User:Prioryman/Nicholson's Wharf

Nicholson's Wharf was a wharf located in the City of London, on the north bank of the River Thames a short distance downstream from London Bridge. It was situated between Botolph's Wharf upstream and Billingsgate Fish Market downstream. On the landward side, the wharf was accessed via Thames Street. Established in the 19th century, the wharf replaced two earlier wharves, Lyon's Quay and Somer's Quay, with a combined frontage of 109 ft (36 ft for Lyon's Quay, 73 ft for Somer's Quay). The wharf was destroyed during the Second World War. A late 1980s office building currently occupies the site.

Origins
The wharf's predecessors, Lyon's and Somer's Quays, were two of of the twenty Legal Quays of the Port of London, designated in the Act of Frauds of 1559. They were given state authorisation to serve as official landing and loading points for traders.

The two quays were the property of the East India Company, which owned an export warehouse there, at the start of the 19th century.

An inn nearby in Thames Street, the Lion and Key, used a punning adaptation of Lyon's Quay for its name.

Both Somer's and Lyon's quays took their names from their owners, at some point prior to the mid-16th century.

Somer's Quay was primarily used by merchants from Flanders in the 17th century.

Lyon's Quay was also used for passenger traffic; in the 17th century, regular boats travelled from there to destinations further down the Thames, including Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, Erith and Greenhithe in Kent. Essex destinations were also served as well, with boats departing on every tide to carry goods and passengers to Rainham, Purfleet and Grays.

The quay was the scene of two notable flights into exile; it was the departure point of of Catherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, fleeing religious persecution in 1555, and King James II of England, who fled to Kent while disguised as a woman on 11 December 1688 during the Glorious Revolution.