Limehouse Link tunnel

Limehouse and East India – 1994

Limehouse and East India: I spent most of Saturday 11th June 1994 wandering in the area between Limehouse, Blackwall and the former East India Docks, concentrating on making panoramas, some of which were the post Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas – 1994 but I also took a number of black and white and colour images. You can find more of both in two Flickr albums – links at the bottom of this post – but here is some of the colour work. These pictures will have been made using an Olympus OM$ camera on Fuji film. I carried a range of lenses from 21mm to 200mm, though probably most all were taken with 28mm or 50mm lenses.

*Limehouse Link Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-55*

The eastern entrance to the Limehouse Link Tunnel which was officially opened in 1993. Both portals have decorative sculptures, this one an untitled abstract by Nigel Hall which I find it hard to find any point in. The 1.1 mile tunnel took 4 years to build and cost £293,000,000 making it the most expensive road scheme in Britain per mile.

Limehouse Link Tunnel, Three Colts St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-44

This is the Limehouse Link Eastern Service Building. With a huge volume of traffic passing through the tunnel presumably the main service needed is ventilation and those chimneys presumably are on top of huge fans for the purpose, sharing the pollution with the community.

St Dunstan's Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33 — *St Dunstan’s Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33*

The story of Dunbar Wharf is told on the Isle of Dogs Life web site in the article Dunbar Wharf and the Remarkable Story of Duncan Dunbar, and I’ve written more about it in previous posts. Duncan Dunbar made a fortune as a brewer and wine merchant and on his death in 1825 his son, also Duncan Dunbar used this to set up a large shipping fleet, becoming one of the richest men in Britain.

As well as goods to and from the world Dunbar’s shipping line made 37 trips carrying convicts to Australia and were troopships for the Crimean War. He never married and had no children and on his death in 1862 the ships were all sold and the business closed.

The buildings here date from the mid 19th century and are Grade II listed.

*London Art Fashions, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-34*

I think this was the window of a tailor’s shop in Limehouse, but cannot recall its exact location. The caption I gave it came from the black and white poster at the back which I suspect is from the 1920s or 30s, though I’m certainly no fashion expert, while the blue framed image at lower left looks to me a little older and has an interesting lady golfer.

*Chinese Restaurant, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-23*

Limehouse and Poplar used to be London’s Chinatown before that moved to Soho, and some traces remain, rather more back in 1994 than now. On the wall is a calendar for the ‘Year of the Dog’ and a notice informing us that:

‘*WE NOW SELL
‘CHICKEN’ BALLS’ IN BATTER
PLEASE ASK STAFF
£2 A PORTION THANK YOU’

The two green hexagons floating in the centre close to the top of the picture (with some more very faint and above them to their right) are photographic artifacts, lens flare, images of the lens iris reflected from some interior lens surface from a light source just outside the frame. But I rather like the effect here.

*Hairdresser, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-24*

Looking through a window into a hairdressers with a red-edged counter and mirrors, red chairs and red towels hanging on hooks seen in the mirror. It wasn’t possible for me to get enough depth of field to make everything in the picture pin sharp, but this perhaps makes the mirrored image stand out a little more.

*East India Dock Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-51*

The lane closer to the centre of the image dives here into the East India Dock Tunnel with the red brickwork of the tunnel mouth at the right of the picture. The tunnel was opened in 1993. At the left is Canary Wharf Tower, then in isolation, in front of it the bridge and red tower of East India DLR station. The rather depressing 1990 ten-storey granite clad post-modern office blocks on the site of the main East India Dock have now been comprehensively redeveloped mainly for residential use and rebranded as ‘Republic’.

*Canary Wharf, DLR, Power Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-53*

Further east also looking back to Canary Wharf from underneath the DLR viaduct with the former switchgear house of Brunswick Wharf Power Station at right. Planned in 1939 but not built until after the war this was a coal fired power station on the site of the East India Export Dock. In 1948 the dock was filled in but post-war financial constraints meant the power station was only became operational in 1952, and finally completed in 1956.

In 1970 it was converted to burn oil, probably to reduce air pollution in London. Increases in oil prices later made this one of the more expensive generating stations and it was closed in 1984 and sold for redevelopment in 1987.

Most of the power station was demolished in 1989 but this building remained, I think until around 2005 when it was demolished for a large residential development, Virginia Quays, which has on the riverbank the 1951 Grade II listed Virginia Quay Settlers Monument.

