The area was named after the factories established by Stephen William Silver in 1852,.[1] The riverside of central Silvertown continues to be dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery, with residential developments being built to its east and west.
Central Silvertown features St Marks Church (now Brick Lane Music Hall), London City Airport, and a new community arts and creative space called The Factory Project.
A £3.5 billion redevelopment of part of the district was approved in 2015.[2]
History
In 1852 S.W. Silver & Company moved to the area from Greenwich and established a rubber works, originally to make waterproof clothing. This subsequently developed into the works of the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company, which constructed and laid many submarine cables. By the 1860s a number of manure and chemical works and petroleum storage depots had been set up.[3] In 1864, the area became an ecclesiastical parish of its own, centred on the church of St Mark's.
Sugar refiners in the area were joined by Henry Tate in 1877 and Abram Lyle in 1881, whose companies merged in 1921 to form Tate & Lyle.[4] Prior to the merger, which occurred after they had died, the two men were bitter business rivals, although they had never met.[5] Tate & Lyle still has two large refineries in the area.
In 1889 Silver's factory was the scene of a twelve-week-long strike by the majority of its 3,000 workers. The strikers were demanding higher pay and were inspired by the recent successes of New Unionism in the East End of London. Management refused to negotiate with the strikers who had immense popular support. Leading figures in the strike included Tom Mann and Eleanor Marx. The workers were eventually starved back to work, with many being victimised for their role. In the aftermath of the strike, Silver's declared a half-yearly dividend of 5 per cent. The rest of the industry congratulated Silver's management for holding a line against New Unionism.[6]
On 19 January 1917, parts of Silvertown were devastated by a massive TNT explosion at the Brunner-Mond munitions factory, in what is known as the Silvertown explosion. Seventy three people died and hundreds were injured in one of the largest explosions ever experienced in the British Isles.[7]
In the early 20th century the area suffered greatly from road congestion due to being located between the Thames and the Royal Docks, then the largest and one of the busiest dock groups in the world. The area was cut off for much of the time by lifting bridges over dock entrances and level crossings which were closed for up to three-quarters of each hour by train movements. This led in the early 1930s to the construction of the elevated Silvertown Way, one of the earliest urban flyovers.[8]
On the first night of The Blitz, Tate and Lyle's sugar refinery, John Knight's Primrose Soapworks, and the Silvertown Rubber Works were all badly damaged by bombing.[9]
Silver's was eventually taken over by the British Tyre and Rubber Co, later known as BTR Industries. The site closed in the 1960s and is now the Thameside Industrial Estate.[10] Another major local employer was the Loders and Nucoline plant at Cairn Mills, a traditional port oleo industry and formerly part of Unilever. This originally milled seeds but later concentrated on production of fats from palm kernel oil.[citation needed]
The area was part of the ancient parishs of West Ham and East Ham, Essex, from the 12th century onwards. The Local Government Act 1894 created East Ham Urban District. West Ham became a county borough in 1900, before merging with East Ham to create the new London Borough of Newham in 1965.[11]
Since the closure of the former mainline Silvertown rail station, the small commercial area nearby has suffered, with a loss of shops, post office, local social club, and library. Of the many previous pubs along the Albert Road in Silvertown, only one now remains. Some small pockets of residential development occurred in the 1980s, however since then, little has been done to improve the centre of Silvertown.
Further west, the residential area of Britannia Village was developed in the 1990s in what would come to be known as "West Silvertown".[12]
On 21 April 2015, Newham Council gave planning permission to The Silvertown Partnership for a new £3.5billion redevelopment in the area. The 7million square foot (650,000m2) development will provide offices, a tech hub, 3,000 new homes and brand experience pavilions. A school, health centre and shops are also included in the plan and a new bridge will cross the Royal Docks to get people to Custom House station[13] and Crossrail. However, little of this proposed redevelopment will benefit the historic centre of residential Silvertown.
The Silvertown Partnership were selected as the development partner to take forward the regeneration of the site. Their plan was to develop the site with homes, restaurants, commercial buildings, local convenience retail facilities, and significant public realm for community use. They predicted that it would provide up to 20,700 new jobs, up to 3,000 homes and contribute £260m each year of gross value to the London economy. The redevelopment is planned to include the restoration of former flour factory Millennium Mills.[14]
In January 2015, the Mayor of London announced an initial £12m of government funding to start work on demolishing part of Millennium Mills and clearing it of asbestos.[15] Prior to this latest development, the area was transformed in the 1970s by the construction of the Thames Barrier, an adjacent park, new housing areas and London City Airport. In the mid-1990s much of the business activity in the area was centred on the brewing firm Bass. In 2007 Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester visited Silvertown, to formally open the new Silvertown Ambulance Station on North Woolwich Road.
The old Silvertown railway station on the North London Line was closed in 2006. A new London Underground station at nearby Custom House built by Crossrail was opened in 2022, adding further public transport access to and from central London, Essex, and direct service to London Heathrow Airport. Locally, this new line used the trackbed of the old North London Line and there is passive provision for a stop serving Silvertown to be built in future.
A new bridge to connect West Silvertown with Crossrail's Custom House station is one of the features of a £3.5bn redevelopment plan for London's Royal Docks.[18]
The Silvertown Tunnel is a road tunnel under the Thames which will open in 2025 and provide a toll route to the Greenwich peninsula.[19]
Transport For London public buses that serve Silvertown include the 473 that runs from Stratford to North Woolwich and the 474 that operates from Canning Town to Manor Park. Both the 473 and 474 make stops at London City Airport. A new route 241 runs between Straford and Pontoon Dock.
