Millwall Dock; Traffic queuing in the Westferry Road as a ship enters the Millwall entrance lock in September, 1926.

A few weeks ago I published a post about the photographs of Albert Gravely Linney who in the 1920s and 1930s took thousands of photographs  of the Thames and the riverside.

Albert Gravely Linney was a writer and journalist who in 1925 became  the first editor of the new Port of London Authority Monthly Magazine  which gave him full access to most of the docks and wharves along the river.

Wherever he went, Linney took his camera. He also published a number of books featuring stories and the history of the Thames,  his most popular books  being  Peepshow of the Port of London  and The Lure and Lore of London’s River .

In the following photographs we follow A.G. Linney on to the Isle of Dogs where he records views that would be drastically changed within the next ten years.

Street view in Ferry Road off West Ferry Road. Above the terraced houses the masts and yards of the barque Killoran can be seen under repair in Britannia Dry Dock.

A.G. Linney ,1928 (Museum of London )

 The name Britannia Dock dates from 1863,  The dock later formed part of the Millwall Iron Works . Too small to be financially viable in the 20th century it closed in 1935. The filled-in site became a timber-yard, known as Britannia Wharf.

Britannia Wharf near to Napier’s Yard on Westferry Road

Draw Docks: The Newcastle Public Draw Dock, Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs on 24th March, 1935.

A.G. Linney ,1935 (Museum of London )

Built as part of Cubitt’s initial development of the riverside in the 1840s, the Newcastle Public Draw Dock  still exists and has a Grade II listing, as have the four original bollards in the dock entrance on Saunders Ness Road.

Millwall: West Ferry Road, near Regent Dry Dock. 1926. View down West Ferry road near Regent Dry Dock, the masts of a ship visible over the wall at the end of the road.

A.G. Linney ,1926 (Museum of London )

Regent Dry Dock had a considerable history constructed between 1813 and 1817 on a site with a river frontage of some 200ft, in the 1860s the dock was expanded to accept two ships at the same time.

Towards the end of the 19th century it was in decline , although occupied between 1916 and 1930, the dock was  filled in 1932 and the site taken over by Lenantons.

Miscellaneous Views: A barge lying on the foreshore at the Napier Yard, Millwall, on 18th July, 1931. In the distance a large dredger is lying off the Royal Naval Victualing Yard at Deptford.

A.G. Linney ,1931 (Museum of London )

See the above map to see where Napier Yard was located.

Miscellaneous Views: An impressive shot of J.T. Morton’s Wharf at Millwall, on 8th May, 1932. A really excellent shot showing the barges lying on the chalk bedded campsheds beside the river wall.

A.G. Linney ,1932 (Museum of London )

Morton’s became famous in the 19th century for its canned and preserved foods. The Millwall factory was opened about 1872 and became one of the largest employers on the Island. Another claim to fame was that Millwall Football Club originated with a team formed by workers at Mortons in 1885.
At the end of the 19th century the Mortons riverfront was redeveloped which included the laying down of a barge-bed to facilitate loading and unloading.
In 1945 the company was taken over by Beechams who gradually run down the site which was virtually derelict until the 1980s when the site was redeveloped for housing and is now the location of the Cascades development.

Fighting a fire on a barge off Island Gardens, Isle of Dogs, on 28th August, 1930. The barge, in the centre of the picture, was loaded with copra. Firemen in brass helmets can be glimpsed through the smoke, standing on the barge.

A.G. Linney ,1930 (Museum of London )