My 1984 albums on Flickr:

1994 London Colour
1994 London Photos (Black and White)

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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West India Dock Road & Limehouse Cut – 1990

West India Dock Road & Limehouse Cut: My walk in Limehouse on Sunday 6th January 1990 continued. The previous post from this walk is Garford Street Limehouse – 1990. As usual you can click on the images here (except the panorama) to view larger versions on my Flickr pages.

*Shops, West India Dock Road, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-42*

This area is close to the parish border of Limehouse and Poplar, but in popular imagination was certainly Limehouse, London’s first ‘Chinatown’. But by 1990 Chinatown had almost entirely moved to Soho, though a few elements remained, including the Peking Restaurant – though a few shops down the street is the Poplar Fish Bar.

*Davey & Co, 88, West India Dock Road, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-43*

“In February 1885 Arthur Christopher Davey began a venture that throughout the 20th century evolved into a culture in the manufacture and supply of marine equipment. From humble beginnings in Leadenhall Street, the company soon moved to its famous address at 88, West India Dock Road, London E14, where it successfully traded for over 100 years.” The company is now based in Colchester.

*Shops, West India Dock Road, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-45*

The Wah Ying Restaurant was another remanant of Chinatown – and you can see along the road the sign of the Peking Restaurant. In the distance are the warehouses of the West India Docks and beyond them the cranes building Cabot Square at Canary Wharf.

West India Dock Road was laid out at the same time as the West India Docks opened in 1802, a new road to give access to them, which was for many years a toll road. I think these buildings probably date from the 1870s or a little later after the tolls were removed.

The restaurant looks very much closed and the broken windows above suggest it was empty and derelict when I made this picture.

*Blockage, Limehouse Cut, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-46*

The Limehouse Cut runs on a straight route through Poplar but curves around at its southern end. It was blocked here in 1990, possibly in connection with the building of the Limehouse Link tunnel between 1989 and 1993. But there was also work on the Cut around then, with the vertical guillotine gate on the north side of Britannia Bridge across the Commercial Road being removed.

Poplar Mods, graffiti, Railway Viaduct, St Anne's Church, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-32 — *Poplar Mods, graffiti, Railway Viaduct, St Anne’s Church, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-32*

The tower of Hawksmoor’s St Annes Limeouse seen above the viaduct built for the London and Blackwall Railway and opened in July 1840, the second or third railway viaduct to be built in London, after the 1836 London to Greenwich viaduct and the the Hanwell viaduct, technically then outside London. The line went to Brunswick Wharf in Blackwall where passengers could board ferries and boats to other destinations down river or around the world.

I can tell you nothing more about Poplar Mods except that the graffiti tells us they are male “Hammers” fans. West Ham began life as a team for the workers of the last remaining shipbuilders in the area not far away on Bow Creek as the Thames Ironworks Football Club. From 1895 they played at Hermit Road in Canning Town, former home to Old Castle Swifts, Essex’s first professional team which had gone bankrupt, They became West Ham United in 1900 and moved to Plaistow, before in 2004 uniting with the Boleyn Castle football club and moving to their Upton Park ground where they stayed until 2016.

*Limehouse Cut, Railway viaduct, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-21*

I think the next few pictures I made were taken from the block of flats immediately to the east of Limehouse Cut, Kiln Court, a medium rise block built as part of the Barley Mow Estate for the GLC in 1965-8. Back in 1990 many blocks still did not have security doors and it was possible to easily access shared areas.

Here you can see the Cut and the DLR viaduct across the north side of Limehouse Dock with its bridge and the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick on the corner of Island Row and Commercial Road.

I think the buildings on the far bank of Limehouse Cut were temporary offices and accommodation for the building of the Limehouse Link tunnel. The site is now occupied by housing at the end of Island Row.

*Limehouse Cut, Limehouse Dock, Railway viaduct, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-23*

In this picture you can see across to Limehouse Dock with the Hydraulic Accumulator Tower next to the DLR viaduct at the right. At the left is the temporary blockage on the Limehouse Link.

*Limehouse Cut, Limehouse Dock, Railway viaduct, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-24*

Sliding my shift lens to the left gave a view a little further towards the south and shows a little more of the Cut past the blockage and in the distance a small glimpse of the River Thames. This image was taken to create a panorama together with 90-1c-23:

*Limehouse Cut, Limehouse Dock, Railway viaduct, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-23-24*

More from Limehouse Cut in the next post on this walk.

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Around Emmett Street, Limehouse 1990

Around Emmett Street, Limehouse: My walk in Limehouse on Sunday 6th January 1990 continued. The previous post from this walk is Three Colt Street & Limekiln Dock – 1990.

