Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard was a shipyard in the London borough of Blackwall on the Thames , where ships were built and later repaired for over 350 years. The shipyard was closed in 1987. The Blackwall Yard must not be confused with the nearby Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company , which also had its headquarters in Blackwall, but whose premises were located in Leamouth Wharf .
history
East India Company
Blackwall has been a place where ships have been built since the Middle Ages. In 1607 the British East India Company decided to build its own ships and rented a shipyard in Deptford . Initially, this change in strategy proved profitable, as the new ships cost the company only £ 10 per GRT instead of the £ 45 per GRT paid for custom-built ships. Over time, however, the situation changed as the shipyard in Deptford became too expensive to maintain.
In 1614 the facilities in Deptford became too small for the East India Company and William Burrell was commissioned to work on a new shipyard for the repair, construction and loading of departing ships. The site that Burrell chose was in Blackwall, farther downstream, and had deeper water, allowing loaded ships to anchor closer to the docks. The new shipyard went into operation in 1617. During the 17th century, the shipyard and its facilities were enlarged several times. It was surrounded by a 3.66 m high wall, but was not used to store imported goods. Later in the 17th century, the East India Company reverted to its previous practice of renting ships. In many cases, the shipowners who chartered their ships to the East India Company had them built in Deptford or Blackwall.
The Johnsons
In 1656, after the East India Company's star had sunk, the shipyard was sold to shipbuilder Henry Johnson (later Sir Henry Johnson), who had already rented the docks and parts of the shipyard. The facilities sold included three docks, two slipways , two cranes and warehouses. Johnson continued to expand the yard and continued to build and repair ships for the East India Company and other customers.
The Anglo-Dutch naval wars at the end of the 17th century caused too much work for the Royal Navy shipyards, and its management under Samuel Pepys commissioned medium-sized ships of the line in Blackwall - at that time the largest privately owned shipyard on the Thames. A new dock on over 6,000 m² was built in the 1660s; it was the largest dock in England until the construction of the Howland Great Wet Dock in Rotherhithe . Construction of merchant ships continued, with Blackwall building twelve ships between 1670 and 1677 when King Charles II paid shipbuilders a premium. After Johnson's death in 1683 the yard passed to his son Henry jun. who was not a shipbuilder. After the death of Henry Jr., then governor of Cape Coast Castle for the Royal African Company , in 1718 the yard had little work until it was sold in 1724 and taken over by Bronsdens in Deptford. With the end of the Anglo-Dutch naval wars, the Royal Navy had its ships built in its own shipyards again. This changed with the war with Spain in 1739.
The Perrys
The shipyard continued to repair and build ships in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly for the East India Company. The shipyard recovered under the management and later in the possession of the '' Perry '' family. When the Royal Navy became interested in the shipyard again in 1742, it was the largest capacity ship on the Thames.
When Francis Holman painted the shipyard in 1784 , it was reputedly the largest private shipyard in the world. At that time, the Perrys began construction of the large Brunswick Dock to the east of the site, which opened in 1790.
In 1803 the yard was downsized when the East India Dock Co. bought the eastern portion of the site including Brunswick Dock. The Brunswick Dock became the "East India Export Dock" (the southern of the two docks), which was filled in in the 20th century and became the site of the Brunswick Wharf Power Station . In the 1830s, the London and Blackwall Railway cut the remaining land and separated the northern section, which was then sold.
Wigram & Green
When the Perry family withdrew from the business, the shipyard became Perry Sons & Green (George Green had married the daughter of John Perry Jr.), Perry, Wells & Green (half a share went to the shipbuilder John Wells from Rotherhithe) and finally Wigram & Green . In 1821 the company built its first steamship. During this time, the shipyard also built Blackwall frigates .
The wigrams
In 1843 the remaining area was divided into two shipyards, with Wigram & Sons being located in the western part. The wigrams soon began building steel-hulled ships, but went out of business in 1876. In 1877 the Midland Railway bought the yard and expanded it as a coal dock, which existed until the 1950s. It was called Poplar Dock , but this should not be confused with the Poplar Dock of the North London Railway , which was built further west in 1851 and is still in use as a harbor. The dock was badly damaged by bombs in World War II , was later filled up and used by the Charringtons as a storage facility for heavy fuel oil. Part of the site is now used for the northern tunnel ventilation of the second Blackwall tunnel , the rest is built on with residential buildings.
