In the penultimate of my current series of blogs about specific areas in London, UK, today I talk about St Katharine Docks.
St Katharine Docks Is a Treasure Waiting To Be Discovered
Where is St Katharine Docks?
The docks sit in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Walk to the The Tower of London end of Tower Bridge and there is a flight of steps that takes you down to the entrance to the docks. It is surprisingly well hidden and covers quite a large area. As I said in the title, a treasure waiting to be discovered.
In ‘View from The Lock At St Katharine Dock’ you can see that it sits on the other side of the River Thames to Butler’s Wharf.
One of the first things that strikes you is the feeling of open space in this exclusive marina and apartment complex that is set out in two main areas (basins).
History of St Katharine Docks
The docks were part of the Port of London and officially opened in October 1828.
The origin of the name is interesting, if not a bit sad. It is based on the name of a former 12th Century hospital that stood on the site called ‘St Katharine’s By The Tower’. The hospital and 1,250 mostly slum dwellings, housing 11,300 people, were demolished in order to create the docks. I wonder what happened to those poor people.
The docks suffered heavy bombing in the Second World War. But what brought the docks to the end of their usefulness was their inability to accommodate large ships. They were closed in 1968.
In recent years the docks have enjoyed massive restoration to create the luxury office, living accommodation and marina that exists today. Read more about the history of the St Katharine Docks here.
St Katharine Docks Today
St Katharine Docks is a wonderful marina to walk around. It has great views of the River Thames and a lock gate where you can watch boats entering and leaving. It is perfect for a quiet walk around admiring the moored boats.
As well as being very picturesque, the dock has a large selection of restaurants bars and cafes. I had a pleasant meal sitting in a window seat overlooking one of the dock basins, watching the boats moving around.
It has the perfect location. You can do something ‘touristy’ (such as visiting The Tower of London with all of the queues of people). Then go for a relatively quiet lunch. I highly recommend a visit.
I produced quite a few images from my recent visit so I created a YouTube video of them. It gives a great feel for the whole area.
Where To Purchase Prints
You can buy prints of my London images from Art Heroes (Europe), Pictorem (USA and Canada) and RedBubble (worldwide.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
You can follow me on Facebook and Mastodon.
Thank you for reading!
What a lovely post and your video captures so much of the area. It is gorgeous. I would love to wake up to those views every morning.
Thanks Clearissa, I hope my blog is giving you lots of ideas of things to do when you visit London.
Enjoyed this, living in a coastal town myself I like to read about others.
Glad you enjoyed it Bill, thanks for popping in.
The docks, and your photos, are lovely.
One of the many differences between Europe and “the new world” is such a deep sense of history. Every building has a story, even if it isn’t always a happy one.
This whole series has been fun to write because of having to research the history of the area and/or buildings. I may do another series later in the year or early next year covering a different area of London.