Some attempts have been made in recent years to establish bicycling lanes, however ongoing construction and road works limit access and cyclists generally are required to share the road with motor vehicle users.
'Silvertown' was the name of a Men They Couldn't Hang album released in 1989. One song 'Blackfriers Bridge' mentions Silvertown.
The district also features in Charlie Connelly's 2004 book, Attention All Shipping. In the first chapter "Sea, Soup and Silvertown" the author describes his grandparents' flight from the area during The Blitz and the inspiration for the book.[20] The docks and factories of Silvertown also provide the backdrop for his 2015 book Constance Street which traces the once thriving community through the lives of 12 women and their struggle for survival during the chaos of the war years.
Melanie McGrath's book Silvertown is a novelistic account of her grandmother's life in the area, where she and her husband ran a cafe.[21]
The Sugar Girls, by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, tells the true stories of women who worked at Tate & Lyle's Silvertown factories, and features much detail on the area.[5]
London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world's largest port. After the docks closed, the area had become derelict and poverty-ridden by the 1980s. The Docklands' regeneration began later that decade; it has been redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The name "London Docklands" was used for the first time in a government report on redevelopment plans in 1971 and has since been almost universally adopted. The redevelopment created wealth, but also led to some conflict between the new and old communities in the area.
West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located 6.1 mi (9.8 km) east of Charing Cross.
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the same act. The name Newham reflects its creation and combines the compass points of the old borough names. Situated in the Inner London part of East London, Newham has a population of 387,576, which is the fourth highest of the London boroughs and also makes it the 26th most populous district in England. The local authority is Newham London Borough Council.
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.
North Woolwich is an area in the London Borough of Newham in East London, England, on the northern bank of the River Thames, across the river from Woolwich. It is connected to Woolwich by the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich foot tunnel.
Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, in the historic county of Essex. It forms part of the London E16 postcode district.
Royal Docks is an area in the London Borough of Newham in the London Docklands in East London, England.
The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands.
Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located 8 miles (12.9 km) east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barking, East Ham, West Ham and Woolwich. The development of major industrial infrastructure in the 19th century to support the growing metropolis of London caused an increase in population with housing built in the area for workers of the Beckton Gas Works and Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. The area has a convoluted local government history and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. Between 1981 and 1995 it was within the London Docklands Development Corporation area, which caused the population to increase as new homes were built and the Docklands Light Railway was constructed.
Silvertown railway station was on the North London Line (NLL) serving the Silvertown area of east London, the station and the eastern section of the line it was on were closed in 2006. It was situated between Custom House and North Woolwich, the eastern terminus of the line.
Tate & Lyle PLC is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage products to food and industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s, it began to diversify, eventually divesting its sugar business in 2010. It specialises in turning raw materials such as corn and tapioca into ingredients that add taste, texture, and nutrients to food and beverages. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Pontoon Dock is a station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in Silvertown in east London, which is on the Woolwich Arsenal branch, opened on 2 December 2005. It is located in the east of Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham, in the redevelopment zone known as Silvertown Quays, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.
Custom House is an area in the London Borough of Newham, in East London, England.
The Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway in east London connected the Royal Docks with the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). Authorised in 1844, it opened in 1846, and was absorbed by the ECR in 1847. The ECR amalgamated with other railways to form the Great Eastern Railway in 1862.
Silvertown Quays is a redevelopment scheme of 50 acres (20 ha) of former London docklands warehousing in the East London district of Silvertown. It is situated on the northside of the River Thames, the southside of the Royal Victoria Dock on the opposite quay to ExCeL exhibition centre, and immediately west of London City Airport.
Thames Wharf is a planned Docklands Light Railway station in the Royal Docks, East London. The station name was previously proposed for another station in the area.
The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock, between the Thames Barrier and the ExCeL London exhibition centre alongside the newly built Britannia village, in Newham, London, England. The Mills are currently undergoing a major renovation as part of a £3.5billion redevelopment of Silvertown.
The Sugar Girls: Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle's East End is a work of narrative non-fiction based on interviews with women who worked in Tate & Lyle's East End factories in Silvertown from the mid-1940s onwards. Written by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, it was published by Collins in 2012. The authors were inspired to write it by Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife.
Royal Wharf is a residential and commercial development in Newham, London located on the north bank of the River Thames. It is built on the former site of Minoco Wharf and is near the Thames Barrier, west of Thames Barrier Park, and close to both West Silvertown and Pontoon Dock DLR stations.
↑ Notes to London Sheet 80, Silvertown 1867 (Map). 1:2500 reduced to 1:4340. Old Ordnance Survey Maps, The Godfrey Edition. Alan Godfrey. ISBN1-84151-861-1.
↑ Notes to London Sheet 80, Silvertown 1893 (Map). 1:2500 reduced to 1:4340. Old Ordnance Survey Maps, The Godfrey Edition. Alan Godfrey. ISBN978-0-85054-073-4.
↑ Tully, John (2014). Silvertown: The Lost Story of a Strike that Shook London and Helped Launch the Modern Labor Movement. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN9781907103995.
↑ "West Ham: Industries". A History of the County of Essex. 1973. pp.76–89. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
↑ Powell, W. R., ed. (1973). "West Ham: Introduction". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6. London. pp.43–50. Retrieved 15 July 2021– via British History Online.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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