Blackwall Area

Blackwall is a parish in East London that includes Leamouth and the Coldharbour conservation area and lies within the Borough of Tower Hamlets.

A historical stretch of the riverside walls that protected the area from flooding, which once ran along the outer curve of the river Thames, has been linked to the district. Most of Blackwall Yard is a residential area, but it offers mooring for vessels.

History

Construction of the Blackwall Tunnel resulted in the destruction of Sir Walter Raleigh’s house at Blackwall.

This neighborhood was called Blackwall because of the color of the river wall, which was constructed in the medieval period with its stairs. By the middle of the 14th century, the area was known as Blackwall.

As a major sea hub, Blackwall Yard helped transform London. Baffin Island (the first English overseas possession) came under English crown rule in 1576 after Martin Frobisher left Blackwall, England. During his journey to the North West Passage, the Muscovy Company funded him.

Poplar parish has been home to this settlement since the early 20th century. In Poplar’s East Marsh, one of the sheltered stretches of the Thames, in the 19th century the East India Docks were built. The area has never had a local Anglican church, and services relating to road repair and poor relief were provided by a vestry under ecclesiastical authority (Poplar’s ELCA parish). In fact, until the late twentieth century, the entire Isle of Dogs was known as being Poplar or Poplar District.

Industry

In the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, is an engraving by Francis Holman, taken at Blackwall Yard from the Thames, in 1784.

Blackwall was an important port associated with important voyages throughout the course of over 400 years. Martin Frobisher set sail from Blackwall on July 7, 1576 with funds provided by the Muscovy Company, and attempted to find the North West Passage. London Company pioneered English colonization of the Caribbean and North America at Blackwall during the early years of the 17th century.

Shipbuilding and repair were a major industry in Blackwall until 1987. These works were mainly undertaken at Blackwall Yard, the Thames Iron Works, Leamouth, Canning Town (whose construction activities were visible from the deep Leamouth area one-road, one-unit) and Orchard House Yard. Reuters’ current building stands on two of Blackwall Yard’s original dry docks. These docks were used to build the first Blackwall Frigates.

Check Chingford Mount Area