There are few stranger places in London than Trinity Buoy Wharf, still a part of the Isle of Dogs it gives the impression of isolation but is only a couple of miles away from Canary Wharf or Canning Town.
It’s location at the eastern tip of Orchard Place is reached by walking up a road flanked by Industrial units.
The walk gives no indication of what you will find at your destination except for the odd buoy,although the information boards dotted along the road give an interesting history lesson.
Although there are a few oddities along the way.
When you arrive at the Wharf, surprises come thick and fast where nothing is quite what it seems to be.
The first surprise is there is a Lighthouse, and it turns out that both the Lighthouse and Wharf have quite an history.
For nearly two centuries the Corporation of Trinity House occupied this site from 1803 to 1988, but even before then in 1760s Trinity House were storing buoys in nearby Blackwall.
The site was mainly used for storing buoys and other marine equipment but gradually workshops were added for testing, repairing and making equipment.
The Lighthouse was not built to aid the Thames river traffic but was an Experimental Lighthouse which was designed by James Douglass, the one still standing was not the first one however there was another experimental lantern nearby built in the 1850s in which the famous scientist Michael Faraday carried out tests in electric lighting for lighthouses.
The present lighthouse was constructed in 1864 and was used to experiment with electric light and different coloured lights the results being checked at Charlton across the river. After the second world war the lighthouse was used for the training of Lighthouse keepers.
The workshops were greatly altered over time until they were finally closed in 1988
There are no lighthouses keepers but there is plenty of noise because the lighthouse now houses a sound installation called Longplayer that will not stop until 2999 .
Outside the warehouse in memory of the work of Michael Faraday is a small shed called the Faraday Effect.
Lined up against the jetty is an old Trinity lighthouse ship which has been turned into a Music Recording Studio.
The old workshops no longer have the clang of metal on metal but the dancing feet of various dance groups or the raised voices of a Theatre or Opera company.
Old shipping containers have been painted and made into office blocks called Container City .
But perhaps the last thing you would expect to find in such a place is the Fatboy’s Diner, a genuine 1940s American Diner from New Jersey that was bought over from the States then had a few short stays in different parts of London before finding its present site. The Diner itself is a bit of a celebrity featuring in the film Sliding Doors, music videos and magazines.
The concentration of Arts and Culture facilities is part of the legacy handed to Urban Space management to develop an Arts Quarter. This has yet to fully developed but if you want a great view of the Thames and the O2 whilst drinking a milkshake at an original American Diner opposite a lighthouse this is the place for you.
Other posts you may find interesting
Isle of Dogs Life 
I love Trinity Buoy Wharf, and if I could work out the timetable of the boat service from N Greenwich Pier, I’d go more often. It’s a very photogenic place.
Hi Neil,
I must admit I have soft spot for the Wharf, as for the timetable is there one ? I thought they made it up as they go along.
I’ve seen a printed timetable on the northern end of the pier at N Greenwich. However, by the time you’ve got that far you’re either committed to waiting for the boat however long it takes, or you’ve gone out of your way on a wasted trip to the pier. No mention (that I could see) on Thames Clippers’ website.