The greens
The company R. & H. Green was located in the eastern part of the shipyard . The greens destroyed the earlier development to enlarge the dry dock now known as the Eastern Dock or Lower Graving Dock . It was lengthened and narrowed bit by bit. In 1882 it was 102 m long and 19 m wide, had a wooden floor and brick walls. In 1878 the New Dock or Upper Graving Dock was opened. It was 125 m long (later extended to 144 m), at the entrance 20 m wide and 7 m deep. The Greens built ships with wooden hulls longer than the Wigrams, including 25 sea-going vessels, 14 of which were gunboats with 200 GRT that were used in the Crimean War . The first ship with a steel hull was built there in 1866.
The R. & H. Green Ltd. built ships in Blackwall until 1907. In 1910 the company merged with Silley Weir & Company and was renamed R. & H. Green and Silley Weir Ltd. She owned another shipyard in the Royal Albert dry docks . Until the outbreak of the First World War , the company grew strongly and concentrated on ship repairs. During the war, ammunition ships, mine clearers, hospital ships and destroyers were built.
After the war, a large construction and renovation program began at the shipyard. A design office was set up between the two docks. It was almost 106 m long, more than 30 m wide and almost 18 m high. It dominated the shipyard until the late 1980s.
In 1977 the company merged with London Graving Dock Co. Ltd. in the southeast of the Blackwall Basin in the West India Docks and became River Thames Shiprepairers Ltd. which belonged to the nationalized British Shipbuilders . The Blackwall site came to be known as Blackwall Engineering and remained operational until 1987.
The Upper Graving Dock remained in use until the company closed. In 1989 it was partially filled and the new Reuters building was erected, which spanned it. The eastern dry dock (one of the earliest built on the Thames) was renovated in 1991-1992.
Ships
- HMS Warspite , 62 guns, built 1665–1666 by the Johnsons, for £ 6,090.
- HMS Belliqueux , 64 guns, 1,376 GRT, built by the Perrys in 1780
- HMS Powerful , 74 guns, built by the Perrys in 1783
- HMS Vennable , 74 guns, 1,652 GRT, built by the Perrys in 1784
- HMS Hannibal , also 1,652 GRT, built by the Perrys from June 1782 to April 1786, for £ 31,509.
- HMS Albion , a medium-sized ship of the line of 1,729 GRT, built by the Perrys in 1802
- Alfred , an East Indiaman , built by the Greens in 1845
- HMS Terpsichore , built in 1847 by the Wigrams
- Indus , a 1,782 GRT paddle steamer, built by Wigrams in 1847
- Shipyard no. 275, 278, 282 were barges built in 1847
- Shipyard no. 279 was the Sea Witch tea clipper , built in 1848.
- Shipyard no. 291 was the famous Challenger tea clipper , built in 1852, 53 m long, 9.75 m wide and 6.10 m draft.
- Radetzky , built by Wigrams in 1854 for the Austrian Navy
- Superb , 364 GRT, built by the Greens in 1866
- HMS Crocodile , troop carrier, 4,173 GRT, built by the Wigrams in 1867
- Gamecock tug , built in 1880 by R. & H. Green
- Stormcock tug , built in 1881 by R. & H. Green
- Woodcock tug , built in 1884 by R. & H. Green
- Sirdar tug , twin screw tug , built in 1899 by R & H Green
- Warley : The Perrys built two East Indiamans named Warley , one in 1788 and one in 1796.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hermione Hobhouse: Leamouth Wharf: Poplar Dock Historical Development. Survey of London . 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs. . Institute of Historical Research, 1994, p. 336–341 ( online [accessed February 26, 2014]).
- ^ A b Blackwall Yard Development to c. 1819. Survey of London. Vol. 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwell and Isle of Dogs. English Heritage (1994). Pp. 553-565.
- ^ National Maritime Museum ( Memento of December 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Hermione Hobhouse: Poplar Dock Historical Development. Survey of London . 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs. . Institute of Historical Research, 1994, p. 336–341 ( online [accessed February 26, 2014]).
- ↑ portcities.org ( Memento of May 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Hermione Hobhouse: Blackwall Yard: Development, c.1819-1991 . 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs. . Institute of Historical Research, 1994, p. 565-574 ( online [accessed February 26, 2014]).
- ↑ National Museum Maritme Green Blackwall Collection
- ↑ `` Illustrated London News '', April 12, 1845
- ↑ a b c Thames Tugs , Gamecock Steam Towing Co. Ltd
- ^ Thames Tugs , Port of London Authority