place

Blackwall Rock

Blackwall, LondonGeography of the River ThamesHistory of the London Borough of Tower HamletsShoals of the United Kingdom
Horwood Blackwall
Horwood Blackwall

The Blackwall Rock was a reef in the River Thames in East London. The rock provided a useful shelter for moored vessels, but also proved a hazardous obstruction to river navigation. It was removed in the early 19th century following the opening of the adjacent West India Docks.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Blackwall Rock (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.506388888889 ° E -0.0019722222222222 °
placeShow on map
Horwood Blackwall
Horwood Blackwall
Share experience

Nearby Places

Blackwall Tunnel
Blackwall Tunnel

The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south of the East India Dock Road (A13) in Blackwall; the southern entrances are just south of The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula. The road is managed by Transport for London (TfL). The tunnel was originally opened as a single bore in 1897 by the Prince of Wales, as a major transport project to improve commerce and trade in London's East End, and supported a mix of foot, cycle, horse-drawn and vehicular traffic. By the 1930s, capacity was becoming inadequate, and consequently a second bore opened in 1967, handling southbound traffic while the earlier 19th century tunnel handles northbound. The northern approach takes traffic from the A12 and the southern approach takes traffic from the A2, making the tunnel crossing a key link for both local and longer-distance traffic between the north and south sides of the river. It forms part of a key route into Central London from South East London and Kent and was the easternmost all-day crossing for vehicles before the opening of the Dartford Tunnel in 1963. It remains the easternmost free fixed road crossing of the Thames, and regularly suffers congestion, to the extent that tidal flow schemes were in place from 1978 until controversially removed in 2007. Given the very high traffic volumes at the crossing (and the height restrictions of the Victorian bore) the crossing is being supplemented by the Silvertown Tunnel, currently under construction. When the Silvertown Tunnel is completed in 2025, both it and the Blackwall Tunnels will be tolled.The tunnels are no longer open to pedestrians, cyclists or other non-motorised traffic, and the northbound tunnel has a 4.0-metre (13.1 ft) height limit. The London Buses route 108 between Lewisham and Stratford runs through the tunnels.

Blackwall railway station
Blackwall railway station

Blackwall was a railway station in Blackwall, London, that served as the eastern terminus of the Commercial Railway (later the London and Blackwall Railway). It was located on the south side of the East India Docks, near the shore of the River Thames, 3 miles 43 chains (5.7 km) down-line from the western terminus at Fenchurch Street. The station was designed by architect William Tite in an ornate Italianate style. It opened on 6 July 1840 with services connecting with a ferry service to Gravesend, Kent. Between 1870 and 1890 the station was also served by some North London Railway trains from Broad Street via Hackney and Bow services to connect to the ferry services. The station was renovated at this time.In March 1926 the London and North Eastern Railway and Port of London Authority announced passenger services would be withdrawn on 30 June 1926. However, with the start of the national general strike services were suspended early on 3 May 1926, and never resumed.John Betjeman (1906-1984) in his book First and Last Loves, wrote of a journey on the L&BR "Those frequent and quite empty trains of the Blackwall Railway ran from a special platform at Fenchurch Street. I remember them. Like stagecoaches they rumbled past East End chimney pots, wharves and shipping stopping at empty black stations till they came to a final halt at Blackwall station...When one emerged there, there was nothing to see beyond it but a cobbled quay and a vast stretch of wind whipped water..."The station was demolished in 1946 to make way for Blackwall power station, although the branch continued to carry goods traffic until the demise of the docks in the late 1960s.Today no trace of the two-storey station remains, and the docks have been filled in (although a small basin remains). Its approximate location is now occupied by houses on Jamestown Way. The station site is some distance from the present-day Blackwall DLR station; the closest existing station is actually East India DLR station, which is slightly to the north-west of the original Blackwall station site.

New Providence Wharf
New Providence Wharf

The New Providence Wharf is a residential development in the Blackwall district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, at the north end of the Blackwall Tunnel. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and is managed by Ballymore, a property development company. It consists of a crescent-shaped block along Fairmont Avenue and Yabsley Street (New Providence Block A-E, with 559 apartments), two taller buildings - the Ontario Tower (256 apartments) and Charrington Tower (originally Providence Tower, 360 apartments) - the Michigan Building (72 apartments) and Columbia West (19 apartments).Early phases of the development were completed in 2005, and were built of materials that complied with the guidance that applied at that time. However, following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, it emerged that the 19-floor New Providence Block A-E used the same aluminium composite material (ACM) for cladding. More than 500 households would, on average, have to pay over £4,000 each after freeholder Landor Residential, part of the Ballymore group, refused to cover the cost of recladding the block. In February 2019, Ballymore offered residents a 20% contribution towards recladding costs, but gave them a two-week ultimatum to foot the rest of the £2.4m bill, despite stated MHCLG policy that leaseholders should not to be made to pay to remediate dangerous cladding systems. Ballymore also offered loans, but threatened to cancel its 20% contribution and add a 5% interest to the loan if any resident threatened the company with legal action.