The Docklands of London have been the spinal column of London for many years playing host to feerocious trade wars and industrial boom the area has undergone a roller coaster ride of boom and bust.

The Isle of Dogs is so called because of sailors hearing ghostly dogs howling on the island as they sailed past (They did not realise that King Henry 8th kept his hunting hounds there).

The East end of London has become synonymous with labour and toil, industry and commerce and disease, illness and poverty.

Traditionally the docklands area was not inhabited as residential space due to the high frequency of flooding and subsidence. Many bak reinforcements later the area was heavily buuuilt up during the industrial revoloution and then on the flipside became too industrial and built up for residential use.

 

The docks remained active until the late 60's where ships were berthed and goods from the East India company were shipped to and from Asia.

The infastructure of docklands mostly consisted of Victorian brick consstructed factory/warehouse buildings, some very simple in design and others quite ornate.

 

The dockers who worked on the docks were accommodated in temporary housing that was never meant to be a permenant arrangement, many lacking in running water and bathrooms. Many of these housees remain today in the area now known as Connaught.

 

There is an element of romance in the way that a once rundown and extremely poverty stricken area has become one of Europes most highly sought after areas to live in. Due to the heavy industrial use however the local areas lack ammeneties that arrived in the rest of London at least fifty years before.

 

The industries that resided in docklands caused a great deal of pollution and degradation. So intense was the pollution that much of the remaining land today remains unusable.

 

By looking at the uses of the docklands industrial areas of the past we can contrast this with the modern conversions and renovations that are rapidly overtaking new development. The grubby and grimy workhouses that were despised and hated have become iconic and fantasised about.

 

Docklands have gone through an amazingly varied evoloution, an area that Londoners were once ashamed of has become a shining Jewel in the crown of Englands heritage and national identity.