Location | Leamouth Tower Hamlets England |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°30′27.8″N00°00′29.9″E / 51.507722°N 0.008306°E |
Constructed | 1863 |
Construction | brick tower |
Shape | octagonal tower with balcony and lantern attached to 1-storey depot building |
Markings | unpainted tower, black lantern |
Operator | Trinity Buoy Wharf [1] |
Light | |
Deactivated | 1988 |
Trinity Buoy Wharf is the site of a lighthouse, by the confluence of the River Thames and Bow Creek on the Leamouth Peninsula, Poplar. [2] It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The lighthouse no longer functions, but is the home of various art projects such as Longplayer . It is sometimes known as Bow Creek Lighthouse.
In 1803, the site began to be used by the Elder Brethren of Trinity House, now known as Corporation of Trinity House. The seawall was reconstructed in 1822 by George Mundy of Old Ford. The site was used as a maintenance depot, and storage facility for the many buoys that aided navigation on the Thames; and the wharf for docking and repair of lightships.
The original lighthouse was built by the engineer of Trinity House, James Walker, in 1852, and was demolished in the late 1920s. A second lighthouse, which survives, was built in 1864–66 by James Douglass for Trinity House. The lantern at the top of the tower came from the Paris Exposition of 1867, where Trinity House had used it to demonstrate Professor Holmes's improved system of electric lighting for lighthouses. [3] Initially it housed ('for experimental purposes') [3] the optical equipment which had been shown at the Exposition. Michael Faraday carried out experiments there. It was later used to test lighting systems for Trinity House's lights around England and Wales. Both lighthouses were also used for training prospective lighthouse keepers. [4]
In December 1988, Trinity House closed the wharf, and the area was acquired by the London Docklands Development Corporation. In 1998, the LDDC set up the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust with a 125-year lease to hold the land for the people of London. [5] Urban Space Holdings Ltd took control of the site on a long lease. The site has been, and continues to be, developed as "a centre for the arts and cultural activities". Enhancements include studio space (including unusual architecture based on used shipping containers) and exhibition space.
Urban Space Holdings used the area to develop "Container City" in 2001, a studio and office complex made from recycled sea shipping containers. The original project was made from 80% recycled material. [6] "Container City 1" took 5 months to complete, taking 4 days to install. The Container City project proved very popular and in 2002 "Container City 2" was completed delivering a further 22 studios across 5 floors in with a brightly coloured ziggurat design. A further extension to the Container City Complex was the "Riverside Building" located next to the Thames facing The O2 dome. This was yet another architectural design providing an additional 22 studio spaces.
In November 2005, the University of East London opened Fine Art studios at the wharf; and in September 2009 the university opened two dance studios at the Institute of Performing Arts Development in The Chainstore at the wharf. [7]
Faraday School, a not-for-profit primary school run by the New Model School Company Limited, opened in September 2009.
The wharf is also the home of Thames Clippers who have offices and base all their boats on the pier there.
In April 2013 the former Cory Environmental Thames Lighterage tug Swiftstone moved to Trinity Buoy Wharf from Greenwich, and Swiftstone Trust's volunteers began a full restoration of the vessel [8] which can be seen underway at the year Thames Barge Driving event. In 2016 Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust acquired two historic tugboats, the Knocker White and the Varlet from the Museum of London Docklands. [9] [10] Both vessels are listed by National Historic Ships on the National Register of Historic Vessels. [11] [12]
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.
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House, is the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. Trinity House is also responsible for the provision and maintenance of other navigational aids, such as lightvessels, buoys, and maritime radio/satellite communication systems. It is also an official deep sea pilotage authority, providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.
A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the first modern lightvessel was off the Nore sandbank at the mouth of the River Thames in London, England, placed there by its inventor Robert Hamblin in 1734. The type has become largely obsolete; lighthouses replaced some stations as the construction techniques for lighthouses advanced, while large, automated buoys replaced others.
The history of the many lightvessel stations of Great Britain goes back over 250 years to the placement of the world's first lightship at the Nore in the early 18th century.
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.
Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of Poplar of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former Leamouth Wharf and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence with the River Thames.
The Runnel Stone, or Rundle Stone, is a hazardous rock pinnacle about 1-mile (1.6 km) south of Gwennap Head, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It used to show above the surface at low water until a steamship struck it in 1923.
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea in eastern Greater London. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The Museum of London Docklands, based in West India Quay, explains the history of the River Thames, the growth of Port of London and the docks' historical link to the Atlantic slave trade. The museum is part of the Museum of London and is jointly funded by the City of London Corporation and the Greater London Authority.
The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the channels it has a notable point once marked by a lightship on the line where the estuary of the Thames nominally becomes the North Sea. A lit buoy today stands on this often map-marked divisor: between Havengore Creek in east Essex and Warden Point on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
Sevenstones Lightship is a lightvessel station off the Seven Stones Reef which is nearly 15 miles (24 km) to the west-north-west (WNW) of Land's End, Cornwall, and 7 miles (11 km) east-north-east (ENE) of the Isles of Scilly. The reef has been a navigational hazard to shipping for centuries with seventy-one named wrecks and an estimated two hundred shipwrecks overall, the most infamous being the oil tanker Torrey Canyon on 18 March 1967. The rocks are only exposed at half tide. Since it was not feasible to build a lighthouse, a lightvessel was provided by Trinity House. The first was moored near the reef on 20 August 1841 and exhibited its first light on 1 September 1841. She is permanently anchored in 40 fathoms (73 m) and is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north-east (NE) of the reef. Since 1987, the Sevenstones Lightship has been automated and unmanned.
South Foreland Lighthouses are a pair of Victorian lighthouses on the South Foreland in St. Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent, England, used to warn ships approaching the nearby Goodwin Sands. There has been a pair of lighthouses at South Foreland since at least the 1630s. Even after the decommissioning of the Lower Lighthouse the pair continued to be used as leading marks, with Admiralty charts into the 20th century indicating that the 'Lighthouses in line lead south of the Goodwin Sands'.
Sir James Nicholas Douglass, was an English civil engineer, a prolific lighthouse builder and designer, most famous for the design and construction of the fourth Eddystone Lighthouse, for which he was knighted.
Winterton Lighthouse is located in Winterton-on-Sea in the English county of Norfolk. In 1845 Winterton Ness was described as being 'well known to the mariner as the most fatal headland between Scotland and London'. As well as marking the headland, the lighthouse was intended to help guide vessels into the Cockle Gat, which provided the northern entry into the safe water of Yarmouth Roads. The lighthouse was known to Daniel Defoe and is mentioned in his novel Robinson Crusoe.
Container City is the name given to two pieces of shipping container architecture on the Leamouth Peninsula. It is principally a means of utilising standard forty-foot equivalent unit shipping containers, at the end of their life, to produce flexible accommodation and offices at low cost.
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.
Lowestoft Lighthouse is a lighthouse operated by Trinity House located to the north of the centre of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. It stands on the North Sea coast close to Ness Point, the most easterly point in the United Kingdom. It acts as a warning light for shipping passing along the east coast and is the most easterly lighthouse in the UK.
Knocker White is a Dutch-built tugboat, currently preserved as a museum ship at Trinity Buoy Wharf. She was built in 1924 by T. van Duivendijk, Lekkerkerk, Netherlands for Harrisons Lighterage Company, under the name Cairnrock.