This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AlasdairDaw (talk | contribs) at 18:37, 5 November 2021 (Some re-organising, streamlining and a little extra content). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 18:37, 5 November 2021 by AlasdairDaw (talk | contribs) (Some re-organising, streamlining and a little extra content)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Human settlement in England
| Leamouth | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The London City Island in 2016. | |
  LeamouthLocation within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ394807 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | E14 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°30′39″N 0°00′23″E / 51.510719°N 0.006317°E / 51.510719; 0.006317 | |
Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former Leamouth Wharf and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence with the River Thames.
The neighbourhood consists of two small peninsulas, separated from the rest of Poplar by the remaining part of the East India Docks. The northern peninsula lies in a hairpin meander and is named Goodluck Hope after one of the adjacent reaches of the Lea, while the other is known as Orchard Place.
The area was long referred to locally as Bog Island, due to its inaccessibility and propensity to flood; however the building of the Thames Barrier and the artificial raising of the more vulnerable riverside land, means the nickname refers to a now much reduced threat.
Administration
The area was historically part of the Hamlet of Poplar, an autonomous area of the Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney. The Hamlet of Poplar became an independent parish in 1817. The civil parish of Poplar had a vestry committee which organised services such as poor relief and road maintenance.
History
Orchard Place was the name of its manor house on the spit; this had become an eponymous public house from 1800–60. When the docks were constructed, the area became isolated, with the only access via the dock road, from Poplar.
The Thames Plate Glass Works was a major emploter until its closure 1874; many of the hands – who had migrated to the area from Tyneside and St Helens in the 1840s – followed the glassworks to New Albany, Indiana. The site of the glass works was subsequently occupied by Pura Foods Pura Foods vegetable oil refinery until its closure in 2006. For many years the sugar firm Fowler's, a significant maker of treacle, was in Leamouth.
There were iron and engineering works, and shipping interests such as Samuda Brothers, Castle Shipping Line, Orchard House Yard and the Thames Iron Works. The Thames Ironworks was based at the mouth of Bow Creek at the confluence of the Lea and Thames. The yard started at Leamouth Wharf, on the Blackwall side of the Lea, and subsequently extended to include a much larger site at Canning Town, in the parish and borough or [[West Ham, on the eastern side. These two parts of the shipyard were linked by a chain ferry capable of carrying 300 workers at a time. The yard was responsible for many shipbiuilding and other engineering projects including the revolutionary HMS Warrior and the dreadnought HMS Thunderer.
The Yard shut in 1912, but its work team Thames Ironworks F.C., founded in 1895, continues to the current day as West Ham United. Another Leamouth shipyard was the repair yard of the Castle Shipping Line, their works team Castle Swifts would indirectly merge with the Thames Ironworks football team in 1895.
To house the area's workers, there were about 100 small two-storied cottages – built from the 1820s and condemned in 1935. There was the Bow Creek school (founded in 1865), but few shops, and The Crown, a public house, opened about 1840. By the late 19th century the vicinity of Orchard Place had become a deprived and overcrowded area. In the late 1930s, all homes and shops were demolished in a slum clearing project with residents were moved out of the area.
Geography
This part of Poplar was traditionally the easternmost part of Middlesex. One street, Orchard Place, runs through the former industrial area and the Lower Lea Crossing crosses the narrow strip of land between the two tongues. Trinity Buoy Wharf contains London's only lighthouse. There are also live-work units, many in the form of the Container Cities. The "Jubilee" pedestrian bridge across the Lea links the area to the east bank of the Lea, and Canning Town station.
The Leamouth Peninsula has historically had poor transport links compared to the rest of Poplar, today it is connected to it by a main road splitting its halves: the A1020 Lower Lea Crossing which is a local by-pass of the A13.
Modern redevelopment
The London City Island is a major redevelopment project by architects Glenn Howells that will provide 1,706 homes, stores, shops, restaurants, cafés, and arts facilities including the English National Ballet and London Film School.
Public transport
Main article: Poplar, London § TransportLeamouth has been served by the London Buses network for the first time by the D3 to Bethnal Green which starts and ends on Orchard Place since 2017. The N550 between Canning Town station and Blackwall was rerouted via Leamouth to provide night links whenever access to Canning Town station is restricted; implemented in September 2018.
References
- "Pg24, citing study into West Hams community ties" (PDF). Leeds Metropolitan University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2005.
- https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp646-655
- Church of England Website Poplar ecclesiastical parish map
- A Survey of London 1994, Hermione Hobhouse (Gen. Ed.)
- Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44, Leamouth Wharf edited by Hermione Hobhouse, 1994
- The cottages typically consisted of four rooms and a wash-house.
- Charles Lammin Memories of Orchard House (East London History Society, 1961)
- https://www.hidden-london.com/gazetteer/leamouth/amp/
- "GHA Project | London City Island". Glenn Howells Architects. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
- Bus Services Changes 19 August to 8 October inclusive Transport for London
- https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/routes-d3-n550/
- https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/permanent-bus-changes#on-this-page-3
External links
- Leamouth Road and Orchard Place: Historical development, Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 646-655
- A pedestrian and cycle bridge connecting Leamouth to Canning Town tube station, opened in 2006.
