Surrey Commercial Docks

The Surrey Commercial Docks were a large port facility in Rotherhithe ( London) on the south bank of the Thames. The waterways were in one form or another from 1696 to 1969 in use. Most of them were subsequently filled and there were houses built on it. The area is now called Surrey Quays, but there is also the name Surrey Docks.

History

The sparsely populated peninsula Rotherhithe was originally wet marshland along the river. She was unsuitable for agricultural use, but its location on the River Thames, just below the center of London made ​​it the ideal location for port facilities. The area was connected with shipping activities for a long time: in June 1620 launched the ship of the Pilgrim Fathers, the Mayflower, Rotherhithe to Southampton and was equipped with food and other goods for the trip to New England and a major shipyard of the Royal Navy was equal to something downstream in Deptford. 1696 was the Howland Great Wet Dock built (named after the family of the landowner ), the then largest harbor in the world, which could accommodate 120 sailing ships.

Middle of the 18th century, the harbor became the base of operations for whalers in the Arctic and therefore in Greenland Dock ( Greenland harbor basin ) has been renamed. In the 19th century resulted in the increased traffic from the Baltic States and Scandinavia (mainly wood), and Canada ( food for the population of London ) to extend the Greenland Docks and the construction of additional docks to accommodate a growing number of ships. Finally, 85% of the land area of the peninsula, an area of ​​1.9 km ², covered with a system of nine docks, six wooden pool and a canal. Many of the docks were named after the origin of their customers, eg Canada Dock, Quebec Pond, Norway and Russia Dock Dock. The Grand Surrey Canal was opened in 1807 and linked the harbor with facilities that were further away from the River Thames, but proved to be economic disaster and only 5.6 km ever built.

In the harbor a certain kind established to work that significantly differed from the Isle of Dogs on the other side of the river. A typical sight of these docks were the " wooden beam ", longshoremen, who had specialized to carry large amounts of cut wood on their shoulders and the special headgear wore that protected their heads from the raw wood.

The decline of the port facilities began in World War II, when they were badly damaged by German air attacks. The South Dock was pumped out and used for the construction of caissons made ​​of concrete, from which the Mulberry ports for the D-Day were assembled. With the advent of container ships, the harbor but were too small. Due to lack of demand they were finally closed in 1969. The Grand Surrey Canal was closed in 1971, emptied and filled. For over a decade, the area was an industrial wasteland, the warehouses were abandoned and filled over 90 % of the port facilities. The only surviving open water are the Greenland Dock, the South Dock, parts of Canada Docks (now called Canada Water ), the Norway dock and a basin called Surrey Water. In 1981, the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, the London Docklands Development Corporation ( LDDC ), the urban development of the former docks east of central London - including the Surrey Docks - should take in hand.

The grounds today

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the site of the Surrey Docks has been thoroughly modernized and renamed Surrey Quays. About 5,500 new housing units created, from terraced houses to the apartment a large block of flats. The South Dock was converted into a marina - now the largest in London - and in the Greenland dock, a water sports center was built. The Canada Water and the filled dock Russia were nature reserves; on the latter resulted in a forest. There were also built recreational facilities and located light industry, such as the new printing of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the London Evening Standard and Daily Mail newspapers.

In October 1988, the Surrey Quays Shopping Centre was opened as a newly developed center of the site. The nearby train station London Overground was a few months later renamed Surrey Quays. The football club Fisher Athletic FC is home to the Surrey Docks.