Datakeep, Emmet St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1b-13 — *Datakeep, Emmett St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1b-13*

You won’t find Emmett Street on a map of Limehouse now. It ran from the southern end of Three Colt Street to meet West Ferry Road a few yards to the north of the Limehouse Entrance and Limehouse Basin the the West India Docks. Along its west side were a number of wharves – Taylor’s Wharf, Aberdeen Wharf, River Plate Wharf etc, the dry docks of Limekiln Dockyard and Limehouse Dry Dock and a dock at Aberdeen Wharf. This area was Limehouse Hole and included Limehouse Stairs from which a ferry once ran to Rotherhithe from what later became called Limehouse Pier.

*Milligan St, Limehouse Causeway, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1b-15*

Dundee Wharf, Aberdeen Wharf and the River Plate Wharf were were all part of the Dunbar Wharves. They ran regular twice weekly services to Scotland as well as importing goods from around the world – including meat from Argentina, and Oxo cubes were at one time wrapped here.

*Datakeep, River Thames, Milligan St, Emmett St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1b-16*

Emmett Street had at some time been known as Limekiln Hill – and West Ferry Road was earlier Bridge Road. These names were still used on the 1870 OS map, although The Survey of London says it was known as Emmett Street about 1830.

*Datakeep, Emmett St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-63*

The land in this area was owned by the Emmett family who began selling it off in 1809 but their name remained on the street until it was completely obliterated with the building of the Limehouse Link Tunnel shortly after I made these pictures.

*Datakeep, Emmett St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1c-64*

Much of the area had been cleared earlier by wartime bombing and the some large warehouses were rebuilt in the following years. The remaining 1870s warehouses were demolished in 1971-2 and the rest destroyed for the building of the road tunnel and Canary Riverside including Westferry Circus. You can read a detailed and well-illustrated article Limehouse Hole by Mick Lemmerman on the Isle of Dogs web Site.

Datakeep set out to provide secure storage for computer backup tapes in the largest warehouse in the area, formerly use for tea and coffee. The company later stored all kinds of things, including a 1935 vintage Bentley and offered a wide range of services to companies for their stored items.

Around Narrow Street, Limehouse – 1990

My walk in Limehouse on Sunday 6th January 1990 continued. The previous post from this walk is Limehouse Basin and Limehouse Cut – 1990.

*Brightlingsea Place, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-21*

From Northey Street I turned right into Brightlingsea Place, another street name still there in Limehouse although little of its buildings remain. The exception is Faraday House, a five storey block built by Stepney Borough Council in 1931 as a part of their Limehouse Fields slum clearance scheme. Much of the area to the east was also destroyed in the war, apparently by a V2 rocket and was finally cleared and excavated for the Limehouse Link Tunnel. It is now a public park, Ropemakers Field.

On the west side of Brightlingsea Place was the Limehouse Power Station (also known as Stepney Power station) built in 1907, decommissioned in 1972 and demolished.

*Stepney Transforming Station, Brightlingsea Place, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-23*

Parts of the power station were still in place in 1990 and a notice on the gates at right confirm this is Stepney Transforming Station and warn of the danger of 66,000 volts. But Stepney – and Limehouse – was now undergoing a very different transformation.

*The House They Left Behind, Ropemakers Fields, Narrow Street, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-24*

The pub, The House They Left Behind, at the entrance to the cleared area between Brightlinsea Place and Ropemakers Fields a few yards north of Narrow Street was indeed the only building left standing in this area. At 27 Ropemaker’s Fields built in 1857 it had previously been called The Black Horse and was on the edge of the Barley Mow Brewery Site. After several further name changes and becoming a bar/restaurant it closed around 2010 and is now residential.

An Instagram post by londondeadpubs tells the interesting story of the stabbing there in 1998 of “Christopher Dunhill, heir to the vast Dunhill tobacco (and, weirdly, cufflinks) fortune” who was then a resident there and “helping out at the oyster bar“. He had earlier in 1987 been convicted of drug dealing but somehow only served 15 months in prison and “today he appears to be CEO of a Bahamian financial company.” But do read the full post.

*Ropemakers Fields, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-12*

To the east are these tower blocks of the Barley Mow Estate on Oak Lane, seen here from Ropemakers Fields. These blocks were built on the Barley Mow Brewery site and were built around 1967 for the London County Council using the same “Large Panel System” which failed in the Ronan Point disaster in 1968.

Reports led to additional strengthening work on Brewster and Malting House, but it was decided to demolish Risby House as it would be adversely affected by the contruction of the Limehouse Link Tunnel.

