Blackwall is an district in Greater London, England and is on the north bank of the River Thames and to the south around the conservation area of Coldharbour is part of the Isle of Dogs. The area has never been an administrative unit and so lacks any formal definition, but it can be broadly described as the areas close to Thames on the north-east part of the Isle of Dogs peninsula and as far east as the confluence of the Lea that make Leamouth.
The area takes its name from a historic stretch of riverside wall built along an outside curve of the Thames, to protect the area from flooding. While mostly residential, Blackwall Yard here provides moorings for vessels.
Video Blackwall, London
History
The area historically part of the parish of Poplar in Middlesex. The small district by Blackwall Stairs was known as Blackwall by at least the 14th century. This presumably derives from the colour of the river wall, constructed in the Middle Ages. The area lay in a sheltered loop of the river next to Poplar's East Marsh, where the East India Docks were constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. The area has never had its own Anglican church so for services such as road maintenance organised by a vestry and poor relief it relied upon its ecclesiastical parish (of All Saints) Poplar. Indeed, the whole Isle of Dogs was until the late 20th century referred to as being Poplar or the Poplar District.
Leamouth Wharf (then part of Blackwall) worked at the Samuda Brothers, Orchard House Yard and Thames Iron Works ship yards were the centers of employment. To provide housing for the workers, 100 small cottages - were developed from the 1820s. There was the Bow Creek school (founded in 1865), but few shops, and The Crown, a public house, opened about 1840.
Blackwall gives its name to the partially underlying London County Council (LCC) built single bore Blackwall Tunnel designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and built by S. Pearson & Sons as part of a major transport project to improve commerce and trade in the East End, that opened in 1892-1897, starting at Poplar which passes south under Blackwall and the adjacent River Thames to the then East Greenwich.
In the 1950s, the Isle of Dogs excluded the symmetrical part (that is its north west forming the parish of Limehouse) and comprises: "the ancient hamlet of Poplar itself, the old shipbuilding centre of Blackwall, and the former industrial districts of Millwall and Cubitt Town. Poplar's story is one of development and redevelopment on both the grand and the comparatively small scale, driven in the nineteenth century by mercantile interests and manufacturing, and after the Second World War by de-industrialization and the obsolescence of the Thames-side docks... [In recent times] a major subject is public housing, which includes the famous Lansbury Estate, built in association with the 1951 Festival of Britain."
Contrary to expectations, the River Thames landmark named Blackwall Point is not located in Blackwall district but on the northern tip of Greenwich Peninsula, which is south of the Thames. It is so named after the Blackwall Reach of the Thames.
Until relatively recently Blackwall had a declining residential population and a high level of social deprivation, but luxury riverside apartments began to be added from the late 1980s.
Maps Blackwall, London
Industry
Blackwall was a significant part of the ocean-going port called the Port of London, connected with important voyages for over 400 years. On 7 June 1576, financed by the Muscovy Company, Martin Frobisher set sail from Blackwall, seeking the North West Passage. Walter Raleigh had a house at Blackwall, and in the early years of the 17th century the port was the main departure point of the English colonization of North America and the West Indies launched by the London Company.
Until 1987, Blackwall was a centre of shipbuilding and repairing. This activity principally included Blackwall Yard, the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, Canning Town (part of whose works spanned the very informal border of the very small one-road, one unit deep area of Leamouth), and the Orchard House Yard. Blackwall Yard (two of whose former dry docks can still be seen around the present-day Reuters building) built the first Blackwall Frigates.
Blackwall today is still a legal part of the Port of London as Northumberland Wharf is still retained as a working wharf, this has special status by the Mayor of London and the Port of London Authority (PLA) as a safeguarded wharf, this is run by Cory Riverside Energy who also managed the Reuse and Recycling Centre which is next to the wharf and for the transportation of waste by barge along the River Thames.
Transport
- Historic
The former London and Blackwall Railway ran from Minories to Blackwall by way of Stepney, a distance of three and half miles. This was authorised in 1836 as "The Commercial Railway", running close to Commercial Road in the East End of London. Much of the current Docklands Light Railway track around Limehouse and Blackwall is on the London and Blackwall Railway's old viaducts.
- Contemporary
A relatively wide physical divide for a peripheral-to-East London district separates Poplar, London from Blackwall, the A1261. The twin north-south tunnels forming the Blackwall Tunnel commence 250 metres (820 ft) north of this road, by the local borough Town Hall, within the edge of Poplar.
London Buses routes D3 on west-east Blackwall Way, and D6, D7 on north-south Preston Road give local access to neighbouring Poplar, Leamouth, the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf.
Media
- A fictitious Blackwall Fire Station is featured in the London Weekend Television series London's Burning.
- Return of Spinal Tap (1992; Coldharbour) David and Nigel reminisce about their upbringing in 'Squatney, London', outside their childhood homes No.45 & 47. 'The Gun' public house can also be seen in the background.
Education
Sport
Blackwall and District Rowing Club was formed in 1845 and is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the United Kingdom. A Tideway rowing club, historically it was Poplar, Blackwall and District Rowing Club. It competes in leading national races, runs Poplar regatta (wind permitting), and is the end of the Great River Race. Its members hold old records in the Doggett's Coat and Badge race for single sculls on the Thames. Its most notable member is Olympic gold and silver medallist, and double-World Champion Mark Hunter.
A wide range of gyms and a small leisure centre are at nearby Canary Wharf.
Notes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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