User:Andreamar/Sandbox

The principal commercial development on the Isle of Dogs occurred in the early 19th century, following the completion of the two northern basins for the West India Dock Company in 1886, marking a new era of enclosed dock construction. The construction of the two separate dock basins (Import and Export), with independent access to the river, provided secure customs facilities for the Board of Excise at the docks and secure storage warehouses within their walls. The West India Import Dock (the largest of the period), Blackwall Basin and its entrance were opened in 1802. The Export Dock was opened in 1806, with all works associated with the West India Docks completed by 1809. The Millwall Dock Basins, located further south on the Isle of Dogs, were built between 1867-8. The entrance lock into the Blackwall Basin formed the most critical point of the original dock system, constructed to provide greater control over water levels and reduce silting. Its hasty construction, however, proved to be a constant concern for the dock company. The collapse of the outer wing wall in 1851 highlighted the dependency of dock operations on this principal entrance and provided a catalyst for the enlargement of the South Dock east entrance in 1870. The Blackwall entrance subsequently fell into disrepair, its operation confined to level tide. By the 1890s, the South Dock entrance was obsolete and the London and India Docks Joint Committee commissioned the reconstruction of the Blackwall entrance (1892-4) as part of a larger scheme for West India Dock System. The entrance was reopened in 1894 and included new lock gates and hydraulic machinery, installed to manage the lock water levels, much of which still survives. Following the completion of a new South Dock east entrance and passages linking the Import, Export and South Docks in 1929, the Blackwall entrance closed between 1940-50 and reopened to service barge traffic only. Last used in 1968, the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) removed the middle gate and hydraulically-operated bridge in 1987. The Blackwall Export Dock passage was filled-in when the Bellmouth passage was constructed in 1927-9. The Import passage survives... Most Docks were built with tidal entrance basins, replenished at high tide, which served as reservoirs to fill the entrance locks. The water-levels in the quays were held constant by communicating locks which separated the docks from the basins. These Dock waterways and their connections with the Thames provide significant defining elements of London’s Docklands. The system of dock entrances, impounded water areas, canals, and associated artefacts have been preserved as evidence of the unique history of London’s Docklands under the stewardship of the LDDC formed in 1980 to manage the regeneration of London’s Docklands. Responsibility was returned to the Tower Hamlets in 1998... "Early housing in the docklands area is now rare, and most housing that dates back to the 18th and 19th century is now protected by statutory listing. Overlooking the entrances to the West India Docks are the two Dock Official’s houses. Bridge House (1819-20) designed by John Rennie for the ‘Superintendent’, or Principal Dockmaster of the West India Dock Company and Isle House (1825-6) designed by Rennie’s son, are both elegant, detached residences adopting full-height bow windows which facilitates the monitoring of dock entrances." An amalgamation of two houses by Samuel Granger (c.1820), Nelson House at No.3 Coldharbour presents a double-bowed river frontage behind a garden. No.15 Coldharbour was the home and workshop of Benjamin Granger Bluett, a joiner, mast and block maker. Constructed 1843-44 on the site of an earlier 1770 structure, the house is listed for its largely intact interior, and for its cultural interest as a rare survivor of purpose-built live/work accommodation in this area of the Docklands. The former Blackwall River Police Station (1893-4), located at No.19-19a, was designed by John Butler, Metropolitan Police Architect, and converted to residential use in the early 1980s. The successfully redeveloped Gun Public House sits at the southern end of Coldharbour, on a site historically occupied by a public house since the 1710s. "Coldharbour retains much of its original maritime character, its narrow 'corridor' preserved by appropriate new residential development to the west, and the sensitive redevelopment of surviving historic buildings."

"General character of the Island. A great many more people work there than live there, though many of those who live there would like to work there. Those who live there seldom leave. From week to week and year to year the men who are islanders remain there."

Coleharbour Street + New Road. Booth B30, pp37-40. Report of District 11 (Poplar and Limehouse). Booth A33, pp1-55.