*W J Woodward Fisher, 94, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-15*

This was one of the best-known lighterage firms on the river until the business was closed down in 1973 by ‘Dolly’ Fisher on her 79th birthday. In its heyday had around a hundred barges on and nine tugs on the river.

Dorothea Woodward Fisher and her husband William, a lighterman who she had married over the protests of her family had formed the company with only £20 and one barge. And when her husband died in the 1960s she took over the running of it – and was described by many on the river and in a 1972 BBC documentary as ‘Mother Thames‘.

Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-16 — *Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1b-62*

Dunbar Wharf on Narrow Street backs onto Limekiln Dock. Duncan Dunbar came to Limehouse from Scotland and made a fortune as a brewer and wine merchant, leaving his son – also Duncan Dunbar – sufficient to found a shipping business in 1827. By 1842 he had 11 ships and in the next 20 years ordered another 42.

As well as trading in various goods iuncluding wine and spirits, Dunbar’s ship’s made 37 voyages taking convicts to Australia and were troop carriers for the Crimean War. When he died in 1862 his estate was worth £2 million. His family then sold up all of the business. Apparently one of his former ships, the Edwin Fox is a museum attraction in New Zealand.

Limehouse Basin and Limehouse Cut – 1990

Limehouse Basin and Limehouse Cut: More pictures from my walk around Limehouse on on 6th January 1990. The previous post from this walk is Ratcliff Highway and Limehouse Basin – 1990.

Former Limehouse Cut, Northey St, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-24 — *Former Limehouse Cut, Northey St, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990*

The Limehouse Cut is London’s oldest canal, opened in 1770 to provide an easier route from the Lea Navigation, an important river for transporting grain into London from the agricultural areas to north in Hertfordshire. Used from the Bronze age and later by Viking raiders, alterations had been made to improve navigation on the River Lee since at least 1190 and was later followed by various Acts of Parliament. The first river lock in England was built on it at Waltham Abbey in 1577, but it was only the the River Lee Navigation Act 1767 that really began its modernisation.

*Former Limehouse Cut, Northey St, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-41*

Part of the work made under the 1767 Act when the navigation was surveyed John Smeaton was the suggestion to dig of the Limehouse Cut, allowing boats to avoid the treacherous and winding tidal lower reaches of Bow Creek on their way to the River Thames. The actual surveyor when the work began was his assistant Thomas Yeoman. It was a considerable short cut as it emerged into the river to the west of the long haul around the Isle of Dogs.

The original canal was narrow and had to be later widened and improved and it was only in the Victorian era that it was finally in something like its final state. The canal until 1968 entered directly into the Thames though Limehouse Lock in front of the row of small houses in these pictures, but it also had a basin, Limehouse Basin, at its southern end.

Limehouse Dock, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-45 — *Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-45*

The first Limehouse Basin was at first simply a basin at the end of the Limehouse Cut, dug out by 1795. It had an island in it and on its bank was a a sawmill driven by a windmill, built a little earlier when sawmills were still widely thought to be illegal in England. It was attacked and the machinery destroyed by rioters – including hand-sawyers – in 1768. Restored the following year it closed around 35 years later. A lead mill opened on the island soon after and the company only ceased to exist in 1982. Victory Place is built on the site of this original Basin, and the old streets Island Row and Mill Place to its north are still there.

The Limehouse Cut was in 1854 linked to the Limehouse Basin of the Regent’s Canal which had opened in 1820 as the Limehouse Lock needed to be repaired. But this link was opposed by the boatmen from the Lee and Stort who fought a legal battle and in 1864 it was filled in and the site built on. It was not until over a hundred years later in 1968 that a new link – only 200 metres long – was made and Limehouse Lock finally closed.

*Limehouse Cut, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-32*

The Limehouse Cut runs on a straight route through Poplar but curves around at its sourthern end. It was blocked here in 1990, probably in connection with the buildilng of the Limehouse Link tunnel between 1989 and 1993. But there was also work on the Cut around then, with the vertical guillotine gate on the north side of Britannia Bridge across the Commercial Road being removed.

Northey St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-32 — *Limehouse Cut, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-32*

Northey Street still has a bridge over the remains of the old route of the Limehouse Cut to Limehouse Lock, but all of the buildings including wharves and works on the banks of the Cut have now been replaced by modern development. The tower blocks beyond are on Oak Lane, and I think in the distance are cranes working on developments on the Isle of Dogs around Canary Wharf.

*Northey St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1990, 90-1a-36*

Another view of buildings on Northey Street in the 1990s.

Still more from Limehouse to come in later posts.

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