Connaught Crossing

7 Royal Victoria Docks from the footbridge

From the top of the bridge there is a splendid view in all directions. Starting at the ExCeL centre and moving clockwise we see:

ExCel, standing for Exhibition Centre London. This was an LDDC idea, but not completed and opened until 2000. It has attracted many hotels to the area – including the floating Sunborn Yacht hotel.

Canning Town Walk (2007): 7 Royal Victoria Docks from the footbridge

In the distance, you can see East London University, one of the developments on the Royal Albert Dock, which is worth a visit of its own, particularly for the group of cylindrical student residences, looking rather like oil storage tanks.

East London University and flight path beacons for City Airport, King George V Dock, North Woolwich

Closer than that, spanning the area and separating the Royal Victoria Docks from the two later Royal Albert and King George V docks is the Connaught Crossing, completed in 1990.

The large area on the right of the dock, including the area of water off from the main dock and the large bulk of Millennium Mills (built for Spillers flour in 1933) is the Silvertown Quays site, a £1.5 billion development that got planning permission in May 2007. This includes conversion of the mills into flats, 5,000 new homes, various community facilities, a lively town centre for Silvertown and the Biota! Project, a large aquarium designed by Terry Farrell & Partners for London Zoo. (though we don’t expect it to be anything like as good as The Deep in Hull!)

Close to the bridge is Eastern Quay (2003 Gardner Stewart Architects), constructed with a steel frame and is one of the first residential apartment blocks in the United Kingdom to have fully-glazed exterior walls. It uses advanced glazing technology to stop residents getting fried.

The large development, mainly of fairly small houses is Brittania Village, which began in 1994 with a Peabody development of 85 homes. The LDDC then made a deal with Wimpey for 777 more, along with some limited community facilities, including a primary school, in 1995. The area was completed with a few more Peabody trust and East Thames Housing Group properties.

Walk or take the lift down to dock level at the south end of the bridge, and walk through the arch at the centre of the semi-circular ring of shops.

Here there is a plaque marking the opening of the West Silvertown Urban Village by the government minister Selwyn Gummer in 1996.

Turn left and then right at the roundabout with a tall chimney and walk down Mill Road to the main road (North Woolwich Road.)

The large chimney in the middle of the roundabout dates from the 1930s. At the southern end of Mill Road are some workers cottages which appear to date from around 1900.

Cross the main road to the south side, taking great care. A suitably placed pedestrian crossing is only in planning application stage! [There is now a light-controlled crossing for pedestrians and cyclists.]

If you have plenty of time, you might like to make a detour to Lyle Park at this point, off Bradfield Road, a couple of hundred yards to the east. The park was presented to West Ham by Abraham Lyle & Son in 1924 and contains the fine metal gates from Harland & Wolff Ltd, ship builders, ship repairers and engineers in Woolwich Manor Way, Beckton from 1924-1972 (their actual shipyards were in Belfast and Govan.) The park also provides good views across the Thames to Greenwich Millenium Village and elsewhere.

This walk will continue in a later post with Part 8: North Woolwich Road.

You can read the whole document as I published it in 2007 beginning here and see more pictures I took in 2007 on My London Diary at canning town, victoria dock, silvertown west.

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Panoramas Around Albert & Victoria Docks: More panoramas I made in July 1994 on and around the Beckton Extension of the DLR, getting off the train at each stop, taking a walk around and making a few pictures before boarding the train again

*DLR, Roundabout, Royal Albert Way, West Beckton, Newham, 1994, 94-718-33*

One of the few pictures I made with a deliberate tilt of the camera in order to get the whole circle of the roundabout in the image. As you can see this results in a curved horizon.

*DLR, Albert Dock, West Beckton, Newham, 1994, 94-719-11*

The DLR stations on the elevated line often provided a useful viewpoint. Along the horizon here at left you can see the church at Silvertown, then the Silvertown Flyover. Around the centre are the mills on Royal Victoria Dock, then the more distant Canary Wharf and past that the Grade II listed 1881 Connaught Tavern. At right is the Compressor House, built in 1914 as a cold store for the dock.

*DLR, Albert Dock, West Beckton, Newham, 1994, 94-721-22*

A view through the front window of a DLR train which shows the Compressor House next to the Royal Albert Dock Station and the long stretch of the Royal Albert Dock. At the left are the houses of West Beckton. At right is London City Airport with a couple of planes.

*DLR, Connaught Crossing, Custom House, Newham, 1994, 94-721-42*

A view from the side of the train as it goes across Connaught Road looking over the recently built cable stayed swing bridge with reinforced concrete approach viaducts, opened around 1990. It replaced an earlier swing bridge built in 1904 to carry both the road and the North Woolwich Railway across the Connaught Passage between the Royal Victoria and Royal Albert Docks. The small octagonal building to the left of the bridge pumps water from the Connaught Tunnel, originally by hydraulic pumps but now by electric pumps. This was replaced by a larger circular structure when the tunnel was rebuilt for the Crossrail.

*DLR, Victoria Dock Rd, Canning Town, Newham, 1994, 94-718-53*

The DLR line runs beside Victoria Dock Road and this picture was made from Custom House Station and shows the junction with Freemasons Rd. Further along Victoria Dock Road you can see The Missions to Seaman Institute, Flying Angel House, built in red-brick Art Deco style in 1936. It closed in 1973 and after being used for some time as a college was converted into flats.

*Royal Victoria Dock, Canning Town, Newham, 1994, 94-718-41*

The western end of Royal Victoria Dock which closed in 1981. This picture was taken roughlky from where the cable car ride now has its northern terminal. The dockside sheds have been replaced by tall waterside blocks – around 17 storeys. There are still some of the old cranes on the quayside.

More panoramas from 1994 to follow.

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Tag: Connaught Crossing

Canning Town Walk (2007): 7

Panoramas Around Albert & Victoria Docks – 1994