This is a list of about 680 former or extant wharves, docks, piers, terminals, etc. of the Port of London , the majority of which lie on the Tideway of the River Thames, listed from upstream to downstream.
Many of the docks closed after the mass uptake of containerisation changed the face of the industry and bringing about an end to an era, and a demise to the occupation of the docker as it then was.
Those marked with a † have at present the status of a safeguarded wharf. Those in italics are no longer used for port or river transit related activities. Further remarks are made in brackets, including in some cases the present operator or cargo handled.
It is estimated that in 1937, at the height of London's trade, there were around 1,700 wharves between Brentford and Gravesend. [1] Today there are around 70 active terminals, each generally handling much greater volumes. Much of the cargo and commodities handling by the Port of London takes place in the downstream stretches of the Thames beyond Greater London, on the banks of south Essex (Thurrock) and north Kent. The Port of London Authority controls operations from its base in Gravesend. The main container terminal is currently at Tilbury, though in 2008 construction began on the London Gateway project, which will become the largest single component of the Port of London when completed.
(Albert Bridge)
(Chelsea Bridge)
(Lambeth Bridge)
(Westminster Bridge)
(Blackfriars Bridge)
(Blackfriars Railway Bridge)
Below here lie the Medway ports including Thamesport, a container port on the site of BP's Kent oil refinery on the Isle of Grain and Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. These are not part of the Port of London.
(Chiswick Bridge)
(Barnes Railway Bridge)
(Lambeth Bridge)
(Westminster Bridge)
(Blackfriars Bridge)
(Blackfriars Railway Bridge)
(Hermitage entrance to London Docks)
(Wapping entrance to London Docks)
(Shadwell New Entrance to Shadwell Basin and London Docks)
(site of original West India Docks Limehouse Lower Entrance) [53]
(site of original Millwall Dock entrance) [55]
( Bow Creek)
(site of original upper entrance to Royal Victoria Dock)
The following wharves are located on the lower section of the River Roding, at Creekmouth.
See Port of Tilbury for the main dock system.
Rotherhithe is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs to the east of the Thames and is a part of the Docklands area. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south east.
Silvertown is a district in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, hundred of Becontree, and the historic county of Essex. Since 1965, Silvertown has been part of the London Borough of Newham, a local government district of Greater London. It forms part of the London E16 postcode district along with Canning Town and Custom House.
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary with the North Sea and including any associated docks. Once the largest port in the world, it was the United Kingdom's largest port as of 2020. Usage is largely governed by the Port of London Authority ("PLA"), a public trust established in 1908; while mainly responsible for coordination and enforcement of activities it also has some minor operations of its own.
The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse.
The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the south-east is Charlton.
The Islington Branch Canal was a short canal branch at Ancoats in north-west England, which joined the main line of the Ashton Canal between locks 1 and 2.
Grosvenor Canal was a canal in the Pimlico area of London, opened in 1824. It was progressively shortened, as first the railways to Victoria Station and then the Ebury Bridge housing estate were built over it. It remained in use until 1995, enabling barges to be loaded with refuse for removal from the city, making it the last canal in London to operate commercially. A small part of it remains within the Grosvenor Waterside development.
The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Pickett's Lock is a lock on the River Lee Navigation in the London Borough of Enfield, England and is located near Edmonton, London. It gives its name to the surrounding area of Picketts Lock. In common with other locks as far upstream as Ponder's End Lock it is large enough to take barges of up to 130 tons. However it has not been upgraded to power operation and so it must be manually operated. It has gate paddles but these do not have gate baffles to mitigate the rush of water into the lock.
The Rochdale Branch Canal was a branch of the Rochdale Canal in north-west England which led close to Rochdale Town Centre. It was in use from 1794, and was bordered by the landscaped gardens of Lark Mill House on the western bank until the 1850s. A number of industries grew up around the branch, ranging from cotton mills and an iron and brass foundry in the early years, to a bakery and jam manufactory, woollen mills and sawmills later on. The branch declined with the main canal, and was little used after the 1920s, although not officially abandoned until 1952. It was filled in during the 1960s, and the site of the main basins now lies beneath the car park of a retail shopping centre.
