Wapping
to Limehouse a free walk for tourists, going through the old docklands
areas of Wapping, Shadwell and into Limehouse which lie immediately east
of the City, and past Numerous old London pubs, and real 1800's warehouses,
The walk
starts at the
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Background | ||
Location: Start
is 3 miles (approx 5 kilometres) east of |
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This
walk goes almost straight along and roughly follows the path of the river
Thames, through the old dockland areas of
Wapping, Shadwell and into Limehouse which lie immediately east of the City,
and past Numerous old London pubs, and real 1800's warehouses cleaned up! but first through
some redeveloped area's shaped for the tourist. These
districts are all at various stages of redevelopment some finished, others
work in progress, following the closing
of London
's famous docks in the late 1960s and early 1970’s. The walk starts at
the Start:
Tower
Hill Station District and Circle Underground lines; Finish:
Westferry Station Docklands
Light Railway; Length:
3 1/2 miles (5.2 kilometres). Time: 3 hours. |
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Turn
left by the World Trade Centre into Commodity Quay, which fronts the
basins in St Katharine's Dock, this used to be a bustling area, full of
lorries and cranes working non-stop. A hospital, a medieval church and one
hundreds of houses were demolished to make room for this dock, which
opening in 1828. Tea, rubber, wool, marble, sugar, tallow, and ivory were
all unloaded at the quays and stored in the dock's six-storey warehouses
supported on thick iron columns. At
the end of Commodity Quay, turn right along the flagged terrace in front
of the new shops in the ground floor of the warehouse. Go through the
archway into the entrance basin connecting with the river. Turn right here
and then cross the bridge by the Coronarium - a small, chapel built with
some old warehouse pillars and marking,
the position of the demolished older St Katharine's Church. Go
to the left under the Tower Hotel and then left again over the red painted
bridge across the entrance to the dock. The
entrance was relatively small compared with other docks and could not
accommodate the really big ships. This was one reason why St Katharine's
was never a great commercial success. It survived; however, along with Keep
to the left along the dockside, where the old Nore lightship is
moored this is from it’s former location near Sheppey in the Thames
Estuary, on the way to the Go
left again at the end and then right to the gate leading into The
road was built around 1570 to link the legal quays in the City (the only
quays at which ships could unload their cargo) to new storage warehouses
downstream. Inevitably, people settled along the street and it was later
described as a 'filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or
cottages . . . inhabited by sailors' victuallers'. Most of tese ships
suppliers moved toward the isle of dogs and Silvertown This
part of the walk, as far as the pier head, is still settling down from
redevelopment. Wapping Pier Head now a double row of Georgian houses
facing each other across railed gardens. The gardens cover the entrance to
London Docks, built in the year 1805 the year of Nelson's victory and
death at Trafalgar. Note
the cobblestones set in the garden on the left match the arc of the dock
entrance gates. These houses were built for officials of the Dock Company.
London Docks were substantially bigger than St Katharine's Dock , with
their monopoly on the import of tobacco, rice, wine and brandy, they were
commercially very prosperous, in fact so profitable, that in the 1860’s
they took over St Katharine's. Apart
from the two entrance basins, most of the docks have now been filled in
and built on, so you have to have a good imagination as to their vastness;
the western dock is buried beneath the new headquarters of Fleet
street’s press giants. Convicts'
quay Continue
through the Pier Head houses. On the right the Town of
Just
a bit further, the white building covered in abstract concrete shapes is
the base of the river police who patrol the Beyond
The
High Street now curves to the left beside Gun Wharf and then passes
Wapping Station (the Underground line runs under the river through the
world's first underwater tunnel, completed in 1843 after 20 years of
tunnelling). Further
along, the road turns sharp left to meet
Like
the Angel at Bermondsey, this is another pub of great age, though its
claim to be the oldest riverside inn in Once
the eastern entrance to London Docks, this basin is now used for swimming
and canoeing, and new houses have been built on the quays. To the right of
the basin you can see the spire of Just
after the bridge turn right into a path beside the sports ground leading
to the Sir
Francis Drake found a way to Turn
left halfway along the waterside walk and leave the park by the gate in
the top right-hand corner. Turn right on the Highway. On the right is
You
are now close to the start of the Stepney walk At
the junction turn right into Further
along this street you come to the Grapes, the third of the old riverside
pubs on the north bank. Once there were dozens of pubs along the river
where sailors and docker’s slaked their thirst. bear left here to
another pub - The House They Left Behind - standing all alone in the
middle of new housing estates and gardens (hence its odd name). Turn left
just after the pub (there is a sports ground on your right) and follow the
main path to the right and then left into the housing estate. Go
through the gates, across the cobbled road and up the slope between the
low railings. Bear left again and keep to the left along the side of the
canal (this is the Limehouse Cut). Go under the railway bridge and follow
the path round to the right through the open space. The
bow-fronted house on the corner of Go
to the right of the church and leave the churchyard by the gate at the
opposite end. Turn left into you
are now in the area known as Further
along Commercial road you will find the seaman's missions and Chrisp
street market............ to be continued |
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