West India Docks

The next time you’re visiting Canary Wharf, take a moment to look beyond the towering glass and steel. You are standing in a place with a history that is as rich, complex, and sometimes brutal, as any in London: Welcome to the West India Docks.

Once the beating heart of a global trading empire, these docks tell a fascinating story of ambition, immense wealth, human cost, and ultimate transformation.

Before the West India Docks, the River Thames was a chaotic mess of ships, theft, and congestion. Enter the powerful West India merchants, who successfully lobbied for dedicated, secure docks. The result was the West India Dock Act of 1799, paving the way for a revolutionary development on the Isle of Dogs.

Surrey Commercial Docks, Rotherhithe

Greenland Dock.

Walking around Rotherhithe it is hard to imagine that, just 40 years ago, this was a completely different area. Almost every part of it would have been docks, basins and cuts, rather than what now greets people. Housing estates, schools, shops, business centres, a farm, green spaces, ecology parks and, at its centre, Stave Hill Viewpoint have now replaced the docks that once covered this entire area. 

Of course, some small areas of water can be found, like Globe Pond Nature Reserve, Lavender Pond Nature Reserve and Surrey Water. Then you have some of the original docks, such as Canada Dock, Greenland Dock, Norway Dock and South Dock.

Brief History

Located in Rotherhithe, on the Surrey side of the River Thames, this area had been a hub of commercial activity since the 17th century.

The Howland Great Wet Dock was built between 1695 and 1699 and was the oldest of London's riverside wet docks. In 1763 the dock was sold and renamed Greenland Dock, due to the amount of whalers that used it. Greenland Dock became the central hub for the Surrey Commercial Docks.

During the 1800s expansions and improvements resulted in the formation of the Surrey Commercial Docks Company. These docks were part of the larger Port of London, which handled a significant amount of commercial shipping trade to and from the UK.

This is how the area once looked.

Many docks were named for what they imported or from where the products derived, while others had simpler names. There were docks named Albion, Canada, Greenland, Island, Lady, Lavender, Norway, Russia and Stave. Plus, the South and West Docks.

West India Docks (former) Police Station

The Port of London Authority Police Force building.

Wandering around West India Docks there are numerous buildings, some dating from the early 1800s, that have been repurposed following the closure of the import/export docks in the 1980s.

The Museum of London Docklands is housed within one of the original dock buildings, for instance.

Many other buildings were demolished when the area came under regeneration as part of the Docklands Scheme, which saw Canary Wharf constructed and new underground stations built.

The building above is quite interesting, in its own way, as it was the home of the Port of London Authority Police Force from 1914.

Mudchute Park and Farm

A sheep at Mudchute Park and Farm with Canary Wharf in the background.

Sunday July 3, 2022.

I had been meaning to take Erin and Keilyn to Mudchute Park and Farm for quite a while, now, so, as we had nothing else planned, we set off to the station (Metropolitan line to Finchley Road, Jubilee line to Canary Wharf) and began our latest exploratory.

After exiting Canary Wharf station we took a meandering route along the old docks, where yachts and narrowboats were moored, while some people had taken to the still waters in kayaks.

Canary Wharf on a Sunday.

Eventually we found East Ferry Road and made our way around the Asda car park, which brought us to the entrance of Mudchute Park and Farm.

From this entrance you can take a number of routes as the path branches in a number of directions. We took the centre one, which led us past meadows and fields until we reached a Remembrance Garden and a 3.5" Ack-Ack gun. 

Erin and Keilyn with an Ack-Ack anti-aircraft gun.