Poplar Dock
 
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Location of the Poplar Dock in Greater London |
The Poplar Dock is a small harbor in the East End of London . It is connected to the Blackwell Basin of the West India Docks . Although it can be seen independently of these port facilities, it never had its own access to the Thames .
It was originally built as a series of water reservoirs by the West India Dock Company and completed in 1828. At a time when no harbor basin in London had a railway connection, it was converted into a basin for the railway. The East & West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway Company (later: North London Railway Company ) expanded it into the harbor basin and created a rail connection with the company's workshop yard in Chalk Farm . It was the only port basin in London that was not handed over to the Port of London Authority in 1909 , but remained under the administration of British Rail until its closure in 1981 .
Due to the lack of access to the Thames, its operators required the consent of the owners of the West India Docks for uses that did not directly conflict with their own interests. In the early years the harbor basin was mainly used to extinguish coal from north east England.
Most of the harbor basin is now used as a berth for ships, which is connected to the Blackwall Basin.
See also
- Blackwall Yard , a little east of Poplar Dock, which, interestingly, has a small railroad docks also called Poplar Dock.