented a piece of land from Morden College - part of the area which was to be later used by the Delta Metal Co.
Shrubsall later took over what was to be known as Tunnel Wharf. Shrubsall were established barge builders when they came to Greenwich with a good record of producing effective boats. Their barges were soon to challenge Piper's - in the 1907 race Veronica was only two minutes behind Giralda ...



Jetty




Enderby's Wharf

See History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
Also 150 YEARS OF INDUSTRY & ENTERPRISE AT ENDERBY'S WHARF:

Enderby's Wharf in Greenwich SE London is probably best known to historians as the manufacturing site for the 1865/6 Atlantic Telegraph cables and The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company Ltd. (Telcon) who made them. Over the following 80 or so years they manufactured and laid over 70% of all submarine telegraph cables in the world. During the time of Telcon and of their successor companies many other interesting and less well-known engineering activities took place at Enderby's Wharf.



Piper's Wharf

Greenwich Industrial History - Piper's Wharf:

Pipers Wharf is one of three main areas which cover the housing development locally known as Lovells Wharf - and is the most downriver of them.

JAMES PIPER - BARGE BUILDER
James R. Piper was apprenticed to William Bromley (JP for Gravesend) a Greenwich ship owner. He later moved to work for Mowlem's at their East Greenwich Yard.
After ten years he opened a small yard next door and went on to become one of the largest barge builders on the Thames. He also produced barges for racing and worked as a marine damage surveyor.
It should be stressed that Piper's specialist barges were sophisticated vessels - nothing haphazardly built up on the riverside.
The design which we now think of as traditional on the River was evolving through this period - these were vessels designed to carry bulk haulage items, to go up narrow creeks, shallows and Thames mudflats, to cross the Channel and trade with Continental ports, to survive the worst the weather could do, to be crewed by a man and a boy - and to win spectacular high speed races in a flash of red sails. Barge races - which of course still take place - attracted large sums in prize money.



Providence Wharf

Greenwich Peninsula History - Providence Wharf
Groundwork said of this wharf in 2002: Providence Wharf - This wharf has been designated a high priority for flood defence improvement by the Environment Agency. Welding Marine have provided temporary structural support to the collapsing wharf wall. At footpath level the wharf fencing is in disrepair and requires replacement.
Hughes Bargebuilders - Tilbury Lighterage Jim Hughes and Orinoco
In 1904 R.Lucas of Maze Hill registered a take over of the wharf from Griffith
1926 Isis Chemicals and Dyes. This company was registered in the Isle of Man and dissolved in 1933. They appear to have originated from Gothenburg and to have made heavy chemicals associated with tanning.



Badcock's Wharf

Greenwich Peninsula History - DISTRICT BOARD OF WORKS:

The Board of Works Yard - in effect the depot for Greenwich Council. The yard is first shown on maps of the 1880s. Board's of Works were abolished in 1889 but it is assumed that the Depot remained on site until the Council moved it to further down Tunnel Avenue, to what became Tunnel Avenue Depot some time before 1914.
The 1880s Ordnance Map shows the yard with an entrance from Chester Street (now Banning Street) and a structure, which appears to be a ramp, leading from the centre of the yard to a jetty and wharf - was this used as a ramp for dustcarts tipping from the jetty? This ramp is shown in subsequent uses of the yard and may, in fact, still be there.

Badcock seems to have been on site from about 1914.



Granite Wharf




Parish Dock




Greenwich Wharf




Lovell's Wharf




Union Wharf




Cutty Sark PH




Anchor Iron Wharf




Golden Anchor Stairs




Highbridge Wharf




Highbridge Drawdock




SouthEast London Rowing Club




The Yacht PH




Trafalgar Tavern Rowing Club




Trafalgar Tavern




North Gate Royal Naval College

Greenwich Hospital LEFT Bank, the Navy's oldest charity

Greenwich Hospital, 1802, Ireland
Greenwich Hospital, 1802, Ireland

1833: The Dublin University Magazine -

Looking at [Greenwich Hospital] from the river, it is, I suppose, one of the grandest piles of building in the world ? the Custom-house and the Bank in Dublin not being excepted.

The foreigner is amazed when he learns, as he sails up to London, that the superb palace which he looks upon, is the place where England lodges and provides for her old sailors, who have been wounded or worn out in the glorious service of the British navy. I like this exceedingly ? it is not mere vanity ? it is a noble ostentation ? a fitting compliment to the force which makes Britain what she is, or rather what she has been, for times have changed.