Dundee Wharf is a residential development in Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London. The modern buildings occupy the site of a former shipyard known as Limekiln Dockyard. John Graves established this shipyard in 1633 and then expanded his holdings with Dundee Wharf itself. By 1650 George Margetts developed a ropemaking yard including a ropehouse, storehouse and a ropewalk on the site. A modern wharf with electric cranes was constructed in the 1930s. This was used by the Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Company to operate a twice-weekly service between Perth, Dundee, Leith and London.
Safeguarded wharves are those wharves in London which have been given special status by the Mayor of London and the Port of London Authority (PLA) which ensures they are retained as working wharves and are protected from redevelopment into non-port use.
The East Greenwich Gas Works of the South Metropolitan Gas Company was the last gas works to be built in London, and the most modern. Originally manufacturing town gas from coal brought in by river and exporting coke and chemicals, the plant was adapted to produce gas from oil in the 1960s. Nothing remains of any of the gas holders; the last gas holder, built in 1886, was dismantled in 2020.
London Yard was a shipyard in London, in use between around 1856 and 1908 by various shipbuilding companies, including Westwood, Baillie and Yarrow Shipbuilders.
Deptford Wharf in London, UK is situated on the Thames Path southeast of South Dock Marina, across the culverted mouth of the Earl's Sluice and north of Aragon Tower. In the late 18th and early 19th century this area was used for shipbuilding with several building slips. With the coming of the railway in 1848 Deptford wharf and docks were used to import coal and for other goods. The housing here, completed in 1992, is on the site of former railway sidings and riverside wharves.
Odessa Wharf is an early 19th-century warehouse located on the south bank of the River Thames at Rotherhithe, London. The warehouse has been converted into apartments and townhouses, some of which are operated as holiday lets by Odessa Club Management with the remainder as private residences. It is situated directly on the Thames Path national trail, north of Greenland Dock, with distinctive timber box "lanterns" on its roof.
Fresh Wharf was a wharf located in the City of London close to London Bridge, on the north bank of the River Thames. The site was used as a quay in Roman times and later as an unloading place for Anglo-Saxon boats. A wharf was constructed there at some point in the medieval period and appears to have acquired its name from its customary usage as a landing place for fresh fish. In the 16th century, Fresh Wharf was made a "Legal Quay" authorised for the import of certain goods during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. It expanded as London's river-borne trade grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, with large warehouses being established immediately behind the wharf. In the 20th century, the wharf's owners took over the adjoining wharves immediately upstream and downstream, built a new ten-storey warehouse and renamed the site New Fresh Wharf. By the end of the 1960s, however, London's docks had fallen into disuse with the advent of containerization, for which they were not suited, and the wharf was closed down in 1970. An office block was built on the site of the warehouse in 1977 and the former quayside is now part of a public footpath along the Thames.
Columbia Wharf, on the south bank of the River Thames in London, was the first grain silo in a British port. Built in 1864, it was designed by architect and hymnwriter James Edmeston for G & I L Green's Patent Ventilating Grain Company. It is in Rotherhithe, south of Cuckold's Point and north of Nelson Dock Pier. Canada Wharf was added to the complex in 1870–1. Used for storage of foodstuffs until 1976, the complex, including a former engine house and boiler to the south, was listed as a Grade II building in 1983, and is now used for accommodation.
Botolph Wharf or St Botolph's Wharf was a wharf located in the City of London, on the north bank of the River Thames a short distance downstream from London Bridge. It was situated between Cox and Hammond's Quay upstream and Nicholson's Wharf downstream. On the landward side, the wharf was accessed via Thames Street. It had a frontage of 78 ft (24 m). The wharf was used for at least a thousand years before being destroyed during the Second World War. A late 1980s office building currently occupies the site.