Shadwell Basin

Shadwell Basin was part of the London Docks, a group of docks built by the London Dock Company at Wapping, London, and part of the wider docks of the Port of London.

Today Shadwell Basin is the most significant body of water surviving from the historical London Docks. It is situated on the north side of the river Thames east (downstream) of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and west (upstream) of Limehouse.

Unlike the rest of the London Docks which has been landfilled, Shadwell Basin, the most easterly part of the complex, has been retained. It is now a maritime square of 2.8 hectares used for recreational purposes (including sailing, canoeing and fishing) and is surrounded on three sides by an attractive waterside housing development designed by leading British architects MacCormac, Jamieson, Prichard and Wright.

The residential buildings are four and five storeys with facades of alternatively open arches and enclosed structure, echoing the scale of traditional 19th century dockside warehouses, with a colonnade at quayside.

Shadwell Basin is a popular public route for cyclists, joggers and pedestrians with a walkway alongside the water as part of the linked open spaces and canals between the river and Hermitage Basin near St Katharine Docks to the west. Having been part of London's first enclosed dock, Shadwell Basin is now part of the open access to the river and leisure amenities approach characterized by developments since the mid 1980s throughout much of Docklands.

History

The London Docks expanded eastward in the 1830s with the opening of the Eastern Dock and Shadwell Basin (built 1828–32). To provide these new docks with access to the river, a new entrance at Shadwell was built. Opened in 1832, it was named Shadwell Entrance (the main entrance to the London Dock was through Wapping Entrance with a third entrance at Hermitage Basin).

By the 1850s, the London Dock Company had recognised that the entrances at both Wapping and Shadwell were too small to accommodate the newer and larger ships coming into service. In 1854-58 the company built a new larger entrance (45 feet wide) and a new basin at Shadwell (the only element of the London Docks system to have survived redevelopment to this day) linked to the west part of the docks by Eastern Dock and the short Tobacco Dock.

Even by the start of the 20th century the docks in Wapping had become outdated as steam power meant ships were built too large to fit into them. Cargoes were unloaded downriver and then ferried by barge to warehouses in Wapping. This system was uneconomic and inefficient and one of the main reasons that the docks in Wapping were the first to close in the 1960s.

The London docks complex closed to shipping in 1969. Purchased by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Shadwell Basin and the western part of the London Docks fell into a derelict state [ [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanbarker/2180513077/in/set-72157603147272174/ "Flickr" photo-set illustrating derelict Shadwell Basin and dock gates to the Thames & area in 1974 & subsequent development] ] , mostly a large open tract of land and water. Acquired in 1981 by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), redevelopment of Shadwell Basin took place in 1987 resulting in 169 houses and flats being built around the retained historic dock.

Landmarks

(North)
* St. Paul's Church, Shadwell — the Church of Sea Captains

(South)
* The Wapping Project — arts venue incorporating a restaurant, Wapping Food, in the former Wapping Hydraulic Power Station building.
* Prospect of Whitby (London pub)

(East)
* King Edward VII Memorial Park — giving access to the River Thames
* [http://www.shadwell-basin.org.uk/ The Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre] - including [http://www.towerhamletscanoeclub.co.uk/ Tower Hamlets Canoe Club] and [http://www.diveschool.demon.co.uk/ London Dive School]

People

Some names associated with the area:

;Politicians

Members of Parliament, Poplar and Canning Town :
* Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour (MP since 1997)

;Victorian Era
* Sir William Henry Perkin (1838–1907) chemist who discovered aniline purple dye was baptised at St. Paul's Church, Shadwell

;Earlier
* Captain James Cook (1728–1779) lived in the area, and baptised some of his children at St. Paul's Church, Shadwell
* Jane Randolph (1720–1776), mother of President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shakespeare Walk (a road which ran from north to south in the middle of what is now Shadwell Basin) and was baptised at St. Paul's Church, Shadwell
* John Wesley (1703–1791) preached at St. Paul's Church, Shadwell

Neighbouring streets

North of Shadwell Basin

*Newlands Quay — formerly Elbow Lane (in 1862)

East of Shadwell Basin

*Pear Tree Lane — formerly Fox's Lane (in 1862). Named after The Pear Tree, the inn where the second group of Ratcliff Highway murders took place.

West of Shadwell Basin

*Maynards Quay off Garnet Street — formerly New Gravel Lane (in 1862)
*Bensons Quay

South of Shadwell Basin starting from the west:

*Milk Yard
*Monza Street
*Wapping Wall

References & Links