A traverse of the Thames basin
Greenwich Observatory to Parliament
Hill
The Isle of Dogs/Canary Wharf
We emerged onto the Isle of Dogs to the
deafening sound of the Island Gardens Light Railway Station being taken apart by a
demolition team. The elevated station was being taken down to permit an extension of the
Docklands Light Railway under the river to Greenwich to improve access to the Millennium
Dome. Severed concrete with rebars poking out mingled with station fixtures - why weren't
the fixtures removed first? We saw one JCB with a hydraulic hammer trying to remove a
station sign - a bit like trying to cut your fingernails with a pair of garden shears.
Time for an etymological question: the name for the Canary Islands is actually derived from the Latin Canariae Insulae (literally: Isles of Dogs) - named by passing sailors who could hear dogs barking on the shore (probably at a bunch of unnamed yellow birds). All very interesting we're sure that you'll agree: so anyone who can explain to us why this particular part of London shares the same name and with a Canary Wharf to boot will receive our thanks and all credit when we replace this paragraph with the explanation. [Anton Risan writes to us advising that the name comes from the time when King Henry IV kept his hunting dogs there - we suppose Canary Wharf is derived from a corruption of the latin.]
The Isle of Dogs is a tongue of land enclosed by the river and which is home to a collection of basins that make up part of the Port of London and which once contained some of the largest warehouses in Europe. Their importance in the second half of the 20th century waned considerably to the point that an ambitious regeneration scheme was implemented in the 1980's under the stewardship of the London Docklands Development Corporation. Warehouses were turned into yuppie apartments and new developments sprung up on the brownfield sites. Much of this development we could see as we walked across the peninsular, some of which sits uncomfortably with the existing housing - the contrast between the new waterside brick and steel apartment blocks and the cul-de-sacs of 1930's pebble dashed housing is quite striking. We took East Ferry Road for much of the walk before crossing Millwall Inner Dock and heading for South Quay station. Antony, for some reason, seemed to know where he was going and explained to me how the LDDC had tried to avoid mixing office space with housing. Amongst the waterside apartments we kept stumbling over forlorn bars and restaurants that presumably pass for the local pub.
Close to South Quay station was the uncompleted shell of a building - a steel frame with the concrete floor laid but which, judging by the jungle that surrounded the site, had been abandoned for some time*. A reminder that quite a lot of developers went broke over these projects. We boarded a driverless train for Canary Wharf, the biggest failure of them all.
"Well", you might be saying.
"A train? A fine pair of walkers these two turned out to be". So in our defence
we should say that our A-Z was slightly out of date and our path appeared blocked by the
extensive basins of the West India Docks - we later discovered that there are in fact two
interesting pedestrian walkways crossing the Quays. Anyway I had never been on the Light
Railway so after two (very short) stops we emerged at Canary Wharf.
[*an Isle of Dogs resident writes to us: 'Not quite true actually.
It was completed. You saw the remains of a completed building that was
destroyed by the IRA bomb, and which has never been repaired.' for further
comments see our postscript.]
The Isle of Dogs/Canary Wharf
Next: Canary Wharf to Limehouse Basin
The Regency Canal Pub Crawl
Camden to Hampstead
Postscript
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