The national spirit has miserably fallen away into a petty, hateful, cosmopolite pseudo-philosophy, and Englishmen, instead of feeling the glory of Greenwich, grumble at the expense. There are men, aye, and popular men, too, who, if they had their will, would sell that magnificent building to the highest bidder, and lodge the old sailors at the lowest rate for which they could make a "contract". This mean spirit of thrift would never have made the character of a great nation, and will not maintain it now that it is made.

1837: Knickerbocker -

I walked to Greenwich, three miles, where, as you know, is the observatory from which longitude is reckoned all over the world, as the school-girls are well aware.

The observatory is on a high, steep hill, in the centre of a large and beautiful park, filled with hills and dales, deer, trees, ponds, and every thing pretty.

The prospect from the observatory is superb. London on the left ? St. Paul's and a few spires only peeping above the dun smoke ? the Thames, winding about in a zig-zag direction, covered with the ' freighted argosies' of all nations, some just arrived perhaps from the East Indies or the North pole ? some destined for Botany Bay or Nootka Sound ; beyond, the green hills and meadows; and at your feet this lovely park, and the noble hospital for seamen, on the banks of the river.

It is a scene for a painter.

1842: Greenwich Hospital and the Dreadnought (Naval Hospital ship) -

Greenwich Hospital, 1842
Greenwich and the Dreadnought, 1842
Behind the hulk of the Dreadnought, in use as a naval hospital, rise the steeple of St Alphege Church and, on the hill above, Flamstead House; on the left the Royal Naval Hospital.



Greenwich Pier




Cutty Sark Gardens




Tunnel




Dodd's Wharf




DLR Tunnel




Billinsgate Drawdock




Wood Wharf




Victoria & Norway Wharves




Dreadnought Wharf




Granophast Wharf




Greenwich Reach Swing Bridge




Deptford Creek


"If ghosts should walk in Deptford" by Cicely Fox Smith

If ghosts should walk in Deptford, as very well they may,
A man might find the night there more stirring than the day,
Might meet a Russian Tsar there, or see in Spain's despite
Queen Bess ride down to Deptford to dub Sir Francis knight.

And loitering here and yonder, and jostling to and fro,
In every street and alley the sailor-folk would go,
All colours, creeds, and nations, in fashion old and new,
If ghosts should walk in Deptford, as like enough they do.

And there'd be some with pigtails, and some with buckled shoes,
And smocks and caps like pirates that sailors once did use,
And high sea-boots and oilskins and tarry dungaree,
And shoddy suits men sold them when they came fresh from sea.

And there'd be stout old skippers and mates of mighty hand,
And Chinks and swarthy Dagoes, and Yankees lean and tanned,
And many a hairy shellback burned black from Southern skies,
And brassbound young apprentice with boyhood's eager eyes.

And by the river reaches all silver to the moon
You'd hear the shipwrights' hammers beat out a phantom tune,
The caulkers' ghostly mallets rub-dub their faint tattoo -
If ghosts should walk in Deptford, as very like they do.

If ghosts should walk in Deptford, and ships return once more
To every well-known mooring and old familiar shore,
A sight it were to see there, of all fine sights there be,
The shadowy ships of Deptford come crowding in from sea.

Cog, carrack, buss and dromond - pink, pinnace, snake and snow -
Queer rigs of antique fashion that vanished long ago,
With tall and towering fo'c'sles and curving carven prows,
And gilded great poop lanterns, and scrolled and swelling bows.

The Baltic barque that foundered in last month's North Sea gales,
And last year's lost Cape Horner on her sails,
Black tramp and stately liner should lie there side by side
Ay, all should berth together upon that silent tide.

In dock and pond and basin so close the keels should lie
Their hulls should hide the water, their masts make dark the sky,
And through their tangled rigging the netted stars should gleam
Like gold and silver fishes from some celestial stream.

And all their quivering royals and all their singing spars
Should send a ghostly music a-shivering to the stars -
A sound like Norway forests when wintry winds are high,
Or old dead seamen's shanties from great old days gone by, -

Till eastward over Limehouse, on river, dock and slum,
All shot with pearl and crimson the London dawn should come,
And fast at flash of sunrise, and swift at break of day,
The shadowy ships of Deptford should melt like mist away.